Dani Pedrosa surged to his first MotoGP win of the season in wet conditions at Motegi, as Valentino Rossi beat title rival Jorge Lorenzo to a crucial second place. Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa topped a rain-affected morning warm-up session, but initially appeared no threat to the Yamaha duo of Rossi and Lorenzo in the openng half of the race. Poleman Lorenzo briefly lost the lead to Rossi at the first corner, but seized the advantage back at Turn 3 and wasted no time in building a gap over the championship leader. After two laps, Lorenzo had put 1.8 seconds between himself and Rossi, and by lap five the gap between the pair was up to three seconds, where it would more or less remain until...
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