Stoner secures Phillip Island victory, Lorenzo takes title

Casey Stoner has scored his sixth consecutive Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix victory in a race that saw Jorge Lorenzo secure the 2012 MotoGP World Championship title.

Pole-sitter Stoner fell to third off the start, but would retake the lead on just the second lap when team-mate Dani Pedrosa lost the front of his Honda at Turn 4.

With Pedrosa out of the race, the second-placed Jorge Lorenzo would need just a handful of points to wrap-up the crown before the final round in Valencia.

The situation left a somewhat dull contest to unfold in front of the 53,000 strong record crowd, with Stoner gradually edging away to be a race-high 9.2s ahead by the chequered flag.

The 27-year-old showed no signs of weakness from the ankle injury that curtailed his season, with the result marking his first win since returning from an enforced lay-off two races ago.

Cal Crutchlow had a lonely ride to third, while Andrea Doviziso won a race-long scrap with Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl to take fourth.

Valentino Rossi fended off the advances of Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden for seventh, while Karl Abraham and top Claiming Rule Team rider Aleix Espargaro completed the top 10.

Espargargo beat his Aspar team-mate Randy de Puniet by just 0.04s to take the 10th position.

Roberto Rolfo, Colin Edwards and James Ellison joined Pedrosa on the retirements list, with Ellison crashing out on just the sixth lap.

Stoner’s victory capped off a near perfect day for the local fans at Phillip Island after Australians Anthony West and Arthur Sissis made podium appearances in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes respectively.

CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s Moto2 race report and full result

CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s Moto3 race report and full result

The 2012 MotoGP season concludes with Grand Prix of Valencia in two weeks time.

Result, MotoGP, Phillip Island

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	1	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	175.7	41’01.324
2	20	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	175.0	+9.223
3	16	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	174.6	+14.570
4	13	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	174.0	+23.303
5	11	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	174.0	+23.432
6	10	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	174.0	+23.467
7	9	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	173.0	+37.113
8	8	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	173.0	+38.387
9	7	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati	172.0	+52.613
10	6	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	171.5	+1’00.299
11	5	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	171.5	+1’00.342
12	4	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	170.0	+1’21.951
13	3	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda-Suter	169.6	+1’27.857
14	2	51	Michele PIRRO	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	FTR	168.3	1 Lap
15	1	22	Ivan SILVA	SPA	Avintia Blusens	BQR	166.8	1 Lap
Not Classified
		84	Roberto ROLFO	ITA	Speed Master	ART	168.2	9 Laps
		5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	Suter	163.7	21 Laps
		77	James ELLISON	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART	167.2	22 Laps
		26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	164.9	26 Laps

Championship standings

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	SPA	350
2	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	307
3	Casey STONER	Honda	AUS	238
4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Yamaha	ITA	208
5	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Honda	SPA	165
6	Valentino ROSSI	Ducati	ITA	157
7	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Yamaha	GBR	151
8	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	135
9	Nicky HAYDEN	Ducati	USA	122
10	Ben SPIES	Yamaha	USA	88
11	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	83
12	Aleix ESPARGARO	ART	SPA	69
13	Randy DE PUNIET	ART	FRA	58
14	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	50
15	Michele PIRRO	FTR	ITA	32
16	James ELLISON	ART	GBR	28
17	Yonny HERNANDEZ	BQR	COL	28
18	Colin EDWARDS	Suter	USA	25
19	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ioda-Suter	ITA	19
20	Jonathan REA	Honda	GBR	17
21	Mattia PASINI	ART	ITA	13
22	Ivan SILVA	BQR	SPA	12
23	Toni ELIAS	Ducati	SPA	10
24	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	Yamaha	JPN	7
25	Steve RAPP	APR	USA	2
26	David SALOM	BQR	SPA	1