FIM MotoGP World Championship Phillip Island, Australia October 18, 2009 Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), 27 laps, 40:56.651 2. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), -1.935 seconds 3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), -22.618 4. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), -32.702 5. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), -35.885 6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), -38.482 7. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), -44.461 8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), -44.941 9. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), -54.345 10. Toni ELIAS (Honda), -61.205 11. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), -65.417 12. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), -65.950 13. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), -77.951 14. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), -77.985, jump start/ride-through penalty 15. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), -1 lap 16. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), -27 laps, DNF, crash World Championship Point Standings (after 15 of 17 races): 1. Rossi, 270 points 2. Lorenzo, 232 3. Stoner, 195 4. Pedrosa, 189 5. Dovizioso, 152 6. Edwards, 145 7. TIE, De Angelis/De Puniet/Capirossi, 101 10. Melandri, 100 11. Elias, 96 12. Vermeulen, 95 13. Toseland, 87 14. Hayden, 82 15. Kallio, 58 16. Niccolo Canepa, 38 17. Talmacsi, 17 18. Sete Gibernau, 12 19. Yuki Takahashi, 9 20. Aleix Espargaro, 8 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: Event: Grand Prix of Australia Date: 18th October 2009 Ambient temperature: 16 degrees C Track temperature: 31 degrees C Humidity: 45% ROSSI TAKES TENTH CONSECUTIVE PHILLIP ISLAND PODIUM AS LORENZO SLIDES OUT Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi finished a strong second in an entertaining Australian Grand Prix, chasing home Casey Stoner to finish on the podium for the tenth successive year at Phillip Island and for the eleventh time this season. Jorge Lorenzo’s challenge ended in the gravel trap at turn one, when a mistake at the start saw the Mallorcan slide out of the race. Rossi, starting from the front row for the tenth race in a row, finished the first lap in third position, behind Dani Pedrosa and Stoner. On lap two both Stoner and Rossi passed the Spaniard and then quickly began to pull away on their own, quickly opening out a gap from the chasing pack. Darkening skies overhead at that point meant there was a rush in pit lane as the mechanics switched the spare bikes over to wet settings, but the sun eventually came out and the threat of rain subsided as the Italian and the Australian set in for a head-to-head battle. At times Rossi looked to be within striking distance and he made a couple of moves at mid-race distance, but with Lorenzo out he knew that he had to capitalise and he eventually played it safe to come home behind the resurgent Stoner with twenty important points in his pocket and an impressive gap of over twenty seconds to Pedrosa in third. Lorenzo had struggled with grip issues all weekend here and he made a mistake at the start, braking too late and cannoning into the back of Nicky Hayden. The impact damaged his front brake and he was unable to slow down for the corner, losing the rear and tumbling into the gravel trap. He was taken to the Clinica Mobile and treated for mild cuts to his nose and the little finger of his right hand, but there were no serious injuries and nothing that will affect his being able to ride next week. Today’s result means that Rossi now has a lead over Lorenzo of 38 points with two races left. He will have his first chance to clinch the World Championship title at the next round, which comes at Sepang in Malaysia in one week’s time. Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: +1.935 “This was one of the most fun and definitely one of the most important second places of my career! We were on the limit for the whole race and there were some amazing slides, it was ‘old-style’ racing. To have a race like this in the sunshine at Phillip Island is an incredible emotion and I really enjoyed myself. Of course I wanted to win but I had to use my head a bit and once I’d seen that Lorenzo was out, I knew that if I made a mistake it would be a big disaster! Anyway I tried in places but Stoner was a bit faster than me. I didn’t give up until the end but Casey really deserved this win; I want to give him my congratulations. We leave with twenty important points and now the championship lead is big and we can try to finish it in Malaysia, where we will have the first ‘match point’.” Jorge Lorenzo Position: DNF Time: “I’m a little bit sad for this crash, not for the championship but for my mistake; I didn’t expect this kind of mistake from myself. It was totally my fault, I miscalculated the distance off the line and Nicky braked earlier than I was expecting and I hit him. I thought I could save it but my front brake was broken and so when I tried to brake for the corner I couldn’t and the rear made a big slide. I have a bit of damage to my nose and my finger but it could have been a lot worse. This is what happens in racing and, although I am disappointed about the race, the most important thing is that I am not badly injured. I want to say sorry to Nicky because I ruined his race today. As for the points, the title was a long shot anyway and now I just want to look forward to the final two races.