Championship leader Casey Stoner produced an ice-cool performance to hold off a charging Valentino Rossi and claim his fourth race victory of the season in a thrilling Catalan MotoGP in Barcelona on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Australian came under intense pressure from the seven-time world champion in the closing stages of the race but he never lost his nerve and used the superior speed of his Ducati to clinch a memorable victory.
"There was a lot of overtaking going on out there," said Stoner.
"It was a thinking race and one had to plan what to do next as Valentino was passing me all the time. It was really, really hard."
Local favourite Dani Pedrosa crossed the line in third on his Honda while John Hopkins repeated his performance of last year with fourth place on the Suzuki at the Catalunya circuit.
Stoner and Rossi, the winner last Sunday in Italy, fought out an enthralling battle throughout the last half of the race with the lead changing on several occasions.
However Stoner emerged the leader entering the final lap and held his nerve to hold off Rossi to take the chequered flag with Pedrosa a close third after leading the race for the first lap.
Defending champion Nicky Hayden's disappointing title defence continued, with the American only managing 11th.
Lead extended
The win sees Stoner extend his lead over Rossi in the standings to 14 points, with the Australian on top with 140 points, ahead of the Italian on 126 and Pedrosa on 98.
Despite the thrilling nature of the race, Stoner wasn't convinced this was his finest win of the campaign.
"I think Turkey stands out, though, this comes a close second.
"Valentino has won here so often so it was quite something to beat him today."
The next round of the championship is the British Grand Prix at Donington Park on June 24.