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 1.935s, which took him to third in the championship standings.
A frustrating weekend for Jorge Lorenzo was compounded when the Spaniard crashed out at turn one 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.
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.
Dani Pedrosa secured his first podium at the circuit in the MotoGP class but came in 22.618s adrift of Rossi, while Alex de Angelis’ fine weekend was completed with a fourth-placed 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 – tenth – 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 ten.
Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) came in twelfth after being demoted to the back of the grid after his team was penalised
Iveco AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
MotoGP Race Classification
Pos. Points Num. Rider Nation Team Motorcycle Total time Km/h Gap 1 25 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 40'56.651 175.989 2 20 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 40'58.586 175.851 1.935 3 16 3 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 41'19.269 174.384 22.618 4 13 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 41'29.353 173.677 32.702 5 11 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 41'32.536 173.456 35.885 6 10 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 41'35.133 173.275 38.482 7 9 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 41'41.112 172.861 44.461 8 8 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 41'41.592 172.828 44.941 9 7 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Ducati 41'50.996 172.180 54.345 10 6 24 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 41'57.856 171.711 1'01.205 11 5 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 42'02.068 171.425 1'05.417 12 4 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 42'02.601 171.388 1'05.950 13 3 41 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 42'14.602 170.577 1'17.951 14 2 52 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 42'14.636 170.575 1'17.985 15 1 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 41'27.127 167.395 1 Lap
Not finished - 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha
