MotoGP – Phillip Island – Stoner beats Rossi, Lorenzo out of the game

Casey Stoner returns to victory, his third of the season and third in a row at Phillip Island, but Valentino Rossi is also celebrating, second at the finish line and very close to his ninth world title. If the Australian regained victory aboard a Ducati with a livery dedicated to his Australia, Rossi now has a 38 point advantage over Jorge Lorenzo, who fell at the first corner after the start following a contact with Nicky Hayden and therefore immediately out of the race after a bad start, perhaps even an early one.

Out of the game Lorenzo was unable to restart, thus dashing his hopes of competing with his teammate for the title until Valencia. In 7 days in Sepang Valentino Rossi can thus win his 9th world championship in advance, given the 38 point margin with 50 still available.

Dani Pedrosa then finished on the podium at Phillip Island, with Alex De Angelis excellent fourth with the "clienti" Honda of the Gresini team, beating the other HRC rider Andrea Dovizioso, only sixth. Seventh place for Marco Melandri, 12th for Loris Capirossi who almost beat Gabor Talmacsi in the sprint, while James Toseland (penalized by a ride through for jumping the start) and Nicky Hayden, who restarted after the contact at the start, were further behind.

At Sepang next week Valentino Rossi is ready to win his ninth world title, while today MotoGP finds Casey Stoner returning to success after his success last May at Mugello. The Ducati rider said he felt good physically and today he had one of his best races, winning his home GP for the third time. We are sure that without the physical problems suffered by Barcelona the Australian would have played for the title with Rossi and Lorenzo, a Lorenzo who today also comes out defeated from a moral point of view. Everyone was waiting for him at the final exam, a test that failed for the moment.

Returning to the race, even without overtaking, Stoner and Rossi maintained an unsustainable pace for everyone, Pedrosa who, as mentioned above, finished third, in fact reached 22"618, an abysmal gap. The appointment is now next week in Sepang.