(Photo: HRC)

5. Indianapolis

Dani Pedrosa quietly strung together a perfect weekend that was overshadowed by some high-profile (and high-flying) crashers. Home hero Ben Spies raced off into the lead but his bike let him (and a nation) down, while Casey Stoner ignored the pain of some rather serious injuries (which would later require surgery) to claim a heroic fourth.

4. Sachsenring

Dani Pedrosa overcame teammate Casey Stoner on the final lap in Germany when the Australian dramatically crashed with just two corners remaining (erasing what had been a tie for the championship lead and was a few hundred meters from becoming a title advantage). The Round 8 win was Pedrosa's first of the season and opened the floodgates as he would win a further six over the season's final ten races.

3. Phillip Island

Even while on the mend Casey Stoner proved that he's on a whole different level at Phillip Island, absolutely dominating the weekend to take a sixth straight win down under. The triumph was Stoner's farewell victory as the all-time great hung up his helmet for good just weeks later.

2. Misano

The '12 MotoGP World Championship was effectively decided at Misano, where Dani Pedrosa's championship bid was crushed by double disaster. Having clawed his way back to within 13 points of Jorge Lorenzo and starting on pole, Pedrosa encountered start-line issues and then was taken out by Hector Barbera while charging his way forward on the race's opening lap. Lorenzo took the win and entered the season's five races with a commanding 38-point advantage.

1. Brno

Jorge Lorenzo may have won the war, but Dani Pedrosa claimed the hardest-fought battle of the season. The Repsol Honda ace outdueled his Factory Yamaha rival in a race-long dogfight that was decided by just 0.178 seconds. Meanwhile, Cal Crutchlow raced to his first career podium finish in third.

SPEED.com Motorcycle Racing Editor Chris Martin saw Eddie Lawson win aboard a Kawasaki the first time he attended an AMA Superbike race and witnessed Ben Bostrom win a World Superbike race aboard a V&H Ducati the first time he worked one. He has written about AMA SBK, WSBK, and MotoGP for SPEED.com since 2003. Chris is now on Twitter.