Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo extended his championship lead with a flawless performance from pole position to win the Dutch MotoGP in Assen.

The Yamaha rider finished well clear of Honda's Dani Pedrosa with Australia's Casey Stoner third on a Ducati.

Randy de Puniet, second on the grid, started poorly and ended in sixth.

Lorenzo, the winner at Silverstone last Sunday, now has four wins in six GPs and leads the championship by 47 points from his compatriot Pedrosa.

The 23-year-old Lorenzo, runner-up to his injured team-mate Valentino Rossi in the championship last year, was briefly challenged by Pedrosa, who had the best start of any rider, having started from seventh.

Stoner, who was seeking his first podium finish this year, also applied pressure and for a while the leading trio were separated by about one-third of a second.

I was surprised by the times Casey and Dani were posting and I had to up it a gear or two to stay out in front and win

Jorge Lorenzo
But Lorenzo methodically worked his way through the laps, gradually increasing his times, and gave his pursuers little chance to catch him.

Lorenzo's closest title challenger before the race, Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, was not in the mix and with 11 laps to go was over five seconds in arrears and in no position to reduce the gap of 37 points between himself and the Spaniard.

Dovizioso, second at Silverstone last weekend, was pushed all the way by American rookie Ben Spies, who overtook the Italian with 10 laps remaining of the 26-lap race to seize fourth position in his Yamaha.

"This race has been a little bit more difficult than Silverstone," said Lorenzo afterwards.

"I was surprised by the times that Casey and Dani were posting and I had to up it a gear or two to stay out in front and win the race."

Pedrosa said: "I am surprised with the result as practice was a nightmare where we tried everything and nothing worked.

"I would like to thank the team as they worked a miracle to get me this result and let us just hope that it is easier in the Catalan MotoGP next weekend."

606: DEBATE
Is it just me or is Ben Spies the real deal?

CowboyBillyBoom
Italian Marco Melandri missed the race, the sixth of the 18 this season, after he dislocated his shoulder in a crash on Friday.

The seventh round of the series takes place in Barcelona - Lorenzo's home race - next weekend.

Earlier, Italy's Andrea Iannone dominated the Moto2 race to snatch his second win of the season. The Fimmco Speed Up rider had championship leader Toni Elias of Spain back in second.

Spanish rider Marc Marquez on a Derbi won the 125cc Grand Prix. The 17-year-old is the youngest rider since Italian Marco Melandri to have won three successive races in this category.



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Dutch MotoGP results:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 41 minutes 18.629 seconds
2. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 41:21.564
3. Casey Stoner (Australia) Ducati 41:25.651
4. Ben Spies (U.S.) Yamaha 41:31.894
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 41:33.953
6. Randy de Puniet (France) Honda 41:34.401
7. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Ducati 41:44.496
8. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha 41:47.620
9. Marco Simoncelli (Italy) Honda 41:54.287
10. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Ducati 41:54.466
11. Mika Kallio (Finland) Ducati 42:15.398
12. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 42:15.519
13. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Suzuki 42:19.244
14. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Suzuki 42:26.703
15. Kousuke Akiyoshi (Japan) Honda one lap behind