Stoner wins second straight at home

From motogp.com

In front of 50,541 spectators at Phillip Island, Casey Stoner repeated his 2007 home victory in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. The Ducati rider led the race from start to finish after taking off from pole, and eventually crossed the line some six seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

"This morning we changed some things on the bike and felt comfortable," Stoner said. "We knew that the race was going to be hard, as normally you cant get away here, but we did. Nicky was with me for a while but then he seemed to drop off."

Stoner's fifth victory of the year, combined with a first lap crash from Dani Pedrosa, means that last year's MotoGP World Champion is all-but assured of the runner-up spot in the standings in 2008. Pedrosa picked up a contusion to his left leg in the fall, but was otherwise unharmed in the incident.

Stoner's future Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden attempted to keep up with the local hero over the course of the race, but the Australian proved too hot to handle in the final third. From then on Hayden had to be aware of the threat of newly crowned MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi lurking in the shadows, as the Fiat Yamaha stalked the man who beat him to the title in 2006.

Rossi overtook Hayden on the final lap, and held off the American´s attempts to re-pass him as the chequered flag loomed. Starting from his worst position on the grid of the entire season, Rossi´s move up to second from 12th was nothing short of majestic.

"For me it was very, very exctiting," Rossie said. "I never had even one second to relax. There were some big battles. De Angelis crashed in front of me and I missed him by about a centimetre, and I pushed and pushed until I reached [Jorge] Lorenzo and [James] Toseland. I lost a bit of time with James, but when I got in front I upped my pace to get away.

"I saw Nicky getting bigger and bigger, and thought it might be possible and that I had to try. On the last lap I was able to do it."

"It was good to be at the front keeping the pressure on Casey," Hayden said. "This track is so hard on tires that I knew it would be a gamble and nearly went harder today; in fact, on my sighting lap I put a harder tire on before changing it on the grid."

Rossi´s teammate Lorenzo came home fourth in the battle of the race, involving himself, Shinya Nakano, Toseland and Andrea Dovizioso. Toseland had been the chief protagonist of the action over the course of the 27-lap race, duking it out with Rossi and Lorenzo in the early stages and pushing hard for the podium on his 28th birthday. The Tech 3 Yamaha rider gave perhaps his best performance to date onboard a MotoGP bike, and was unlucky to be hustled by the more experienced Nakano and relegated to sixth.

Colin Edwards, Randy de Puniet and Loris Capirossi rounded off the first 10 past the line, while home rider Chris Vermeulen was denied the chance to push for a higher position by running off-track on the opening lap.

Rossi's charge up the field could easily have been halted by the only other crash apart from that of Pedrosa, when Alex de Angelis hit the ground just a few yards in front of him.

Race Results
1. C. STONER AUS (Ducati Marlboro Team) 40:56.643
2. V. ROSSI ITA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +6.504
3. N. HAYDEN USA (Repsol Honda Team) +7.205
4. J. LORENZO SPA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +11.500
5. S. NAKANO JPN (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +11.914
6. J. TOSELAND GBR (Tech 3 Yamaha) +12.243
7. A. DOVIZIOSO ITA (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) +12.780
8. C. EDWARDS USA (Tech 3 Yamaha) +25.920
9. R. DE PUNIET FRA (LCR Honda MotoGP) +26.037
10. L. CAPIROSSI ITA (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +26.799
11. T. ELIAS SPA (Alice Team) +27.027
12. A. WEST AUS (Kawasaki Racing Team) +47.808
13. J. HOPKINS USA (Kawasaki Racing Team) +48.333
14. S. GUINTOLI FRA (Alice Team) +48.899
15. C. VERMEULEN AUS (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +48.935
16. M. MELANDRI ITA (Ducati Marlboro Team) +1:11.767
Not finished 1st lap
A. DE ANGELIS RSM (San Carlo Honda Gresini)
D. PEDROSA SPA (Repsol Honda Team)

Point Standings
1. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team) 332
2. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 245
3. Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team) 209
4. Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team) 182
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) 145
6. Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team) 131
7. Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha) 126
8. Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 118
9. Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 106
10. Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 102
11. James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha) 100
12. Toni ELIAS (Alice Team) 91
13. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team) 60
14. Alex DE ANGELIS (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 55
15. Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP) 54
16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 51
17. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team) 50
18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team) 46
19. Ben SPIES (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 20
20. Jamie HACKING (Kawasaki Racing Team) 5
21. Tadayuki OKADA (Repsol Honda Team) 2