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “This has been a very important day for our championship because now we’re leaving with a lead of 38 points. It is a pity that Lorenzo crashed, because who knows what kind of race this could have been with him in it as well? Valentino today rode with a big heart and a lot of fight, trying to win the race but also making sure he didn’t lose these twenty points. He tried hard but never went over the top. The team did a great job as well this weekend to make this possible and we have to carry this same concentration and motivation forward to Sepang next weekend, where we will be aiming for the maximum possible result.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “For sure we weren’t expecting a result like this, even after such a difficult weekend! We have found a lot more problems here than we were expecting but in the end the team were able to make a good step for warm-up and another improvement for the race, so we missed a chance to fight for the podium today. It just wasn’t to be this weekend. The championship is basically finished for us now but we will look forward to the last two races and continue as we were before. At the end of the day, we’re lucky that Jorge didn’t pick up worse injuries in a crash like this so we will count ourselves lucky and move on to Malaysia.” Results 1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 40’56.651 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team + 1.935 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda + 22.618 4. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 32.702 5. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 35.885 6. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda + 38.482 7. Marco Melandri (ITA) Hayate Racing Team + 44.461 8. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP + 44.941 9. Mika Kallio (FIN) Ducati Marlboro Team + 54.345 10. Toni Elias (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 1’01.205 11. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1’05.417 12. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1’05.95013. Gabor Talmacsi (HUN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP + 1’17.951 14. James Toseland (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 1’17.985 15. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1 Lap NOT CLASSIFIED Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 27 Lap Championship Standings 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 270 2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 232 3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 195 4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 189 5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda 152 6. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 145 7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 101 8. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 101 9. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 101 10. Marco Melandri (ITA) Hayate Racing Team 100 11. Toni Elias (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 96 12. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 95 13. James Toseland (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 87 14. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 82 15. Mika Kallio (FIN) Ducati Marlboro Team 58 16. Niccolo Canepa (ITA) Pramac Racing 38 17. Gabor Talmacsi (HUN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP 17 18. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Grupo Francisco Hernando 12 19. Yuki Takahashi (JPN) Scot Racing Team 9 20. Alex Espagaro (SPA) Pramac Racing 8 Phillip Island: Record Lap N. Hayden (Honda) 2008, 1’30.059 Phillip Island: Best Lap C. Stoner (Ducati) 2008, 1’28.665 More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA MAKES IT THREE PODIUMS IN A ROW, DOVIZIOSO IN THE TOP SIX Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa took his third podium finish in successive races today as the spectacular Phillip Island circuit hosted the Australian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Spaniard rocketed from third place on the grid into an early lead and repelled a first lap assault from Casey Stoner, quickly re-passing the Australian after he’d overtaken into the Honda hairpin. Pedrosa led at the end of lap one, but was powerless to prevent Stoner and then Valentino Rossi from coming past and opening up a gap. After this, Pedrosa was out on his own, comfortably opening the gap to fourth place and eventually coming home to record his ninth podium finish of the season. His performance was all the more impressive in the light of his high-speed crash in qualifying yesterday which left him uninjured but bruised and in some discomfort. Stoner went on to win today’s race and overtook Pedrosa for third place in the world championship, a situation Pedrosa will try to reverse in a week’s time in Malaysia. Andrea Dovizioso battled to a competitive sixth place and was able to match Pedrosa’s pace for the closing stages of today’s 27-lap race. From tenth position on the grid, the Italian was involved in a seven-way scrap for fifth place in the opening laps, and it was a battle that cost him some time as he worked his way to the head of the group. Once up to sixth place, Dovizioso’s target was to close the gap on points rival Colin Edwards ahead of him. Although Dovi proceeded to take chunks out of the five-second gap to the Texan, he ran out of laps and came home 2.5s adrift. The result means the Italian retains fifth in the championship, seven points ahead of Edwards. The MotoGP paddock now flies immediately to Malaysia for the penultimate race of the season, which takes place next weekend at the popular (and hot) Sepang circuit. DANI PEDROSA 3rd World Championship position: 4th 189 points “It’s good to be on the podium again, especially after the crash in qualifying yesterday, so I’m happy about that. I pushed myself to the maximum in the race and we led for a short while from the start. Actually it’s a shame they don’t award points for getting the holeshot! Casey and Valentino were going superfast today and I just couldn’t keep pace with them once they came past. From then on I just tried to keep my rhythm going and tried not to make any mistakes. It’s a little frustrating of course not to be able to fight at the front, but considering the crash yesterday this result was OK and I’d like to say thanks to the team because they worked hard this weekend. The next race is in Malaysia and it’s a track that I like, so I’m looking forward to next weekend and I hope we can get another strong result.