Stoner Takes Victory at Phillip Island

Casey Stoner has become the first Australian to be victorious three years in a row on his home circuit.

The Ducati works rider managed to control the race from start to finish, thrilling his home crowd with a flawless performance.

Amid a beautiful weather with plenty of sunshine, the start proved to be very agitated, as Jorge Lorenzo tangled with Nicky Hayden right before the very first right hander, putting the Spanish rider out of the race. This meant Jorge Lorenzo’s 18-point trail in the championship to Valentino Rossi suffered a major drawback, making it a 38-point gap as the Italian Fiat Yamaha rider finished second.

Hayden did manage to get up on his bike after his contact with Lorenzo, but finished last. The race was pretty much a settled one, with most of the riders retaining their qualifying order.

Dani Pedrosa had a blistering start from third to first, but couldn’t fend off the crowd’s favorite’s attacks. Stoner, who ran with a new bike livery and suit design imposed the race pace from beginning to end, while Valentino Rossi was behind him to intimidate the Australian and take advantage of any potential mistake.

Dani Pedrosa rode most of his race on the third spot and finished accordingly, but lap after lap struggled to keep the pace with the front two riders. Alex de Angelis finished fourth on the Gresini Honda, after running most of his race on the same spot.

Colin Edwards finished fifth after an unhindered performance, while Dovizioso came in sixth. From sixth to ninth was the most active pack of the race, with Dovizioso, Melandri, Randy de Puniet and Mika Kallio riding very close. This pack even produced some wonderful overtaking, as Marco Melandri and Randy de Puniet battled out for 7th spot.

Toni Elias came in 10th followed by the two Suzukis with Chris Vermeulen
11th and Loris Capirossi 12th. Disappointing performance from the Rizla-Suzuki team as their bikes clearly struggled with the pace and with Capirossi starting last after an engine swap penalty.

Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi finished 13th for Scot Honda, while James Toseland crossed the line 14th after race he’ll quickly want to forget, as the Britain received an early drive through penalty for his second jump-start of the year.