Pedrosa wins

The 22-year-old Spaniard overtook world champion Casey Stoner for the lead early on and showed remarkable consistency afterwards, winning his second racce of the year by a shade over five seconds.

Polesitter Pedrosa dropped to third by the first corner as fellow front-row starters Stoner and Nicky Hayden seized the initiative as the lights went out.

He was instantly by his Repsol Honda team-mate though at the next corner and then closed in on Stoner's tail.

Just five laps had been completed when Pedrosa tucked into the Ducati's slipstream and dived past the world champion under braking for turn one and pulled out a 1.4 second lead by half distance.

With Stoner's Bridestone tyres fairing slightly better in the latter stages of the race, the Australian reduced his deficit to a little over a second with seven laps to go.

But a mistake at the penultimate corner, which saw him loses half a second, convinced him to settle for a podium spot, which he did, eventually finishing 5.4 seconds behind Pedrosa, who was supreme throughout on his way to his fourth career victory, and his first in front of his home fans.

John Hopkins snatched third place from Hayden on lap four and ran a lonely race to third thereafter on his final outing for Suzuki.

Marco Melandri looked likely to do something similar, but he was unable to shake off Hayden after getting his Gresini Honda ahead of him on lap seven.

Hayden stuck with him until eight laps from the finish, when a failed passing move saw him become a sitting duck for Loris Capirossi.

The Ducati rider eventually wrested fifth place with three laps to go and was followed through by Chris Vermeulen, the Australian hauling his Suzuki up from a disastrous start that left him 13th at the end of the opening lap.

Retirement-bound Alex Barros went out on a high note as he drew a line under his 16-year Moto GP career. The 37-year-old Brazilian passed Randy de Puniet for eighth with four laps to go and then nailed Hayden for seventh with two left on his d'Antin Ducati.

Hayden was eighth with de Puniet's Kawasaki and Toni Elias' Gresini Honda completing the top ten.

In all there were only two retirements, Kurtis Roberts, who said his KR was unrideable and Valentino Rossi.

After starting the race 17th with three broken bones in his right hand, the five-time world champion settled into a rhythm in the early stages, searching for the one point that would secure him second place in the championship.

After getting as high as 14th though, his Yamaha mysteriously snapped sideways at turn one with 11 laps to go, the problem proving terminal as he pitted for good two laps later.

His retirement meant that Pedrosa snatched second in the championship by one point, condemning Rossi to third - the worst championship finish in what has been an incredible seven-year career.