Valentino Rossi won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to take the overall lead in the Moto GP standings.
The Italian overtook Dani Pedrosa with 10 laps left to claim his first victory of the season after finishing as runner-up in the previous two races. Casey Stoner of Australia took third.
"I'm very happy about this victory after yesterday, which was a very difficult day," said Rossi, who had qualified fourth.
Rossi, the defending overall champion, has 66 points after his 154th top-three finish. Stoner is second with 54. Jorge Lorenzo, the previous overall leader, is equal third with Pedrosa on 41 points.
Lorenzo had started from pole position but was overtaken by Pedrosa on the first corner and then slid out with four laps to go as he chased Stoner.
Stoner said this race was more important than his season-opening victory at Qatar.
"Every time with a Moto GP bike on this track, I've had a bad start. But today we had a good start," the Australian said. "The bike felt quite good enough but it can do better. But I'm happy for what we did on this circuit."
In the 250cc category, Hiroshi Aoyama of Japan passed Alvaro Bautista of Spain on the final corner to score his first win of the season and take the overall lead.
Defending overall champion Marco Simoncelli of Italy took third and Hector Barbera of Spain was fourth.
Aoyama lead with 58 points, five ahead of Bautista after three races. Barbera is third with 43 points.
In the 125cc category, Bradley Smith of Britain won his first race ahead of Spanish pair Sergio Gadea and Marc Marquez.
