Honda's Valentino Rossi has won the Spanish motorcycling Grand Prix MotoGP for the second year in a row.

The world championship leader claimed victory in the third of the 16-race series on the Jeres de la Frontera circuit

Daijiro Kato of Japan was second with fellow countryman Tohru Ukawa in third.

Rossi had an early scare when he dropped to eighth place after touching bikes with American former world champion Kenny Roberts.

But he recovered and used the superior power of his four-stroke Honda to work his way up the field.

On lap 17 he left his braking late to slip past Ukawa and gradually pulled away.

Results:

1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 46 minutes 51.843 seconds
2. Daijiro Kato (Japan) Honda 46:53.033
3. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 46:54.288
4. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Honda 46:54.673
5. Alex Barros (Brazil) Honda 46:55.960
6. Norick Abe (Japan) Yamaha 47:10.360
7. Nobuatsu Aoki (Japan) Proton 47:23.628
8. Kenny Roberts (US) Suzuki 47:25.719
9. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Suzuki 47:30.605
10. Tetsuya Harada (Japan) Honda 47:31.818

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World championship standings:

1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 70 points
2. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 41
3. Daijiro Kato (Japan) Honda 39
4. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Honda 36
5. Norick Abe (Japan) Yamaha 30
6. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha 27
7. Alex Barros (Brazil) Honda 21
8. Akira Ryo (Japan) Honda 20
9. Nobuatsu Aoki (Japan) Proton 18
10. Olivier Jacque (France) Yamaha 15