Rossi clinches sixth title

From motogp.com

With his eighth victory of the 2008 season, Valentino Rossi sealed his sixth MotoGP World Championship title at the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan on Sunday. The Fiat Yamaha rider proved unstoppable at Twin Ring Motegi as he relegated outgoing champion Casey Stoner to second place in the 24-lap race.

"It´s difficult to compare titles, but this one definitely feels great," Rossi said. "I feel very good, because the battle was very tough this year, especially with Stoner and [Dani] Pedrosa. It has been a long season with a lot of hard races.

"In my career I have been lucky and have won some hard championships – like the first with Yamaha in 2004 - but this one I maybe tried to put more effort in outside of the races to try and win. I have to thank everyone at Yamaha for their efforts this year, the M1 has been very fast and we have worked very hard every weekend. Today was a great battle and a great race, and to win the championship with a race win is fantastic."

Rossi had started from the second row of the grid, and looked to be on the back foot when Stoner took the holeshot and attempted to break away. The top three in the standings, Rossi, Stoner and Dani Pedrosa became embroiled in an early battle for supremacy, narrowed down to a duel on lap five courtesy of a hard overtaking move by Stoner on his Spanish rival. The Ducati rider apologized for the pass, which took place on the run-up to the bridge section of the circuit, but still upped the pace in the ensuing laps –with Rossi hot on his tail.

The definitive pass for Rossi came on lap 14, and the Italian was able to do what he had done in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004: clinch the MotoGP World Championship with a race victory.

Stoner, a valiant foe for his successor over the course of the year, returned to the podium after three races off the rostrum. While it was not enough to prevent Rossi from confirming the title, it still marked his first top three finish in Japan in the premier class.

"At the beginning of the race everything felt quite good; I made mistake on a cold tire at the start and needed laps to warm up the tire," Stoner said. "The lap times were fast and I was comfortable at that pace, but didn´t have enough force after a while to change the direction of bike with my physical condition.

"Valentino went past and I started to lose a little ground, I thought that I could stay behind him for a while, and about three quarters of the way through I didn´t give up, but dropped the pace a little. When I picked it back up I did some reasonable lap times, but just made a little mistake and that was it, race over again."

The battle for the final podium place came down to two Spanish stars, with Pedrosa chased down by poleman Jorge Lorenzo. The Repsol Honda rider was put under pressure by the Fiat Yamaha rookie, and the two rivals clipped wheels on the final lap. Neither hit the asphalt, but Lorenzo was left without the chance of maintaining his run of top three finishes.

Nicky Hayden and Loris Capirossi rounded off the top six, with the experienced Italian unable to repeat his winning ways of the past three years at Motegi.

Colin Edwards, Shinya Nakano and John Hopkins also featured in the top 10, with the only crash of the race coming from Rizla Suzuki wildcard Kousuke Akiyoshi.

Race Results
1. V. ROSSI ITA (Fiat Yamaha Team) 43:09.599
2. C. STONER AUS (Ducati Marlboro Team) +1.943
3. D. PEDROSA SPA (Repsol Honda Team) +4.866
4. J. LORENZO SPA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +6.165
5. N. HAYDEN USA (Repsol Honda Team) +24.593
6. L. CAPIROSSI ITA (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +25.685
7. C. EDWARDS USA (Tech 3 Yamaha) +25.918
8. S. NAKANO JPN (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +26.003
9. A. DOVIZIOSO ITA (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) +26.219
10. J. HOPKINS USA (Kawasaki Racing Team) +37.131
11. J. TOSELAND GBR (Tech 3 Yamaha) +37.574
12. R. DE PUNIET FRA (LCR Honda MotoGP) +38.020
13. M. MELANDRI ITA (Ducati Marlboro Team) +39.768
14. S. GUINTOLI FRA (Alice Team) +45.846
15. A. WEST AUS (Kawasaki Racing Team) +55.748
16. T. ELIAS SPA (Alice Team) +59.320
17. A. DE ANGELIS RSM (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +1:12.398
Not classified
C. VERMEULEN AUS (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 8 Lap
Not finished 1st lap
K. AKIYOSHI JPN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP)

Point Standings
1. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team) 312
2. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 220
3. Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team) 209
4. Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team) 169
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) 136
6. Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha) 118
7. Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 117
8. Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team) 115
9. Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 96
10. Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 95
11. James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha) 90
12. Toni ELIAS (Alice Team) 86
13. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team) 58
14. Alex DE ANGELIS (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 55
15. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 51
16. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team) 47
17. Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP) 47
18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team) 42
19. Ben SPIES (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 20
20. Jamie HACKING (Kawasaki Racing Team) 5
21. Tadayuki OKADA (Repsol Honda Team) 2