Casey Stoner won Moto GP?s Aragon Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday ahead of Dani Pedrosa of Honda.
The Australian rider won for the first time since last season?s Malaysian GP in a time of 42 minutes, 16.530 seconds {hbox}? 5.148 seconds ahead of Pedrosa.
Pedrosa continued his chase of fellow Spaniard and overall leader Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha, who finished fourth after starting second.
Stoner?s Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden passed Lorenzo on the final lap to finish third.
Andrea Dovizioso of Honda crashed with one lap to race to ensure only Lorenzo and Pedrosa could still win the title with five races to go. Lorenzo leads with 284 points and Pedrosa has 228. Either rider will be the first Spanish champion since 1999.
Spanish King Juan Carlos led a minute?s silence for Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa, who was killed when he fell and was hit by two trailing bikes in San Marino two weeks ago. All riders across each racing category wore a patch featuring Tomizawa?s No. 48, which was retired from Moto2 racing in honor of the Japanese rider.
Stoner was relieved to finish in the lead after a tough start that included a slip on the formation lap.
?It was a difficult race today as I was always a little bit nervous after the crash this morning and I wasn?t happy with the brakes. But then I started to go round comfortably,? the 2007 champion said. ?I just put my head down and did some nice, smooth and consistent laps and pulled away for the win.?
Pedrosa recovered from a slipup at the start that saw him drop back to fifth before quickly recovering to get past the field and pressure Stoner. Pedrosa had won two straight races to pressure Lorenzo in the title fight.
?I had to come back after Stoner got away,? Pedrosa said. ?(But) the tires were constantly slipping out.?
Italy?s Andrea Iannone won the Moto2 race from pole position, 6.203 seconds ahead of Julian Simon of Spain. Overall category leader Toni Elias was fourth to hold a 76 point advantage in the standings.
In the 125cc category, Pol Espargaro beat fellow Spaniard Nicolas Terol in a photo finish by 0.050 seconds but Terol leads Espargaro by six points in the overall standings.
