Spaniard Marc Marquez won his seventh straight race on Sunday as he took the honours in a thrilling Catalunya MotoGP ahead of Italian Valentino Rossi and Honda teammate and compatriot Dani Pedrosa.
Repsol Honda Team's Spanish Moto GP rider Marc Marquez celebrates on the podium with the trophy after winning Catalunya Grand Prix at the Montmelo racetrack, near Barcelona, on June 15, 2014
The runaway championship leader and defending world champion survived a furious onslaught from Pedrosa over the final two laps after seizing the lead from Rossi who had led for much of the middle part of the race.
He extends his points tally to a perfect 175 while Rossi stays second on 117 after going past Pedrosa on the final lap when the Spaniard touched wheels with Marquez.
Pedrosa is third in the standings on 112 but will be disappointed to have lost second spot when victory was within his grasp.
It was the 62nd podium for Marquez and the 100th MotoGP win for Honda.
"It's so nice to win in front of my home fans," Marquez told BT sport, after kicking several yellow footballs into the crowd.
"The last laps I made a comeback after nearly clashing with Valentino early in the race and felt really strong. It was a great tussle on the final lap first with Valentino then with Dani. This is special."
While Marquez makes it seven from seven, the first time since Rossi in 2002 that a rider has achieved that feat, he remains well short of the all time record of 20 consecutive victories set by legendary Italian Giacomo Agostini between 1968 to 1969.
"I'm very happy as we modified the bike overnight and it worked very well in the race," said Rossi.
"I never made a mistake and it ran really smoothly and I thought at one point I would win but then the Hondas were too fast in the final laps.
"However, I battled really well and so I can be satisfied with that," said the flamboyant nine-time world champion.
The final laps of the race were run under thunder and lightning although race officials declined to halt the race.
It was a fascinating battle between the three men with Pedrosa taking the lead from Rossi with four laps remaining before swapping the lead with Marquez several times only to let his advantage slip as the riders went wheel to wheel.
"I don't care whether it was 16 or 25 points today it was more about my performance and I am delighted with that as it is my best one of the year," said Pedrosa.
"I was surprised by Valentino's pace. Then on the final lap Marc closed the door and we almost came together but in the end it was fine." added the former 125 and 250cc world champion.
The next race is set for June 28 at Assen in the Netherlands.
Esteve Rabat of Spain, on a Kalex, won the Moto2 race with another Spanish Katex rider, Maverick Vinales, coming second, with France's Johann Zarco (Caterham Suter) third.
Rabat, who started from pole position, won for the fourth time this season and consolidated his lead in the world championship.
His main rival for the title, Finland's Mika Kallio, could only finish fourth and now trails Rabat by 34 points.
In Moto3, Alex Marquez, the younger brother of Marc, took victory on a Honda with Italian Enea Bastianini second on a KTM.
On a weekend dominated by Spanish riders, Efren Vazquez took third spot to make six podium places out of nine on offer at the the Montmelo circuit.