Pedrosa wins Sachsenring thriller as Lorenzo closes gap

A wonderfully open German MotoGP at the Sachsenring on Sunday saw Spanish Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa return to winning form in only his second race after breaking his collarbone. After 30 laps of almost constant jousting between the leading riders, Jorge Lorenzo ducked past championship frontrunner Casey Stoner on the last curve to steal second place and cut four more points from the Australian's lead.

Stoner, Pedrosa's Yamaha teammate, is now just 15 ahead of reigning champion Lorenzo (Yamaha) as the 18-race season reaches its halfway point. Pedrosa, despite his second win of the season, has virtually no chance of overhauling either of the top two in the standings, however, the Catalan missed three races after being taken out by Marco Simoncelli in Le Mans.

Earlier in the day Marc Márquez continued his scintillating form on his Suter in the Moto 2 category, the Spanish teenager rattling up his third straight win ahead of championship leader and home favorite Stefan Bradl (Kalex).

Last season's 125cc champion still has a mountain to climb if he wants to overhaul Bradl's 47-point lead over the final eight races. In the 125cc race, Spain's Héctor Faubel (Aprilia) was awarded victory on the basis of having recorded the fastest lap time during the race which ended in a tie with French rider Johann Zarco (Derbi).

Meanwhile, Lorenzo and Stoner confirmed they will not take part in October's Japanese MotoGP, rescheduled after the country was hit by March's earthquake and tsunami. The Motegi circuit is over 100 kilometers from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant but Lorenzo said his health is more important than championship points.