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Casey Stoner has marginally increased his lead at the top of the MotoGP table after a thrilling battle with nearest rival Valentino Rossi in the Catalonian GP last weekend.

Almost from the outset, Stoner and Rossi broke away from the chasing pack along with Dani Pedrosa and John Hopkins, with this tight four-way battle continuing right into the middle of the race.

Yet it soon became clear that one of the current top two would take the glory in Catalonia and they repeatedly exchanged the lead until the acceleration of Stoner's Ducati enabled him to finish less than a tenth of a second ahead of his adversary.

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The young Australian concluded afterwards: "The way the team has set up the bike for me is fantastic and the Bridgestones worked great again at a circuit where they've struggled in the past, so they've really changed things around.

"Today was another great race for us; I'm still not thinking about the championship, maybe later in the season we can really start aiming for that."

Meanwhile, Rossi seemed more exhilarated than disappointed, claiming to be happy just to have taken part in such an exciting race and praising Stoner for riding "like a God", although he noted that aspects of his Yamaha's performance still need to improve.

Stoner is now 14 points clear of the Italian, with his win on the Montmelo course making him the first rider to defeat Rossi there since fellow Ducati rider Loris Capirossi managed it in 2003.

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