Dani Pedrosa has taken his first win of the season, and 1000cc era, after going toe-to-toe with team-mate
Casey Stoner for almost the entire 30 lap distance in Sunday's German
MotoGP at Sachsenring.
Stoner, who came into the race tied with
Jorge Lorenzo for the title lead, was pushing to pass Pedrosa and claim his fourth win of the year when he lowsided out of second place at the penultimate turn.
The Australian sprang to his feet after the high-speed slide, but was unable to continue (he later criticised the marshals), marking his first self-inflicted DNF as a Repsol Honda rider.
It also dropped Stoner to third in the points behind Lorenzo and Pedrosa - who won his third successive German GP by 14.996s, setting the fastest race lap on the last lap.
Pedrosa had taken the holeshot, been passed by Stoner on lap 2, but stuck with the Australian and retaken the lead on lap 19.
Stoner in turn refused to yield and looked poised to try a last-gasp victory pass until the front folded on entry into the left hander at the bottom of the hill.
Stoner's accident put Yamaha's Lorenzo into a surprise second place, after a lonely race that saw the Spaniard pass team-mate Ben Spies early on but never able to match the Repsol riders.
Lorenzo is now back in the title lead by 14 points from Pedrosa with Stoner 20 points behind after eight of 18 rounds.
Front row starter Spies was soon locked in a thrilling dice with Yamaha Tech 3 team-mates
Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow. Wheel-to-wheel and fanning out across the track at almost every turn, three became two when Crutchlow ran through the turn one gravel with five laps remaining.
Dovizioso kept Spies at bay by less than a tenth of a second to claim what had been fourth, but suddenly turned into the Italian's third podium of the season.