Casey Stoner Ties Jorge Lorenzo After Victory, Crash

[caption id="attachment_13807" align="alignright" width="300"] A bad crash for points leader Jorge Lorenzo coupled with Casey Stoner's victory means the MotoGP championship is all tied up after a wild weekend in Assen, Holland.[/caption]

A bad crash for points leader Jorge Lorenzo coupled with Casey Stoner's victory means the MotoGP championship is all tied up after a wild weekend in Assen, Holland.

The Dutch GP provided plenty of twists and turns for the MotoGP faithful in attendance. Stoner dominated the press for much of the weekend after suffering a crash that he later referred to as one of the worst in his career. Miraculously, Stoner walked away from the accident without serious injury and surprised the rest of the field by putting in the fastest last time with just seconds to go left in qualifying.

That left Stoner in good position to start the race, which may have ultimately changed the makeup of the season. Lorenzo, coming off three straight victories, collided with Alvaro Bautista on the very first turn. Lorenzo was unable to continue, and MotoGP penalized Bautista for what they deemed to be a dangerous move.

With Lorenzo out, Stoner cruised to victory after passing his teammate Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo began the day exactly 25 points ahead of Stoner, but because he earned no points after crashing, the championship is now all tied up.