Stoner takes third straight home win

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner’s dominance of his home circuit continued on Sunday as the Australian won at Phillip Island for the third year in a row, leading Valentino Rossi over the finish line by a margin of 1.935 secs.

In his second Grand Prix back after a three-race absence, the 24-year-old celebrated his birthday weekend with an impressive win from pole position, his third race victory of the season, which took him to third in the championship standings.

Having struggled with his endurance and requiring a three-race break, Stoner returned to action at Estoril where he secured second spot, before his third win of the season on his home track on Sunday.

“It’s not been our year to challenge for the championship and that’s a little bit disappointing, but at least we’ve had a good run and learnt a lot of things. So it’s definitely not all bad,” said Stoner. “To come back in Portugal was a really nice result for us. Jorge (Lorenzo) was too quick on the day but we almost had the pace to win the race, and we’re very proud of the team to have come back that quickly. This race, after the warm up in Portugal, was just a run off of that.

“We struggled all weekend with rear grip and were trying to get the bike hooked up a little bit better out of turns, but I think everybody was suffering from similar problems. So we did the best we could for the race, and the bike was working pretty well.

“Physically, I was able to do the same from start to finish, and I was just really happy with the way everything was working. Especially with my body; every lap I kept going past the point where I used to just hit my wall. It made me smile, and I enjoyed each lap after that.”

A frustrating weekend for Jorge Lorenzo was compounded when the Spaniard crashed out at turn 1 of the first lap after touching bikes with Stoner’s Ducati Marlboro team-mate Nicky Hayden. Having struggled through the practice sessions and qualifying with both rear-grip issues and illness, Lorenzo was unable to continue after sliding off, although Hayden climbed back aboard his Desmosedici GP9 to finish 15th.

“I made a good start but I was very close to Nicky and didn’t expect him to brake so quickly, so I touched Nicky and I couldn’t stay on the bike,” explained Lorenzo. “My front brake broke and I couldn’t brake on the corner. I had two options; to go straight or try to take the corner, I tried to take the corner but I didn’t have a brake and the rear tire didn’t stay so I crashed. I have a little damage on my nose and finger, but it could be worse.”

Rossi’s second place opened his lead at the top of the championship to 38 points over Fiat Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo with two races remaining, after it had been cut down to 18 following the latter’s win last time out at Estoril.

“I read on my board that Lorenzo was out, so I tried for the victory," Rossi said. "Casey set a good pace, but my bike setting was good so I tried to follow him at 100 per cent, but also had to remember not to make any mistakes for the championship after Lorenzo’s crash. It was a great battle. I tried, at one part of the race it was possible to attack, but at the end it was too risky and anyway Casey had a great race.

“These 20 points are so important for my championship. I have to thank Yamaha and all the guys in my team because we worked well this weekend and now we have a 38-point advantage with two races to go and we will try to do better next week in Sepang.”

Dani Pedrosa secured his first podium at the circuit in the MotoGP class but came in 22.618 secs. adrift of Rossi, while Alex de Angelis’ fine weekend was completed with a fourth place classification.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) took fifth spot from fifth on the grid, and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) overcame his worst qualifying position since Germany – 10th – to take sixth place.

Marco Melandri (Hayate), Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) and Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) all also finished inside the top 10.

Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) came in 12th after being demoted to the back of the grid after his team was penalized for using an extra engine outside its allocation.

Marco Simoncelli narrowed the gap on Hiroshi Aoyama in the 250cc World Championship to 12 points with a win at Phillip Island, as the Japanese rider was classified in seventh position when the race was red flagged.

Roberto Locatelli’s high-side crash which resulted in him lying stricken on the track brought the action to a premature end.

Simoncelli assumed the lead early on and the Italian maintained that for the remainder of the race, until a red flag on the 18th lap handed him the win, with Héctor Barberá in second and Raffaele de Rosa in third.

Locatelli suffered bruising to his lower back but escaped without serious injury, while Simoncelli’s win was the 200th for an Italian rider in the 250cc class.

Julián Simón was crowned the 2009 World Champion in the 125cc class on Sunday afternoon as the Spaniard clinched victory on the final lap of the Iveco Australian Grand Prix, which brought with it the world title.

With the rain which had hung over the weekend absent, calm winds and a cold temperature, a fantastic duel between Simón and his Bancaja Aspar team-mate Bradley Smith was played out, with the new title holder sealing the win and vindicating his decision to take the step down from 250cc for this season.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 40:56.651 (175.989 km/h)
2. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha +1.935
3. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda Team Honda +22.618
4. Alex DE ANGELIS (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda +32.702
5. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +35.885
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda Team Honda +38.482
7. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki +44.461
8. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP Honda +44.941
9. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Racing Ducati +54.345
10. Toni ELIAS (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda +1:01.205
11. Chris VERMEULEN (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki +1:05.417
12. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki +1:05.950
13. Gabor TALMACSI (HUN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda +1:17.951
14. James TOSELAND (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +1:17.985
15. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati +1 Lap
Not finished 1st lap
Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha

MotoGP Point Standings
1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 270
2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 232
3. Casey STONER (Ducati) 195
4. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 189
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 152
6. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 145
7. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 101
8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 101
9. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 101
10. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki) 100
11. Toni ELIAS (Honda) 96
12. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 95
13. James TOSELAND (Yamaha) 87
14. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 82
15. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 58
16. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati) 38
17. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda) 17
18. Sete GIBERNAU (Ducati) 12
19. Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda) 9
20. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 8