Starting from pole on his Ducati Marlboro Desmosedici GP8, MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner led Valentino Rossi and American Nicky Hayden into and out of the first turn — otherwise known as the Andretti Hairpin — to lead the beginning of the 32-lap 2008 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Once out of the corner, Stoner jumped right out to a five-bike lead, while Rossi, who had deftly slipped beneath Repsol Honda’s Hayden, immediately gave chase of the winner of the last three consecutive MotoGP rounds around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile circuit. The first lap of the race was, arguably, the most frenetic and action packed of the MotoGP season thus far. First, Jorge Lorenzo suffered a huge, frightening high side that left him on the side of the track in pain and a broken foot. Meanwhile, up front, in turns 8 and 8A — better knows as the super-sinuous, fourth gear, blind entry of a turn called the Corkscrew — Rossi made a brilliant pass on Stoner. “That turn is like falling off three story building,” said Kevin Schwantz, winner of the 1993 500c World Championship on a Suzuki RGV500.

Rossi then held a very slight lead over Stoner, American Nicky Hayden just shy of two seconds behind the duo. With three laps down, Stoner re-passed Rossi, but up in the Corkscrew, Rossi made a banzai move, riding over the curbs and through the gravel to pass Stoner, only to have Stoner to go whizzing right back by up the high-speed front straight. Rossi would find his way back to the point with 24 laps still left in the race, Rizla Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen now third, some 9.900 seconds back behind the leaders with Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso trailing him. As the race approached the halfway mark, Rossi and Stoner continued to trade blows, Stoner visibly taking some big chances to find a way around Rossi. With only nine laps remaining in the race, Stoner became almost desperate and botched his braking entering a corner in a frenzied effort to take the measure of Rossi. Stoner overshot the corner, wobbled into a gravel trap and actually tipped the Ducati over. While he did not lose a position, he did lose upwards of 16 seconds on Rossi, the Italian now long gone in the distance.

With a stand up wheelie and a 14 second lead, Valentino Rossi won the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix over Casey Stoner. Third went to Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen. Next came Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden, Randy De Puniet, Tony Elias and eighth place finisher, American Ben Spies. “I don’t want to give up,” Rossi told CBS TV minutes after the finish. “I want to stay up front because Casey Stoner had a better pace. It was a great victory and my first time at Laguna Seca. I’m very happy.”

Eric Johnson