WORLD champion Casey Stoner has scored an imperious win in British Grand Prix at Donington to reignite his title defence.

It was a case of cruise control for the Australian as he exploded off pole position to dominate the field in dry conditions and finish in 44min 44.982sec, leaving Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa in his wake.

And Stoner’s second MotoGP victory of the season could not have come at a better time, as it sees him closing the gap to 45 on standings leader Rossi as the championship enters the half-way stage.

“Now we know we can fight for it (the title) now. We hope it’s game on now, we didn’t think this was a track we could do well on,” said Stoner, who was fastest in Friday’s practice sessions and Saturday’s qualifying.

“Whether we can chase them (the series leaders) down is going to be difficult as they are finishing high in every race.”

Stoner’s runaway victory mean Rossi and Pedrosa had to contend with a battle for second and third over five seconds behind, which the Italian _ in his 200th grand prix race _ won after a tough battle.

But Rossi was typically relaxed after the race, praising his old adversary Stoner and was confident of his chances of landing an eighth world title.
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