-
Casey Stoner celebrates his win - Source: Reuters -
Related
Casey Stoner showed no sign of the illness that has derailed his
season when he upstaged Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo to secure
a hat-trick of home Australian Grand Prix wins on Sunday.
Stoner, who missed three races with fatigue before posting a podium
finish at the Portuguese Grand Prix this month, took the tactical
battle by 1.935 seconds over champion Rossi in sunny conditions at
the 4.45km Phillip Island circuit.
"I was just really happy with the way everything was working,
especially my body," the 2007 world champion told reporters. "Every
lap that I kept going past the point where I used to just hit my
wall, it made me smile."
Rossi's second place was achieved despite personal tragedy, the
Italian hearing of his stepfather's death before qualifying on
Saturday, and lifted him closer to retaining the title.
Crossing the line well clear of Dani Pedrosa in third, Rossi
stretched his championship lead over nearest challenger Lorenzo to
38 points with two races remaining after the Spaniard crashed out
before the first turn.
After a sluggish start out of the grid, pole-sitter Stoner managed
to snatch the lead back from Spain's Pedrosa before the end of the
first lap and was soon joined by Rossi.
The two quickly opened up a large gap over the rest of the pack and
engaged in an epic game of cat-and-mouse, Rossi's Yamaha pressing
agonisingly close at the corners, only for Stoner's Ducati to slip
away on the straights.
Stoner saw off the Italian champion's challenges, however, and
survived a hair-raising wobble late on to post his third win of the
season in front of ecstatic home fans.
The 24-year-old said he had almost expected his arms to start
buckling when braking at some of the more taxing turns at the
Phillip Island circuit, but that his break from competition had
ultimately paid dividends.
"After we took those three races off, even before, it's not that
we gave up the championship, but we were realistic about it," added
Stoner, who leapfrogged Pedrosa to move third in the championship
standings.
"We realised that to try and salvage every point we can for this
championship and just slowly finish the season and not fix the
problem before next year -- we decided to take the time off and fix
it and get ready for next year."
Lorenzo's gift
Having pulled within striking distance of Rossi with his win in
Portugal, Lorenzo's championship bid was all but ruined just
seconds after the start.
Fourth on the grid, Lorenzo lost control and came off his bike
after brushing another rider, the accident also dragging American
Nicky Hayden into the paddock.
Rossi was pleased to accept the Spaniard's gift with only races in
Malaysia and Valencia to come this season.
"I was very close, I think some two or three laps (I was) faster,
but anyway there was no way for the victory but these 20 points are
like gold for us," said the Italian, who is chasing a seventh
premier class title.
Honda-rider's Pedrosa third place was his third podium finish in
as many races.
In the 250cc class, Marco Simoncelli was awarded victory with six
laps left after a crash left Italian Roberto Locatelli stricken on
the race track.
The win put the hirsute Gilera rider within 12 points of leader
Hiroshi Aoyama of Japan, who was classified seventh.
Aprilia-rider Hector Barbera of Spain finished second and Italian
Raffaele De Rosa third.
Spaniard Julian Simon clinched the 125cc race and the championship
in dramatic fashion, overtaking British team mate and nearest
challenger Bradley Smith on the final lap.
