July 17, 2011 -- Updated 1618 GMT (0018 HKT)
Dani Pedrosa led home world champion Jorge Lorenzo and his Repsol Honda teammate Casey Stoner at the Sachsenring.
(CNN) -- Spanish motorcyclist Dani Pedrosa won the German Grand Prix on Sunday to leave the MotoGP championship battle finely poised going into the second half of the 2011 season.
Titleholder Jorge Lorenzo reduced Casey Stoner's overall lead to just 15 points after nine races, with the Spaniard overtaking Pedrosa's Repsol Honda teammate at the last corner to claim second place.
Pedrosa missed three races with a broken collarbone, but last year's championship runner-up has now climbed to fifth -- 74 points behind Stoner -- with his third victory at the Sachsenring circuit in motorcycling's elite class and fifth overall, having placed eighth on his return in Italy.
Underlining his reputation as one of the fastest starters in the sport, the 25-year-old surged ahead of pole-sitter Stoner as the race developed into a battle between the three main protagonists.
Stoner claims pole for German MotoGP
Each of them held the lead, but Pedrosa made the decisive move on lap 21 of 30 when he powered past Lorenzo's Yamaha.
Andrea Dovizioso retained third place overall, 36 points behind Australian teammate Stoner, as he came home fourth ahead of American Ben Spies and fellow Italian Marco Simoncelli.
Spanish rider Alvaro Bautista gave Suzuki a notable seventh place as he headed off the Ducatis of former world champions Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi.
Rossi, seven times the sport's No. 1 rider but struggling in his first season with his home team, is still fourth overall -- four points ahead of Pedrosa and 13 clear of Hayden.
Meanwhile, Stoner and Lorenzo have revealed that they will not take part in the rescheduled Japanese Grand Prix in October.
Both ride for Japanese teams, but do not want to take part at the Motegi circuit -- which is some 100 kilometers from the Fukushima nuclear plant damaged during March's earthquake and tsunami.
"I will not go and most riders have the same opinion," Stoner said at a press conference on Saturday.
"That's my opinion and I've had it for some time. Not as long as Jorge. I took more time to make my decision, but I will not go there. I guess it's up to the organizers to figure out what's going to happen.
"If a similar thing happened near my home in Australia I wouldn't be going back there. It'd be the same situation."
Lorenzo said he was not interested in negotiations with MotoGP officials about the matter.
"I took this decision not to go to Japan a long time ago," the 24-year-old said. "So I am not active in the ongoing discussions about going to Japan because I have already made my decision.
"I think if we can help Japan in another way we will, but I think going there is not real support."
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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