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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

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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Despite missing the Jerez pre-season test, due to knee and forearm injuries that also hampered development of the factory Repsol Honda RC212V, Dani Pedrosa proved that last weekend’s surprise Motegi podium was no fluke by battling countryman Jorge Lorenzo for home pole honours at Jerez on Saturday.

Motegi winner Lorenzo prevailed, but only by 0.051sec over Pedrosa, who undoubtedly has a fighting chance of repeating his 2008 Jerez victory at a circuit where he has never finished lower than second as a MotoGP rider.

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After his horror crash in qualifying on Saturday at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar Nicky Hayden did well to come home twelfth on his Ducati race debut.

Nicky Hayden produced an impressive display in his first race for Ducati Marlboro coming from 16th on the grid at the Losail International Circuit in Monday’s re-scheduled MotoGP contest to finish in the points in 12th place, despite his back and chest injuries.

Controlling the awesome Desmosedici GP9 throughout the race cannot have been easy for Hayden after his big crash in qualifying on Saturday, given the badly bruised back and stitches in his chest which the American had to deal with.

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Former 125 World Champion Andrea Dovizioso is to join the Repsol Honda Team for the 2009 MotoGP World Championship. The Italian talent will join Spaniard Dani Pedrosa in Honda’s official HRC squad, riding full-factory RC212V machinery. The announcement is a dream come true for Dovizioso, who has raced Hondas since 2002.

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