parade of champions

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i take this shot every time i come to laguna...

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wayne rainey

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most expected a stoner runaway

fans get ready for the show

redbull copter heads upwards for the drop

redbull parachuting squad doing their thing

pre race flyby

first view of race rossi leads stoner!

lap 1, turn 9

rossi leads stoner from hayden and dovizioso

lap 1 - turn 10

field winds through to start - finish

lap 1 - turn 11

rossi still leads stoner

lap 2 - turn 10

edwards is stuck behind a lot of riders including a surging melandri

lap 2 - turn 10

hayden leads vermeulen but it's just a matter of time

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dovi is following closely

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edwards gets past hacking, momentarily while capirex still leads spies

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stoner

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dovi

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after a get off guintoli manages to catch de angelis and west

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and pass de angelis on the following lap

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stoner and rossi separated by a hair

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de puniet

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still almost nothing separates rossi and stoner

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dovi eventually catches and passes nicky

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i climbed out of the repsol grandstands - said howdy to budman - and headed toward 9

rossi - stoner had just fallen on previous lap

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but was still running second

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vermeulen a comfortable 3rd

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edwards an uncomfortable 14th :/

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rossi

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hayden did a good job but was beaten by dovi who was on the same tires and likely a worse machine

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rossi on the final lap

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stoner on the cooldown lap - it didn't cool him off enough, apparently

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dovi and depuniet both had excellent races

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hayden later admitted "we got spanked"

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a very happy valentino rossi

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victory at last

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the natives are restless

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some stayed for the superbike race - mat mladin said he was inspired by rossi's victory

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