Spanish riders’ British hat-trick

Perhaps it was the unusually clement weather that helped them along this weekend at Silverstone, compared to last year's weekend of motorbike racing at the English circuit, which was beset by pouring rain. Whatever it was, Spain's star riders sealed victories in all three categories on Sunday, with Jorge Lorenzo dominant in MotoGP, Pol Espargaró taking the checkered flag in Moto2, and Maverick Viñales beating off his rivals in Moto3.

Lorenzo, who this week announced he would be staying with Yamaha for the next two seasons, bided his time during the early stages of the race, tucked in third place behind teammate Ben Spies and Honda's Casey Stoner. But on the sixth lap he made his move on Spies, and by the 10th he had taken Stoner on the last corner of the circuit. Lorenzo then managed to build up a comfortable lead ahead of the pack, where Stoner was doing battle with his own teammate, Spain's Dani Pedrosa.

Fellow countryman Álvaro Bautista managed a personal milestone at Silverstone, after getting his bike on pole position for the first time ever. But he lost out at the start to US rider Spies, and had to settle for fourth.

Lorenzo's victory saw him extend his lead in the riders' championship, taking his points tally to 140. Stoner, who finished second on Sunday, maintains his second place in the standings, on 115 points, while Pedrosa, who crossed the line third at Silverstone, is also third in the rankings, on 101 points.

"I didn't want to make mistakes so I had to wait a little bit," Lorenzo told the press after the race, which saw him do a lap of honor carrying the Spanish flag. "This victory is fantastic, the season we are doing is just perfect, we can't ask for more."

Meanwhile, in the Moto2 race, Espargaró started from pole, but fell back during the first nine laps to trail Britons Bradley Smith on the Tech 3 and Scott Redding on the Marc VDS Kalex. Approaching half distance, however, he made his move into Stowe corner, and then sped away from his competitors to eventually take a comfortable win.

The real drama of the race was the battle for second place, as Redding and Spaniard Marc Márquez on the Monlau Suter diced for position. The Briton eventually won out, however, taking second place and leaving third for the Spaniard.

Márquez leads the championship with 102 points, with Espargaró in second on 96 points.

With two Spanish wins in the bag, it was left to Maverick Viñales to do the business in Moto3, the Avintia FTR-Honda rider starting from pole and vying for the lead in a pack of nine bikes during the first half of the race.

But with six laps to go it was a three-way contest between Viñales, Luis Salom on the RW Kalex-KTM and Sandro Cortese on the Ajo KTM. On the last lap Viñales took the lead, taking the checkered flag and leaving Salom second and Cortese third.

German rider Cortese is currently leading the championship, with Viñales in second place and Spain's Salom in third.