With his eigth victory of the 2008 season, Valentino Rossi sealed his sixth MotoGP World Championship title at the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan. The Fiat Yamaha rider proved unstoppable at Twin Ring Motegi as he relegated outgoing champion Casey Stoner to second place in the 24-lap race.
Rossi overtook the Australian Ducati rider on the 14th of 24 laps and never looked back, taking the title with his eighth MotoGP win of the season in 43min 09.599sec with Stoner 1.943 sec behind.
Honda rider Dani Pedrosa of Spain finished third 2.923 sec further back.
It was Rossi’s fifth straight GP win and his first MotoGP title in three years, after missing out to American Honda rider Nicky Hayden in 2006 and Stoner last year.
Rossi put a lock on the title with an unbeatable 92 point lead over Stoner with three races left in the season. A win is worth 25 points.
Rossi had started from the second row of the grid, and looked to be on the back foot when Stoner took the holeshot and attempted to break away. The top three in the standings, Rossi, Stoner and Pedrosa became embroiled in an early battle for supremacy, narrowed down to a duel on lap five courtesy of a hard overtaking move by Stoner on his Spanish rival. The Ducati rider apologised for the pass, which took place on the run-up to the bridge section of the circuit, but still upped the pace in the ensuing laps –with Rossi hot on his tail.
The definitive pass for Rossi came on lap fourteen, and the Italian was able to do what he had done in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005: clinch the MotoGP World Championship with a race victory.
“It was a great battle, it was a great race,” said the 29-year-old. “I felt confident with the bike and winning the race and world championship is fantastic.”
Rossi paid tribute to his team for a triumphant season.
He added: “My team deserves the championship. We work hard every weekend and we are very fast.”
