2008 United States motorcycle Grand Prix

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 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. 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 a 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.

  2008 United States 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[1][2][3]
Location	Mazda Raceway 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

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	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	46	Valentino Rossi	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	32	44:04.311	2	25
2	1	Casey Stoner	Ducati Team	Ducati	32	+13.001	1	20
3	7	Chris Vermeulen	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	32	+26.609	8	16
4	4	Andrea Dovizioso	JiR Team Scot MotoGP	Honda	32	+34.901	9	13
5	69	Nicky Hayden	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	32	+35.663	3	11
6	14	Randy de Puniet	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	32	+37.668	6	10
7	24	Toni Elías	Alice Team	Ducati	32	+41.629	10	9
8	11	Ben Spies	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	32	+41.927	13	8
9	52	James Toseland	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha	32	+43.019	5	7
10	56	Shinya Nakano	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	32	+44.391	12	6
11	12	Jamie Hacking	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki	32	+46.258	17	5
12	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Alice Team	Ducati	32	+55.273	14	4
13	15	Alex de Angelis	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	32	+55.521	16	3
14	5	Colin Edwards	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha	32	+1:02.380	7	2
15	65	Loris Capirossi	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	32	+1:08.207	11	1
16	33	Marco Melandri	Ducati Team	Ducati	32	+1:10.962	15
17	13	Anthony West	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki	31	+1 lap	18
Ret	48	Jorge Lorenzo	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	0	Accident	4
WD	2	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda		Withdrew
Sources:[4][5][6]

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round eleven has concluded.^[7]

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 Valentino Rossi 212 2 Casey Stoner 187 3 Dani Pedrosa 171 4 Jorge Lorenzo 114 5 Andrea Dovizioso 103

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Yamaha 241 2 Honda 197 3 Ducati 192 4 Suzuki 112 5 Kawasaki 52

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.