Island-resident Cal Crutchlow beat Valentino Rossi to claim one of his best results yet in MotoGP

At a very blustery Aragon, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider claimed ninth place, fending off the best efforts of nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi.

Crutchlow lost time, and places, in the braking zone at the first corner delaying his charge up the ranks.

Passing Colin Edwards, Hiroshi Aoyama, Toni Elias and Valentino Rossi the 25-year-old gave the estimated 63,000 fans a brilliant display of attacking riding.

He passed Rossi and Aoyama on lap 18 and despite coming under intense pressure from the more experienced duo, he managed to keep them at bay to claim his best result since the Catalunya race in early June.

Cal said "Holding off Valentino and Hiroshi at the end took a massive effort...There are a lot of positives to take from this weekend because I've got back in the top 10 on a track I'd never seen before and beaten two guys with a lot more experience than me. I gained a lot of experience today riding with Valentino and that has given me a lot of confidence for the next few races.”

Honda's Casey Stoner took the win from Jorge Lorenzo with Andrea Dovizioso in third.

Stoner leads the overall rankings in the MotoGP championships on 284 points.

Lorenzo is just behind on 240 and Dovizioso trails on 185. Crutchlow is in 13 place on 52 points.