Aussie Casey Stoner has reclaimed the MotoGP World Championship lead after winning Silverstone.

It was a Repsol Honda 1–2 on the podium with Casey Stoner taking his 27th victory and the championship lead in the AirAsia British Grand Prix MotoGP race on Sunday.

Teammate Andrea Dovizioso finished second, with Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) riding a brilliant race with a broken collarbone to land the third podium spot.

“At the beginning of the race we didn’t have a great start and I needed to wait for the tyres to get up to temperature,” Stoner explained. “In the first few laps when I was behind the other riders I got a lot of spray up inside the visor and it was hard for me to see, or for me to push.

“At this time I was being careful, trying to cover my lines to stop them coming inside, then after five laps my visibility got clearer and the water drained away from my visor and I was able to start doing the lap times we were looking for and started to open a gap.

“I was just happy to stay up on the bike, it was incredibly cold and I was so nervous, because in these conditions it’s so easy to crash! We had a great race today in very tough conditions where anything could have happened, but to come away with a win is fantastic.”

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) led a rainy start of the Silverstone race, chased by the two Hondas of Dovizioso and Stoner, with Marco Simoncelli on the San Carlo Honda Gresini Team RC212V close behind.

Lorenzo made a mistake on the first lap, allowing the Repsol bikes to pass and clearing the way for Simoncelli to challenge the Championship leader, who passed the Mallorcan for third several corners later.

Stoner contended Dovizioso for the lead on lap two, with the Italian holding the top spot for several corners until pole position starter Stoner took over the lead from his teammate.

Meanwhile, Simoncelli, who started from second position, positively hunted down the Repsol Hondas from his third position in the field until he ran wide on the 4th lap and lost the position back to Lorenzo.

With rain steadily falling and conditions worsening, Lorenzo highsided out of third position on lap 8, making the Silverstone race the first he had not finished since the Phillip Island race in 2009.

This put the 25 year-old Simoncelli in third position, but not content to settle for his first podium position to be higher, he pushed to pass Dovizioso until he lost the front under braking on lap ten.

Stoner stretched a gap of 15 seconds ahead of field, eventually lapping Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) and Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) with three and a half laps left in the race, the two of whom finished 11th and 12th respectively.

The surprise of the weekend came with Colin Edwards piloting his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike to a podium finish. The ‘Texas Tornado’, who broke his collarbone last week in practice at Catalunya, started from eighth on the grid to ride a consistent race.

Edwards benefited from the setbacks of Lorenzo and Simoncelli, thus earning his first podium of the season.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team), who set the fastest lap of the race, followed fellow American Edwards across the line in fourth with Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) in fifth. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) finished sixth, in front of Czech rider Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing).

Toni Elias made a good launch off the start, putting his LCR Honda into eighth on the first lap from his 14th grid position. The Moto2 Champion crossed the line in eighth position, with Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) in ninth and Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) in 10th.

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) crashed out of the race on lap 14.

2011 MotoGP World Championship
Round Six – Silverstone, UK

MotoGP Race:
1. Casey STONER
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO
3. Colin EDWARDS
4. Nicky HAYDEN
5. Alvaro BAUTISTA
6. Valentino ROSSI
7. Karel ABRAHAM
8. Toni ELIAS
9. Hiroshi AOYAMA
10. Loris CAPIROSSI
11. Hector BARBERA
12. Randy DE PUNIET
DNF. Marco SIMONCELLI
DNF. Jorge LORENZO
DNF. Ben SPIES

MotoGP World Championship Standings:
1. Casey STONER 116
2. Jorge LORENZO 98
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 83
4. Valentino ROSSI 68
5. Dani PEDROSA 61
6. Nicky HAYDEN 60
7. Hiroshi AOYAMA 43
8. Colin EDWARDS 37
9. Ben SPIES 36
10. Karel ABRAHAM 33
11. Marco SIMONCELLI 32
12. Hector BARBERA 31
13. Cal CRUTCHLOW 30
14. Toni ELIAS 28
15. Alvaro BAUTISTA 22
16. Loris CAPIROSSI 22
17. Randy DE PUNIET 10
18. John HOPKINS 6