(TV9 Sport) – Casey Stoner has won the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island for the fourth successive year.
Having earned pole position on his 25th birthday on Saturday, the Australian Ducati rider led from start to finish to seal the win in superb fashion.
Stoner opened up a 1.5 second gap between himself and newly crowned MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo within the first lap.
He eventually finished 8.598secs ahead of Lorenzo, with Valentino Rossi third.
Rossi, the 2009 world champion from Italy, stole in to finish third courtesy of a bold overtaking manoeuvre on United States rider Nicky Hayden in the final lap of the race.
His third place finish ensured that he and Spaniard Lorenzo sealed the 2010 Team Championship with two rounds remaining.
However, Stoner was the stand-out performer, capping an impressive weekend which saw him claim pole in rainy conditions on Saturday and he is now closing in on Rossi’s five straight victories at Phillip Island between 2001 and 2005.
The result lifted the Australian up to third in the championship standings ahead of Rossi.
“It’s been an extremely hard weekend with the weather but everything has gone well for us,” said Stoner.
“Everybody was expecting the fourth win but I attacked this race like any other and we were able to control the gap at the front and bring home the win.”
Yamaha rider Lorenzo – who sealed his championship win last Sunday with a third-place finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix – admitted he quickly resigned himself to second place in Australia, saying: “It’s really difficult to beat him [Stoner] here.
“I tried my best but when I saw him go away a bit I thought it was better today to finish second.”
Italian Andrea Dovizioso lost ground in the race for third place in the world championship when he retired with trouble to his Repsol Honda bike on the fourth lap.
The race went ahead without Dani Pedrosa after the Repsol Honda rider conceded he had not sufficiently recovered from a fractured collarbone, suffered in a crash during practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at the start of October.
Pedrosa, who had missed the last two races and only qualified 15th at Phillip Island, said: “After the operation in Spain my target was to come back in Australia.
“But having ridden in the three practice sessions here it’s clear that it is really impossible for me to maintain a high pace because I lose strength in my arm lap by lap and controlling the bike gets increasingly difficult.
“I don’t want to take more risks so that I can recover in time for Estoril.”
The penultimate round takes place at Estoril, Portugal, on 31 October.
Australian MotoGP result:
1 Casey Stoner (Aus) Ducati 41:09.128
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 41:17.726
3 Valentino Rossi (It) Yamaha 41:27.125
4 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 41:27.163
5 Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 41:31.339
6 Marco Simoncelli (It) Honda 41:34.145
7 Colin Edwards (US) Yamaha 41:44.296
8 Aleix Espargaro (Sp) Ducati 41:55.322
9 Marco Melandri (It) Honda 41:55.422
10 Randy de Puniet (Fr) Honda 42:08.763
11 Mika Kallio (Fin) Ducati 42:08.792
12 Alvaro Bautista (Sp) Suzuki 42:08.860
World championship standings:
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 333* world champion
2 Dani Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 228
3 Casey Stoner (Aus) Ducati 205
4 Valentino Rossi (It) Yamaha 197
5 Andrea Dovizioso (It) Honda 179
6 Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 163
7 Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 152
8 Marco Simoncelli (It) Honda 102
9 Randy de Puniet (Fr) Honda 100
10 Marco Melandri (It) Honda 93
11 Colin Edwards (US) Yamaha 90
12 Hector Barbera (Sp) Ducati 76
13 Alvaro Bautista (Sp) Suzuki 73
14 Aleix Espargaro (Sp) Ducati 60
15 Hiroshi Aoyama (Jpn) Honda 47
Moto2 race result:
1 Alex De Angelis (SM) 39:51.102
2 Scott Redding (GB) 39:53.274
3 Andrea Iannone (It) 39:54.076
Championship standings:
1 Toni Elias (Spa) 271* world champion
2 Julian Simon (Sp) 181
3 Andrea Iannone (It) 179
125cc race result:
1 Marc Marquez (Sp) 38:13.008
2 Pol Espargaro (Sp) 38:19.070
3 Nicolas Terol (Sp) 38:24.584
Selected other:
5 Bradley Smith (GB) 38:32.041
Championship standings:
1 Marc Marquez (Sp) 272 points
2 Nicolas Terol (Sp) 260
3 Pol Espargaro (Sp) 255
4 Bradley Smith (GB) 182
From BBC Sport
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/lKizzoMCKxP/Ducati+Casey+Stoner+secures+Australian+GP
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