Stoner continues home dominance

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner’s authority on his home Phillip Island track continued in style on Sunday as the Ducati rider won the MotoGP World Championship round at the circuit for the fourth year in a row.

Starting from pole position – his third of the season – the 25 year-old led the Iveco Australian Grand Prix from start to finish as he made it a third win of 2010 in front of a partisan crowd.

Eventually crossing the finish line 8.598 secs. ahead of 2010 World Champion Jorge Lorenzo it was the perfect end to a strong weekend from Stoner, who had demonstrated his pace throughout the practice and qualifying sessions.

“This feels really nice. I think when I won two in a row here nobody expected me to make it three but having done that I felt there was a lot of expectation on me today,” said Stoner. “To be fair we have been going for the win at the last four races - unfortunately I slipped off on the first lap at Sepang but we've made up for that this weekend. Everything has gone well for us, we have been happy with the bike from the first practice and the support from the fans has been fantastic.”

Stoner confessed to having felt slightly more tense than normal before the race due to the expectation, but he immediately settled into his rhythm and led for the entire 27 laps.

“I have to admit that before the race I was feeling the pressure, I was more nervous than I normally am but maybe I should be like that more often because I didn't make mistakes,” he said. “I am really happy with the way I rode today but every single person in the team has done a great job this weekend so my thanks go to them and I hope we can keep it going to the end of the season.”

Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) rode a lonely race in second position as he finished almost 10 seconds ahead of third-placed Valentino Rossi. For the Spaniard it was a 14th podium finish in his title-winning campaign – his 32nd top-three result in the MotoGP category in what was his 50th premier class start.

"We knew Casey would be hard to beat today. I tried my best, riding as hard as I could at the start and occasionally it seemed like I was closing a little bit, but then on the next lap Casey would extend his lead again by a few tenths,” said Lorenzo. “I kept trying but I didn't have much hope and half way through I decided it was better not to take risks.”

The fight for third place went right down to the final lap and Fiat Yamaha man Rossi edged out Nicky Hayden in what was a fantastically close battle. The Ducati rider appeared to have got one over on his Italian rival with three laps to go when he overtook at Honda Corner, but Rossi returned the move at the same place on the final lap to beat the American to the final podium spot by a margin of just 0.038 secs.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies achieved his eighth top-five finish of his maiden MotoGP campaign and with it secured Rookie of the Year, with fellow premier class debutant Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) just under three seconds further back in sixth position.

There were top-10 finishes also for Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda).

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was the only rider who failed to finish the race after he experienced technical problems early on.

Absent due to injuries were Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) – who rode in qualifying but opted not to race as he continues his recovery from a broken collarbone – and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), who sustained a groin injury in a qualifying session crash. The pair both expect to be fit to return at Estoril in a fortnight.

The result lifted Stoner into third in the Championship standings ahead of Rossi, and with the Italian and his Spanish team-mate’s podium finishes Fiat Yamaha also secured the Team Championship for 2010 with two rounds remaining.

Alex de Angelis took his first victory in the Moto2 class at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, leading his JiR Moto2 team bike across the finish line ahead of Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) and Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up).

The San Marinese rider started from pole position and recovered from a start which saw him drop to fourth position to slowly enter the battle for the lead. A strong finish to the race saw De Angelis win by a margin of 2.172 secs. as he followed up his first podium of the year last time out in Malaysia with a first victory of 2010.

Redding rounded off an impressive weekend with his second podium of the year as he rode to second – his best Moto2 result to date.

In third position Iannone came in a fraction over eight-tenths of a second behind Redding, as he suffered from tire issues towards the end. It was his seventh podium of the campaign as he moved to within two points of Julián Simón in the fight for second position in the overall standings.

World Champion Toni Elías (Gresini Racing) came out on top in an engrossing contest for seventh position.

Marc Márquez’s ninth win of the season stretched the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider’s lead at the top of the 125cc World Championship standings to 12 points on Sunday, as he triumphed from pole position at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix.

Márquez finished well ahead of title rivals Pol Espargaró and Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar), who had competed closely for the remaining two podium positions during the race. Espargaró eventually finished just over five seconds clear of Terol however as the Tuenti Racing rider put in a strong final stage of the race.

The result leaves Márquez on 272 points at the top of the standings, with Terol now on 260 and Espargaró on 255 with the Estoril and Valencia rounds to go.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 41:09.128
2. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +8.598
3. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +17.997
4. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati +18.035
5. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +22.211
6. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +25.017
7. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +35.168
8. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati +46.194
9. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +46.294
10. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda +59.635
11. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati +59.664
12. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki +59.732
13. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda +1:05.029
14. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati +1:05.053
Not Classified
Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda

MotoGP Point Standings
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 333
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 228
3. Casey STONER (Ducati) 205
4. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 197
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 179
6. Ben SPIES (Yamaha) 163
7. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 152
8. Marco SIMONCELLI (Honda) 102
9. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 100
10. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 93
11. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 90
12. Hector BARBERA (Ducati) 76
13. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Suzuki) 73
14. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 60
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda) 47
16. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 43
17. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 41
18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 11
19. Roger Lee HAYDEN (Honda) 5
20. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 4
21. Wataru YOSHIKAWA (Yamaha) 1