Rossi reigns in Spain MotoGP

Spain, May 03: Italian Valentino Rossi claimed his first victory of the season in the Moto GP category of the Spanish Grand Prix, the third leg in the world motorcycling championship.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, on a Honda, and Australian Casey Stoner on a Ducati finished second and third respectively as Rossi, an eight-time world champion, took the lead of the world championship standings.

Rossi had a consistent and determined performance to thank for his first win of the season, and impressive 98th of his career, that has given him an 11-point overall lead over Stoner.

Rossi now has 65 points, with Stoner, who won the season-opening leg in Qatar, on 54.

However the Italian admitted it should be a fight to the death for this season's crown.

"There's been three winners in three races, so it looks like the championship will be very tight this year. I will have to stay very concentrated at each and every race," said Rossi, who was surprised with his victory.

"It's been a strange weekend. On Friday (free practice) I was very fast then Saturday I had a lot of problems with the bike. We then made a few technical changes before the race and things seemed to work better as of this morning.”

"During the race once I'd overtaken Jorge (Lorenzo) I managed to slowly creep up on Casey - we overtook each other two or three times - then on Pedrosa who, in this position isn't easy to overtake."

Starting fourth on the grid behind Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner, Rossi overtook the Australian on the sixth of the race's 27 laps before then trying to chip away at Pedrosa's advantage.