Casey Stoner won the Australian Moto GP in a walk — his fourth win at home in a row after dominating through horrid weather conditions all weekend. The sunny, albeit cool and windy final was a welcome break from the wet Antarctic weather coming in across the Tasman Sea the first couple of days.
A lonely second was taken by world champion elect Jorge Lorenzo, followed a long way back by Valentino Rossi with Nicky Hayden nipping at his heels. Hayden and Rossi had traded some paint the last three laps, and The Doctor beat The Kentucky Kid to the line by only 0.03 seconds.
And Hayden apologized to his team for his poor performance. You can’t imagine any other professional racer in the world do this: the guy finishes a hair behind the greatest rider of the modern era, both of them beaten only by two other world champions, and Hayden says, "I feel like I let the team down today because they gave me the bike to do the job but I didn’t get it done."
Unbelievable.
While the mid-pack stuff was scrappy and interesting on and off, Casey Stoner decided to celebrate his 25th birthday by simply wiping the floor with everybody else. In every test and qualifying session he was miles ahead of his competition, often by more than a second a lap. In the race, he simply vanished, pulling out a second and a half on the first lap and building an eventual comfy cushion of nearly nine seconds.
That gives the Aussie three wins and a crash out of the last four races; not bad, and an indication that Ducati has finally got a handle on the front-end problems that have plagued the Desmosedici all season.
The fastest loser, Jorge Lorenzo, had a lonely race after a first-lap tussle with Ben Spies, clearing off ahead of the fight for the last podium place. That was a good one, with Spies, Rossi, Marco Simoncelli, and Hayden fighting over the spot; Rossi and Hayden (who will be team-mates with Ducati in 2011) finally pulling away and having a pass/re-pass thing at the end.
Given the cold temperatures and high winds, everyone will be glad to put Philip Island behind them, as much as most riders love the place, and get to the warmth of Portugal’s Estoril circuit on Halloween.
Next race Estoril, Portugal, October 31.
Championship standings after 17 of 18 races:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (World Champion), Spain, Fiat yamaha, 333 points; 2. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Repsol Honda, 228; 3. Casey Stoner, Australian, Marlboro Ducati, 205; 4. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Fiat Yamaha, 197; 5. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy, Repsol Honda, 179;
6. Ben Spies, U.S.A., Tech 3 Yamaha, 163; 7. Nicky Hayden, U.S.A., Marlboro Ducati, 152; 8. Marco Simoncelli, Italy, San Carlo Gresini Honda, 102; 9. Randy de Puniet, France, LCR Honda, 100; 10. Marco Melandri, Italy, San Carlo Gresini Honda, 93.
