Australia’s Casey Stoner overcame a persistent wrist injury to win his home MotoGP at Phillip Island for the second successive year on Sunday.
Stoner, who is to have surgery to fix a broken bone in his wrist at the end of the season, led from start to finish on his Ducati to beat world champion Valentino Rossi and American Nicky Hayden.
The Australian Ducati racer won consecutive home GPs by 6.5 seconds ahead of Rossi with American Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden third.
Stoner gave none of his rivals a chance as he dominated the Phillip Island GP and finished the 120-kilometre journey over 27 laps in 40 minutes 56.643 seconds.
Stoner’s convincing victory all but ensures him of finishing second in this year’s championship with two races left at Malaysia and Spain.
But the highlight was Rossi’s masterful ride from a lowly 12th at the start.
By the end of the opening lap he was in eighth place, improving to fifth three laps later.
The Italian then challenged fellow Yamaha rider James Toseland for third, slipping past the Englishman on the seventh lap.
The race claimed its first victim when Pedrosa, third in the world championship, failed to complete a lap, spearing off the track at the first turn.
Suzuki’s Australian Chris Vermeulen also ran wide and off the bitumen but recovered to rejoin the field in last spot. He ended the race at 14th spot.
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