July 19, 2009

Valentino Rossi held off Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo to win a thrilling German MotoGP race here on Sunday, for his 101st career victory.

The Italian series leader, who started in pole position, finished ahead of Spaniard Lorenzo, with Honda's Dani Pedrosa, also of Spain, taking third place ahead of Ducati rider Casey Stoner.

“It's an important win at this stage of the season,” said championship leader Rossi.

“It was another fantastic battle with (Casey) Stoner until the last lap. I knew that on this circuit it's very difficult to pass so I stayed ahead on the final lap.”

Early on during the race, French rider Randy De Puniet suffered a dramatic tumble when pressing in third position behind Rossi and Pedrosa, sliding off the track as his bike bucked.

Australian Stoner, last season's winner here, took advantage to move swiftly past Rossi and Pedrosa to take the lead on the seventh lap.

Stoner forced the pace, with only the final podium finishers able to stick to him. By the 11th lap there were already five seconds between the Australian and fifth place occupied by Alex De Angelis of San Marino.

Rossi retook the lead on the 16th lap, with Lorenzo and then Pedrosa overtaking Stoner, who finished fourth.

The two Yamahas then edged away, with Lorenzo taking the attack to Rossi and assuming the lead with five laps to go.

In a nail-biting climax, Rossi moved back into the lead with one lap to go and held off Lorenzo as the Spaniard tried one last desperate pass on the final bend.

Rossi has 176 points after nine races with Lorenzo on 162 and Stoner, 148.