Round 8 - British GP - Race
 STONER
RETURNS TO WINNING WAYS WITH DONINGTON DOMINATION. DIFFICULT
DAY FOR MELANDRI
Casey Stoner took his second victory of the season and the
40th podium of his career today with a dominant display at
Donington Park. As a result the reigning MotoGP World Champion
moved up a place to third in the championship, closing the
gap by five points to series leader Valentino Rossi and by
nine to Dani Pedrosa, who finished in second and third place
respectively. Yesterday's rain gave way to high winds today
but the dry conditions suited Stoner perfectly and the youngster
produced a faultless display from the first lap.
Things were much trickier for Melandri, who was unable to
rediscover his positive feeling from the first day and ended
up down in sixteenth place.
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st
"This has been a great weekend for us and it's brilliant
to know that we're in a position to fight that little bit
harder. The last three races have gone quite well for us in
general but we've taken a big step forward with the new electronic
system, which worked so well at the Catalunya test and then
here. After a disappointing start to the season since the
opening round at Qatar it's nice to feel as though we're back
on track and this weekend went well from the start. We kicked
off in free practice with some good lap times and it's just
got better and better since then, in wet and dry conditions.
Today the bike was perfect, even at the end of the race we
had really good traction and I want to thank all my team -
Filippo, Vitto and all the people at Ducati - for the hard
work they are doing. Now we just hope that this new electronic
system will work as well at the rest of the tracks as it has
done at Catalunya and Donington Park."
MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th
"I am so, so disappointed with this and I'm sorry for
the team. Probably the only thing we can do right now is put
this Grand Prix behind us and try to think about the next
race. In such a difficult situation as this, to not even have
two consecutive days with the same weather conditions is a
huge obstacle because we just haven't got time to find the
right way forward. Today I didn't even get the feeling back
that I had on Friday in the dry, which wasn't amazing but
definitely better than today. Now we have to reset and start
again from zero on Thursday."
LIVIO SUPPO (Ducati MotoGP Project Director)
"Casey has been extraordinary all weekend and he fully
deserved to win. To watch him ride as he has done at Donington
is fantastic. We have shown that we know how to stay strong,
continue to work on our bike and this win is dedicated to
everybody back at the factory who have never stopped working
to put Casey in a position to win again. On the other side
of the coin we're really disappointed for Marco because it
was another very tough race for him and he couldn't even repeat
his lap times from Friday. We realise this is a very difficult
time for him. I think we have to stay close to him and try
to help him in any way we can, so that he can find more faith
in the package he has."
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