Australia MotoGP: Casey Stoner dominates to take championship

Casey Stoner was on dominant form to win his home race at Phillip Island with a 2.2 second lead and secure the 2011 MotoGP world championship.

The Repsol Honda rider made a strong start and led throughout an intermittently wet race to take the championship win with a 65 point lead over Jorge Lorenzo. The Spanish Yamaha Factory Racing rider was ruled out of the race after sustaining a finger injury in a fall in the final minutes of warm up.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) put in a strong performance to take second, his best result of the season so far, holding the position throughout the race until a late rain shower meant Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was able to pass an unusually cautious Simoncelli with three laps remaining. Simoncelli fought back to reclaim second on the final lap, relegating Dovizioso to third place.

Dovizioso traded places with team mate Dani Pedrosa several times, with fifteen laps remaining Pedrosa went through on the brakes but eight laps later Dovizioso reclaimed third at the Switchback and Pedrosa eventually crossed the line 13.1 seconds behind in fourth place.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Factory Racing) made a very strong start to reach second place before dropping to fifth, with Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) challenging the American in sixth. The white flag was shown for the first rain showers with eighteen laps to go and on the following lap Bautista claimed fifth.  A trailing Valentino Rossi seemingly found his pace mid-way through the race, passing team mate Hayden to secure sixth before making a determined pass on Bautista that resulted in the front end of his Ducati folding on the damp track and the Italian crashing out of the second race in a row.

In the final laps the intermittent showers caught out several riders, with Karel Abraham (Cardion AB) falling before remounting to finish tenth, Bautista suffering a front end wash out and Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) ending their races simultaneously in the same gravel trap.

Colin Edwards was able to capitalise on the late crashes to take fifth place, with Randy De Puniet (Pramac Racing Team) finishing in sixth ahead of Hayden who gambled on the second white flag to swap his bike. Toni Elias had been trailing on his LCR Honda, but was able to cling on to finish in eighth ahead of Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing Team).

1. 25 27 Casey Stoner AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 171.4 42’02.425
2. 20 58 Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 171.3 +2.210
3. 16 4 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 171.2 +2.454
4. 13 26 Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 170.5 +13.160
5. 11 5 Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 169.3 +30.886
6. 10 14 Randy De Puniet FRA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 168.1 +48.800
7. 9 69 Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team Ducati 166.4 +1’16.314
8. 8 24 Toni Elias SPA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 164.9 1 Lap
9. 7 65 Loris Capirossi ITA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 164.6 1 Lap
10. 6 17 Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 156.1 2 Laps

Not Classified
19. Alvaro Bautista SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 171.9 4 Laps
7. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 170.6 4 Laps
35. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 170.6 4 Laps
46. Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Team Ducati 172.2 14 Laps