Casey Stoner overhauls Jorge Lorenzo to win US Grand Prix

Australia's Casey Stoner overhauled the MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo on the 27th lap of 32 to win the US Grand Prix on Sunday and stretch his lead in the overall standings.The Honda rider Stoner, who started the race just behind <a href="http://www.newerahatstock.com/"><strong>new era cap 59fifty</strong></a> Yamaha's Lorenzo on the front grid, powered home to finish 5.634 seconds ahead of the Spaniard, who triumphed at Laguna Seca last year. Stoner's victory extended his run of successive podium finishes this season to eight.It was his fifth win of the year and increased his championship lead over Lorenzo to 20 points with eight races left. Honda's Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, champion in the US in 2009 and the winner of last week's German Grand Prix, took third place with the American Ben Spies finishing fourth.Stoner, who won here in 2007, was delighted to taste victory again at the twisting, technically challenging Laguna Seca circuit after struggling with his bike set-up earlier in the week. "It was amazing," the 25-year-old said. "I am very happy. I love this track, love this atmosphere in America and I'm very happy to win here again."I just had an extreme pace before the start of the race and had a lot of confidence. All week, it's been tough but in the warm-up we found something and thought we could run with these guys."Stoner was quickest in the morning's final <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/burberry-hat-c-6.html"><strong>burberry hat</strong></a> practice session with a best lap of 1:21.747 in cool, overcast conditions. "After that, I just had something inside knowing that I wasn't worried about him [Lorenzo] getting away," said Stoner, who dropped back into third early on before overtaking Pedrosa on the infamous Corkscrew turn on lap 17 and finally Lorenzo."I knew I had full pace and we were just waiting for later in the race. As soon as Dani started to drop back, that dropped us both off the back of Jorge and I thought: 'Right, now is the time to go and get up to Jorge.'"I was behind Jorge and realised I could go a lot faster. I <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/famous-hat-c-13.html"><strong>famous hat</strong></a> waited a few laps to see if he would make a mistake or do something and then decided to go and put the hammer down as much as I could. We managed to pull a nice gap."Lorenzo, who began the race on pole for a third successive year at Laguna Seca, failed to capitalise on a fast start and said he was still feeling bruised after crashing in practice on Saturday morning."The pain in my back and my arms was not good at the end of the race," the 24-year-old Spaniard added. "Casey deserved the victory and, when he went past me, I threw in the towel."Pedrosa, who broke his collarbone in a collision with the Italian Marco Simoncelli at the French Grand Prix in May and only came <a href="http://041823.com/view.php?id=6061"><strong>Facebook glitch exposes private videos</strong></a> back at this month's Italian round, was delighted with his fifth podium of the season. "I'm very happy," the Spaniard said. "I knew it would be physically very tough for me and it has been great to keep up with the pace of Casey and Jorge in these past two races."Now we have some holidays and it will be good for me to have some days off to rest and relax my muscles and be back training to arrive fully fit in Brno," Pedrosa added, referring to the next race on the circuit on 14 August in the Czech Republic.The Spaniard Alvaro Bautista, the American Ben Bostrom, Britain's Cal Crutchlow and Italy's Marco Simoncelli all crashed out during Sunday's Grand Prix.With eight rounds of the championship to go, Stoner leads the standings with 193 points. Lorenzo has 173 and Italy's Andrea Dovizioso is third with 143 points.