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Italian Valentino Rossi won a monumental battle with Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to triumph in the Catalan’s home MotoGP race.The riders are now tied on 106 points at the summit of the World Championship standings alongside Ducati’s Casey Stoner, who finished third in Sunday’s race.

Lorenzo, who had snatched a last-gasp pole from six-times champion Rossi, led for long stretches before the lead swapped several times on the final three laps.

There were several occasions where the two Yamahas almost touched as the fans - who were supporting FC Barcelona fan Lorenzo, but had a huge soft spot for Rossi - blared airhorns and bellowed them on.

It was edge-of-the-seat stuff, but Lorenzo left himself slightly open as they came around the final corner and Rossi tore up the inside for a memorable victory.

"It was a fantastic battle," Rossi said.

"The Yamahas were flying, we got away from the field and I quickly saw that it would be between Jorge and I," he added.

"The final lap was incredible, with two or three incredible braking manoeuvres, and I didn’t know whether I could overtake on the last corner but I went for it."

Lorenzo was amazed at his arch-rival’s audacity.

"I wasn’t expecting him to take me at that point but he was more courageous than me and deserved the win," he said after the race.

"He’s an old dog and I wasn’t intelligent enough to anticipate his move but it’s fine.

"The important thing is that the spectators were able to enjoy a race that went to the very last corner."

Behind the leaders Stoner eventually managed to open up a gap on the excellent Andrea Dovizioso, who matched his fourth-placed grid spot in the race, while Loris Capirossi took an impressive fifth after starting from 11th.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, who suffered injury in qualifying and started from eighth, was rampant in the early stages as he went past Repsol Honda team-mate Dovizioso, but was unable to make it stick and trailed Rizla Suzuki’s Capirossi by the finish.

In seventh was Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards - his British team-mate James Toseland came in 13th - with Honda’s Randy De Puniet leading home Ducati Pramac’s Mika Kallio and factory Ducati man Nicky Hayden for eighth.

Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) and Alex de Angelis (Honda Gresini) finished ahead of Toseland, with Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) and Sete Gibernau (Ducati Onde 2000) behind the Sheffield rider.

Hungarian 250cc star Gabor Talmacsi trailed in last on his MotoGP debut behind Niccolo Canepa, while Yuki Takahashi and Antonio Elias retired.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

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Aston Martin may have been spun out of the Ford orbit, but a decade’s worth of Ford investments in the British brand reveals itself the instant you open the doors to the 2009 Vantage roadster, an anti-Porsche 911 sports coupe or convertible with finesse and verve equal to its gorgeous custom-built aluminum body.

Aston provided a new Vantage for us to drive in Southern California recently, and within a few cloud-covered miles tooling away from LAX, the differences with other vaguely competitive supercars drew themselves neatly. The 911’s heft, the Maserati Gran Turismo’s lushness and the Nissan GT-R’s raw ambition contrast heavily with the Vantage, down to its airliner-style bonded-aluminum body, to the LED lighting on the glovebox button. The Aston’s unique in the group–a little less expensive and a little less fast than the 911 Turbo, a little pricier than the Maserati and the Audi R8 supercar. More a testament to exclusivity and understated details than unadulterated power, it’s classically British, reserved but only to a degree.

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These are the first rendered images of the new Audi A3, including the new saloon model that has been conceived to help sales in North America.

The new Audi A3 will go on sale in early 2011 and the saloon model will sit alongside the hatchback, sportback and cabriolet body styles.

“We’ve taken a good look at what it will take to better establish the A3 in the US market in the future,” said an Audi insider. “The four-door layout is something North American car buyers continue to seek, especially from a premium brand such as Audi.”

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MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi powered from fourth on the starting grid to take his first victory of the season in Spain on Sunday and open an 11-point lead at the top of the overall standings.

The Yamaha rider slipped past early leader Dani Pedrosa with 10 laps left in front of the 120,000 crowd at the Jerez circuit and pulled away to finish the 27-lap race 2.7 seconds clear of the Spaniard’s Honda.

Australian Casey Stoner was third for Ducati, his first appearance on the podium in Spain.

Victory for Rossi sent the Italian top of the championship standings with 65 points after three rounds. Stoner is second on 54 and Pedrosa tied for third with compatriot and Rossi’s team mate Jorge Lorenzo on 41.

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This is the Doctor’s shows..

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