Stoner scores sixth win

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner ended the 2008 season as he began, victorious onboard the Ducati Desmosedici GP8. The Australian took the win at the Gran Premio Parts Europe de la Comunitat Valenciana in emphatic fashion on Sunday, breaking away from pole for triumph number six of the year.

Runner-up in the overall standings, Stoner was riding for pride in the final race of the campaign, once again competing through the discomfort of a scaphoid injury that will be treated almost immediately following Monday and Tuesday's post-race test. Setting circuit records along the way, Stoner eventually crossed the line 3.390 seconds clear of any challenge to his superiority.

"I couldn´t ask for much more," Stoner said. "It was a very difficult season with lots of ups and lots of downs. I'm looking forward to testing the new bike – it's the reason that we've kept on riding - but another two good results is great.

"Yesterday we couldn't find a good set up, but working after doing the qualifying laps and in the warm up got us ready for the race."

Last year's race winner at Valencia, Dani Pedrosa was unable to repeat the feat in 2008 – despite his best attempts. The Repsol Honda rider had taken the holeshot after his trademark speedy start off the line, but was left taking a back seat to Stoner as the pace quickened. Nonetheless, the Spaniard treated the home fans to another podium finish, his 11th of the year.

"Normally Stoner is very good at setting up the bike in a short amount of time," Pedrosa said. "In the race he was just a little faster. He was better than me today. I'm a little disappointed about this, because I wanted the victory for the fans and with the special Repsol livery. I'm happy to get back to the top after a bad middle of the season, where my feeling wasn't so good, so this is a good thing for us."

Valentino Rossi had claimed on Saturday that he was not fast on race or qualifying tires in the dry at Valencia, but proved himself wrong with his own mercurial performance with the Yamaha M1. The 2008 World Champion also added a further notch to his podium tally with third place, his ninth in succession and 16th of the campaign.

"We completely messed up the only dry practice," Rossi explained. "I started from the fourth row because of this. We modified the setting, I got a great start and overtook other riders quickly. I was behind Dani quite early and not so far, and I tried to push but we were not at 100%. We always struggle here, but I'm happy to close the year with a podium."

One week on from his first MotoGP podium, Andrea Dovizioso earned fourth place in a similarly closely-fought battle to that of Sepang with Nicky Hayden. The JiR Team Scot rider got a chance to further inspect the factory bike with which he will test on Monday and Tuesday, edging out his American rival but unable to take the Rookie of the Year prize. He handed his satellite machine to his replacement, Yuki Takahashi, on returning to the garage.

Moving from Repsol Honda to Ducati for 2009, Hayden fell short in his quest to end his stay on Japanese machinery with a final victory. Starting from the front row – like Pedrosa running a special white retro livery and leathers combination for the race - 'The Kentucky Kid' dropped to fifth as he once again lost out to Dovizioso.

Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards came home sixth, ahead of Shinya Nakano, Jorge Lorenzo, Loris Capirossi and Alex de Angelis. All 18 of the MotoGP riders completed the 30-lap race, held in front of 119,788 spectators.

Race Results
1. C. STONER AUS (Ducati Marlboro Team) 46:46.114
2. D. PEDROSA SPA (Repsol Honda Team) +3.390
3. V. ROSSI ITA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +12.194
4. A. DOVIZIOSO ITA (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) +24.159
5. N. HAYDEN USA (Repsol Honda Team) +26.232
6. C. EDWARDS USA (Tech 3 Yamaha) +32.209
7. S. NAKANO JPN (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +34.571
8. J. LORENZO SPA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +35.661
9. L. CAPIROSSI ITA (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +38.228
10. A. DE ANGELIS RSM (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +47.583
11. J. TOSELAND GBR (Tech 3 Yamaha) +52.107
12. S. GUINTOLI FRA (Alice Team) +52.350
13. C. VERMEULEN AUS (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +52.833
14. J. HOPKINS USA (Kawasaki Racing Team) +53.227
15. R. DE PUNIET FRA (LCR Honda MotoGP) +53.411
16. M. MELANDRI ITA (Ducati Marlboro Team) +1:08.387
17. A. WEST AUS (Kawasaki Racing Team) +1:11.181
18. T. ELIAS SPA (Alice Team) +1:37.055

Final Point Standings
1. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team) 373
2. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 280
3. Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team) 249
4. Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team) 190
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) 174
6. Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team) 155
7. Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha) 144
8. Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 128
9. Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 126
10. Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 118
11. James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha) 105
12. Toni ELIAS (Alice Team) 92
13. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team) 67
14. Alex DE ANGELIS (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 63
15. Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP) 61
16. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team) 57
17. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 51
18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team) 50
19. Ben SPIES (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 20
20. Jamie HACKING (Kawasaki Racing Team) 5
21. Tadayuki OKADA (Repsol Honda Team) 2