| Stoner claims first victory of season • Ducati rider finishes 5.148 sec ahead of Dani Pedrosa• Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo bumped from top threeCasey Stoner claimed his first race win of the MotoGP season at the Aragon grand prix in Spain this afternoon.The Australian Ducati Team rider converted pole position into victory after coming out on top in his duel with the Repsol Honda of the home favourite, Dani Pedrosa, who signed a new two-year deal with the team on Thursday.Stoner pulled away in the closing stages to finish 5.148 sec ahead of the Spaniard with Ducati's Nicky Hayden overtaking the championship leader, Jorge Lorenzo, driving a Fiat Yamaha, on the last lap to claim the third place on the podium. That ended Lorenzo's record of having finished in the top three in every race so far this campaign."It's a big relief to be honest," said Stoner. "We had the first race [in Qatar] almost wrapped up until I made a mistake and there have been a couple of other moments through the year where we might've been in with a chance of a victory but it's just been a mistake on my part."Pedrosa, who started from third on the grid, added: "I didn't make the perfect start and at the first corner I had a slide. I almost crashed there and I was back to fifth."Then I had two or three laps where I had to overtake some riders and by then Casey was already far, far away."I tried to catch him but the pace was almost the same. We were almost at the same gap all the time."By the end I was struggling a lot with my tyres. So I said 'OK, this is it today'. I tried my best, but second place is not so bad."Tech 3 Yamaha's Ben Spies finished fifth, his battle with Andrea Dovizioso ending after the Repsol Honda man crashed out on the final lap, while Valentino Rossi of Yamaha finished a distant sixth.Pedrosa's second-placed finish cut Lorenzo's advantage at the top of the standings to 56 points with five meetings of the season left.MotoGPMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Kenseth: Life in the fast lane during the race to the Chase Since I had such a busy week last week, I figured I'd recap everything that I got to do leading into Sunday's first race of the Chase at New ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Halladay pitches no-hitter for Phillies • Halladay pitches second no-hitter in postseason history• Philadelphia Phillies beat Cincinnati Reds in Game OneRoy Halladay threw the second no-hitter in Major League Baseball's postseason history as he led the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game One of the National League division series last night.Don Larsen is the only other pitcher to throw a postseason no-hitter. He threw a perfect game for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series against Brooklyn. The 54th anniversary of Larsen's gem is tomorrow."It's surreal, it really is," Halladay said. "I just wanted to pitch here, to pitch in the postseason. To go out and have a game like that, it's a dream come true."The All-Star right-hander, who tossed a perfect game at Florida on 29 May, dominated the Reds with a sharp fastball and a devastating slow curve in his first play-off start. The overmatched Reds never came close to a hit. Halladay allowed only one runner, walking Jay Bruce on a full count with two outs in the fifth, and struck out eight.Halladay spent 12 seasons with Toronto Blue Jays, far from the postseason. A trade last off-season brought him to the defending two-time NL champions, and gave him this chance."This is what you come here for," Halladay said. "It's a good team, they know how to win ... It's been a great year, a fun year, we obviously have a ways to go."Halladay even did it at the plate. He ignited a three-run, two-out rally in the second with an RBI single.Meanwhile the Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 in the opening game of the American League play-offs. Cliff Lee matched a postseason best with 10 strike-outs while allowing five hits – one after the second inning. During one dominating stretch, he retired 16 of 17 batters before giving up Ben Zobrist's homer in the seventh.MLBUS sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Yao Ming pleases home fans as Rockets halt Nets in Beijing Yao Ming played only 19 minutes while easing back from foot surgery, scoring nine points and delighting his home fans while helping the Houston ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Back home, Lewis could pitch Texas to World Series By STEPHEN HAWKINS 2010-10-22T16:41:02ZARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Colby Lewis went to Japan expecting to finish his career there. Then after two seasons in the Far East, his original team offered him a chance to come back home and pitch.... hosted.ap.org |