Telfonica Movistar Honda Spanish young gun
Dani Pedrosa took victory at Motegi after a race long battle with Toni Elias.
The dicing duo left the rest of the field behind them, such that third placed Hiroshi Aoyama crossed the chequered flag almost 16 seconds behind Pedrosa.
With around four laps to go, Pedrosa was in the lead and had managed to shake off the attentions of Elias to charge to the chequered flag with a comfortable three second margin.
The last laps run by Pedrosa truly put the nails in the coffin of any hopes of Elias getting back in contention, whilst it really was home happiness for Honda with the 1-2-3 from the Japanese manufacturer at its own circuit.
Randy de Puniet had been right in the hunt in the early stages of the race on the Safilo Carrera Aprilia but he lost the front end as the lap chart approached double figures. The Frenchman was able to get back to the actio and made his was back up to eleventh place.
Pedrosa now looks very well placed for championship glory.
Meanwhile, Seventeen-year-old Chaz Davies cracked a bone in his left heel and suffered cuts and bruises after a spectacular fall from his KF Club Aprilia while coming onto the start and finish straight.
top ten1. Daniel Pedrosa
2. Toni Elias
3. Hiroshi Aoyama
4. Sebastian Porto
5. Yuki Takahashi
6. Alex de Angelis
7. Roberto Rolfo
8. Shuhei Aoyama
9. Franco Battini
10. Alex Debon