2008 United States motorcycle Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 11 of 18 races in the 2008 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season | |||
 | |||
| Date | July 20, 2008 | ||
| Official name | Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Laguna Seca | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 3.610 km (2.243 mi) | ||
| MotoGP | |||
| Pole position | |||
| Rider |  Casey Stoner |
||
| Time | 1:20.700 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Rider | Casey Stoner |
||
| Time | 1:21.488 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First |  Valentino Rossi |
||
| Second | Casey Stoner |
||
| Third | Chris Vermeulen |
||
The 2008 United States motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 2008 MotoGP championship. It took place on the weekend of July 18–20, 2008, at the Laguna Seca circuit. It was an eventful race between Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner where the lead was hotly contested between the two. On lap 23, with Rossi leading after an ingenious but controversial pass down the corkscrew, Stoner entered into the last corner too deep and ended up in the gravel trap. Rossi retained his lead for the remainder of the race while Stoner managed to finish in second place despite his mistake. Rossi won for the first time at Laguna Seca and Stoner set a new lap record with a time of 1:21.488.
As usual, only the MotoGP class was permitted to race at Laguna Seca due to the Californian air pollution law prohibiting two-stroke engines in the state.
MotoGP classification
| Pos. | No. | Rider | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46 | Valentino Rossi |
Yamaha | 32 | 44:04.311 | 2 | 25 |
| 2 | 1 | Casey Stoner |
Ducati | 32 | +13.001 | 1 | 20 |
| 3 | 7 | Chris Vermeulen |
Suzuki | 32 | +26.609 | 8 | 16 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso |
Honda | 32 | +34.901 | 9 | 13 |
| 5 | 69 |  Nicky Hayden |
Honda | 32 | +35.663 | 3 | 11 |
| 6 | 14 |  Randy de Puniet |
Honda | 32 | +37.668 | 6 | 10 |
| 7 | 24 |  Toni Elías |
Ducati | 32 | +41.629 | 10 | 9 |
| 8 | 11 | Ben Spies |
Suzuki | 32 | +41.927 | 13 | 8 |
| 9 | 52 |  James Toseland |
Yamaha | 32 | +43.019 | 5 | 7 |
| 10 | 56 |  Shinya Nakano |
Honda | 32 | +44.391 | 12 | 6 |
| 11 | 12 | Jamie Hacking |
Kawasaki | 32 | +46.258 | 17 | 5 |
| 12 | 50 | Sylvain Guintoli |
Ducati | 32 | +55.273 | 14 | 4 |
| 13 | 15 |  Alex de Angelis |
Honda | 32 | +55.521 | 16 | 3 |
| 14 | 5 | Colin Edwards |
Yamaha | 32 | +1:02.380 | 7 | 2 |
| 15 | 65 | Loris Capirossi |
Suzuki | 32 | +1:08.207 | 11 | 1 |
| 16 | 33 | Marco Melandri |
Ducati | 32 | +1:10.962 | 15 | |
| 17 | 13 | Anthony West |
Kawasaki | 31 | +1 lap | 18 | |
| Ret | 48 | Jorge Lorenzo |
Yamaha | 0 | Accident | 4 | |
| WD | 2 | Dani Pedrosa |
Honda | Withdrew | |||
| OFFICIAL MOTOGP REPORT | |||||||
References
- "MotoGP official website". Retrieved 2010-03-06.
- "Eurosport American GP 2008 Results". Archived from the original on 2008-07-30. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
| Previous race: 2008 German Grand Prix |
FIM Grand Prix World Championship 2008 season |
Next race: 2008 Czech Republic Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2007 United States Grand Prix |
United States motorcycle Grand Prix | Next race: 2009 United States Grand Prix |
Coordinates: 36°35′3.4″N 121°45′11.8″W / 36.584278°N 121.753278°W