Casey Stoner salvaged a home triumph out of the wreckage of losing his world title to Valentino Rossi with a dominant all-the-way victory in the Australian MotoGP here on Sunday. The 22-year-old Australian Ducati rider claimed back-to-back Phillip Island GPs with a 6.5 second victory over Rossi, with American Nicky Hayden third on his Repsol Honda.
Stoner, who lamented his two crashes at the Czech and San Marino MotoGPs in August which effectively handed his world title to the resurgent Rossi, gave none of his rivals a chance after he led from the pole to the chequered flag.
"Before the race I didn't know what to expect," Stoner said. "A lot of people were going quick, but I gave it my all and managed to pull a gap in the middle of the race. "It's awesome to do it here again, two from two at Phillip Island-it's brilliant to win in Australia."
It was Stoner's 15th victory in his 50th MotoGP and followed his success before his home fans at Phillip Island last year.
Stoner powered around the 4.448-kilometre Phillip Island circuit in a race time of 40 minutes 56.643 seconds over the 120 kilometre (75-mile) journey. Stoner's fifth win of the year broke Rossi's run of five straight wins, but the Italian scored his 11th straight podium in Australia.
Rossi had locked up the championship on his Fiat Yamaha the previous weekend in Japan but had to fight his way from 12th on the grid after a crash in Saturday's qualifying to overtake Hayden on the final lap to capture second spot.
"I thought it would be a disaster when I woke up this morning and I felt as if my head was going to explode, but the medical people massaged me and it was much better for the race," Rossi said. "It was a very exciting race from the beginning to the end because I could not relax.
"Unfortunately, with my mistake yesterday when I had a big crash and started from the fourth row, (it) made it very difficult.
"When I saw Nicky becoming bigger and bigger I just pushed and tried to catch him. I think second place for us today is the best result." Stoner admitted after the race that the flowing nature of the Phillip Island circuit helped him overcome any fatigue associated with his long-standing wrist injury, which will require surgery after the season.
"In Japan last week I struggled a lot more on change of direction than I did on brakes," he said. "This weekend, it has been really good and it hasn't given me any dramas. Once we got to two-thirds race distance, I could start to ease off a little bit and take a lot of weight off it."
Stoner's convincing victory lifted him to 245 points to all but ensure him of finishing second in this year's championship with two races left in Malaysia and Spain. He gained 25 points to lead his closest rival, Dani Pedrosa, by 36 points after the Spaniard came off his Honda on the first lap and failed to complete Sunday's race.
Italian Alex De Angelis also failed to finish, joining Pedrosa early in the pits. Rossi had some early luck when he narrowly avoided de Angelis's tumble just a few metres in front of him. Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo finished fourth in Sunday's race ahead of Japan's Shinya Nakano in fifth.
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