MotoGP: Stoner Overruns Lorenzo, Rossi

Ducati's Casey Stoner wins his 4th Australian MotoGP crown 
at Phillip Island Circuit, Australia.

Casey Stoner wins his fourth consecutive Australian MotoGP crown with a convincing race over compatriot newly-crowned MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi before a 43,227 roaring hometown crowd in Phillip Island Circuit, Australia.

Ducati's Stoner dominated his hometown race in 41 minutes 9.128 minutes to take the 2010 Iveco Australian MotoGP diadem.  Fiat Yamaha's Lorenzo took second place 8.598 seconds later.  Seven-time World MotoGP champion Rossi finished third with a far 17.997 lead from the Australian race leader.

Stoner blasted the oppositions in the starting grid with superb riding and lead Lorenzo by 1.5 seconds in the first lap and never looked back to take his win.  The Italian Rossi slid into 9th place after a poor start and some maneuvering made by his opponents in the first three corners of the circuit. 

The Doctor made some aggressive overtaking in Lap 3 and Lap 6 to climbed from 9th place to 5th place,  he pushed hard on Honda's Marco Simoncelli to take his new position.  In Lap 7, Rossi a strong corner overtaking maneuver on Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies to grab 3rd position.  Stoner is now way ahead of the pack with a lead of 3.7 seconds over Fiat's Lorenzo.  

It was all a Stoner's race with superb riding but the real drama was between Rossi and Hayden all the way to the finish line. In Lap 24 of the 27-lap race, Hayden made a brilliant overtake on Rossi to regain 3rd position in the race.  The two riders were neck-to-neck until the last lap with Rossi making an aggressive move in the last hairpin and went on to hold on his 3rd place position up to the finish line.

Stoner now leads Rossi in the driver's championship race for third with 205 points.  The Italian Fiat rider has 197 points and Honda's Andrea Dovizioso in 5th place with 179 points.   Dani Pedrosa of Repsol Honda is still in second place with 228 championship points. However, he was not able to race along with Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi due to injuries prior to the race.

The next MotoGP race will be on Portugal's Estoril Circuit on October 31.

Photo Courtesy of motogp.com