One of the few circuits where reigning World Champion Casey Stoner had never won a premier-class GP was Jerez in Spain - until Sunday, when he ran out the winner of a superb Spanish MotoGP, after an epic battle with championship rival Jorge Lorenzo.
It had rained throughout much of practice, and the race was run under very overcast conditions, but the rain held off for the main event.
Works Honda rider Dani Pedrosa took the holeshot in front of Yamaha factory team leader Lorenzo, with Yamaha Tech3´s Cal Crutchlow charging behind. Some tough overtaking saw the pack shuffled a number of times in the opening four laps, as Ducati's Nicky Hayden was bumped wide by Crutchlow, and Lorenzo bumped Andrea Dovizioso's Yamaha Tech 3 after an aggressive move up the inside.
Pedrosa's team mate Stoner then found his stride, passing Lorenzo and then Pedrosa to move into a lead he was to hold to the end, despite being taken right down to the wire by Lorenzo in the closing stages.
Pedrosa had to hold off a series of challenges from Crutchlow, as the Briton continued to impress in only his second season in MotoGP.
Crutchlow's team mate Dovizioso couldn't stayb with the leaders, however, having opted for a soft front tyre compared to Crutchlow´s hard choice, and finished fifth in front of Honda privateers Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl.
Hayden, who had started from the front row and was pushing hard in the opening stages, dropped off towards the end of the race and finished seventh. This put him ahead of team mate Valentino Rossi, who battled throughout the race with Ducati privateer Hector Barbera throughout.
Lorenzo's team mate Ben Spies had another disappointing race, as he finished a full eight places behind his team mate in 10th.
An annoyed Randy de Puniet, who had looked on course to finish top CRT in 12th, pulled off in the last lap with mechanical gremlins, gifting team mate Aleix Espargaró with CRT line honours.
MOTO2
Spanish youngster Pol Espargaró (Kalex) took his maiden Moto2 victory in front of his home crowd in a thrilling Moto2™ race that was cut short by rain.
He led the race off the line but was soon entangled in the usual Moto2 first-lap melee. Suter riders Marc Marquez and Thomas Luthi, and Scott Redding on a Kalex weren't giving each other any room, as they swapped positions throughout the race.
It was a tough fight to the end, that saw Redding's team mate Mika Kallio run onto the gravel from fifth, and Randy Krummenacher (Kalex) and Speed Up rider Mike Di Meglio crash out simultaneously while chasing the front pack.
With 11 laps left it started to rain, causing riders to push for front positions in case of a red flag. As the riders pushed harder, the conditions worsened. Marquez tried to pull out a lead but was overtaken by old 125cc rival Espargaro on lap 16. Márquez once again pushed past Espargaro but it was too late, as the red flag came out on lap 18. shortly after.
The results were taken at the end of lap 17, giving the win to Eswpargaro, ahead of Marquez and Luthi.
The top ten were rounded out by Redding, Kalex rider Takaaki Nakagami and his team mate Claudio Corti, Kallio, Suter riders Dominique Aegerter and Toni Elias, and Johann Zarco's Motobi.
Elena Rosell crashed out of her home race, as she continued to struggle with the Moriwaki bike, and Esteve Rabat (Kalex) came off in the closing stages and pitted, before heading back out on track and finishing 28th.
MOTO3
Italian rookie Romano Fenati (FTR Honda) served notice that he is a man to watch with a dominant maiden win in tricky conditions that saw almost half the field crash out.
Jakub Kornfeil (FTR Honda) led the frantic opening laps of a race that had been declared dry, despite a few damp patches on the circuit. KTM's Danny Kent, Honda rider Jack Miller and Simone Grotzkyj on the Oral caught out by the conditions, coming off in oen big crash at Turn 10 on lap two.
Miguel Oliveira (Suter Honda) soon took the lead but Kornfeil was about to give up without a fight - until he came off spectacularly in Turn 13, followed closely by South African Brad Binder (Kalex KTM). Then Oliveira threw it away a few turns later, with Kent's team mate Arthur Sissis high-siding his bike as well.
That left pole-sitter Alex Rins in the lead ahead of Fenati and FTR Honda rider Louis Rossi. Rossi soon got past the Italian to chase down Rins, who narrowly saved what would have been a monumental tumble to dice with Fenati and Rossi for the lead.
The three swapped positions frequently until Rossi slid out in Turn 1, leaving the Italian rookie and Spanish wild card to lead the way. Further down the field, FGR Honda's Jasper Iwema slid his bike into the gravel, and Adrian Martin (FTR Honda) crashed out of seventh in Turn 1.
At the end it was Romano Fenati who took the chequered flag - and lead in the championship - 31 seconds ahead of Salom, who was less than a second ahead on KTM rider Sandro Cortese, with Rins fourth.
The next MotoGP will be on 6 May at Estoril in Potugal.
RESULTS - MOTOGP
1 Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda - 45min33.897
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha +0.947sec
3 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda +2.063
4 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha +2.465
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Yamaha +18.100
6 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda +21.395
7 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda +28.637
8 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati +28.869
9 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati +34.852
10 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati +35.103
MOTO2
1 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Kalex - 30min12.879
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Suter +0.241sec
3 Thomas Luthi (Switzerland) Suter +0.483
4 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex +4.414
5 Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex +4.837
6 Claudio Corti (Italy) Kalex +5.881
7 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex +6.149
8 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter 7.097
9 Toni Elias (Spain) Suter +7.866
10 Johann Zarco (France) Motobi +8.680
MOTO3
1 Romano Fenati (Italy) FTR Honda - 43min50.885
2 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex KTM +36.139
3 Sandro Cortese (Germany) KTM +36.895
4 Alex Rins (Spain) Suter Honda +37.061
5 Alexis Masbou (France) Honda +49.036
6 Maverick Vinales (Spain) FTR Honda +55.857
7 Alberto Moncayo (Spain) Kalex KTM +57.505
8 Noccolo Antonelli (Italy) FTR Honda +1min03.683
9 Hector Faubel (Spain) Kalex KTM +1min 15.351
10 Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Malaysia) KTM +1min35.650