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.

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:

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

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

Riders' Championship standings 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 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.

References

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