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 6th World Championship position: 5th 152 points “In the second half of the race my feeling on the machine improved and this was probably the highlight of my weekend here. Once I was clear of the battle for sixth I was able to ride at a good pace and realistically I think I could have fought with De Angelis and Edwards in this race. It’s just a shame that I lost time starting from tenth and then fighting with Kallio, De Puniet and Elias – which is what I feared might happen. I cannot be happy with the 6th position but I have to consider the whole weekend and the set-up issues we experienced in the practice sessions and also my physical condition which wasn’t perfect this weekend. Still, I felt good at the end of the race, so I’m looking forward to Malaysia with confidence.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “Dani is on the podium again and he did a very good job to come back from his crash yesterday and put in such a performance – leading the race from the start. Of course the whole team wants to be fighting for victories and so we will continue to work very hard towards this. Andrea had a tough Australian Grand Prix and so sixth place represents a good performance from him. He was not feeling well for the whole weekend, but fought hard and was very determined in the race. Now we go to Malaysia which is another track we know well from testing and we’ll push to the maximum again there.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki ready to re-group after a demanding Australian GP Rizla Suzuki racers Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi finished in 11th and 12th place after 27 tough laps of today’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. Starting from 15th and 17th place on the grid respectively, Vermeulen and Capirossi set about the daunting task of making their way through the field. Both riders made passes as they tried to get a respectable result at the 4,448m track and also benefited from some misfortunes suffered by other riders to promote them further up the field. The Rizla Suzuki riders then got involved in their own personal battle, before Vermeulen came out on top by just over half-of-a-second to take 11th place from his team-mate. A crowd of over 50,000 fans enjoyed bright sunshine for today’s race and witnessed home hero Casey Stoner take his third successive victory at Phillip Island. World Championship leader Valentino Rossi finished second to strengthen his grip on retaining his world title. Rizla Suzuki will now regroup and head straight to Malaysia next weekend for the 16th round of the season on Sunday 25th October. Chris Vermeulen: “We went with the harder rear tyre because we didn’t notice a lot of difference between that and the softer one in practice, but in the first few laps we lost a lot of time as it took a lot to warm it. I was struggling, but then I had Loris on my tail for the rest of the race, so at least that gave us something to fight for. I had to ride consistently and make no mistakes, so with having Loris there kept me honest for the last few laps. Obviously we haven’t taken the step forward here that we wanted to, but hopefully it will be a lot better at Sepang.” Loris Capirossi: “It’s easy to say that today has been tough, but really we have struggled all weekend and never found the best solution. We also had an engine problem in the warm-up and that forced us to start on the back of the grid, but that was no big problem. My start was not too bad but I just didn’t have any feeling in the bike in the first five or six laps, so that was a nightmare for me. I caught up with Chris and we had a bit of a battle, but I couldn’t get past him. Overall this race track is very difficult for us and I think we need to forget this weekend because we tried as hard as we could and got nothing from it. I hope we will have a better weekend in Sepang because we really need a good result, but we also need to fix why things have been so bad here.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “There’s nothing positive to be said about the performance here today and frankly speaking we only inherited 11th and 12th through the misfortune of others. I’d like to thank both the riders for keeping their heads down and trying as hard as they did in such difficult circumstances. The trip to Sepang can’t come quickly enough and we’ll be going there with an upbeat attitude to get things back in the right direction as quickly as possible!” Iveco Australian Grand Prix Race Classification: 1 Casey Stoner (Ducati) 40’56.651: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +1.935: 3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +22.618: 4. Alex de Angelis (Honda) +32.702: 5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +35.855: 11. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1’05.417: 12. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1’05.950: World Championship Classification: 1. Rossi 270: 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 232: 3. Stoner 195: 4. Pedrosa 189: 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 152: 9. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 101: 12. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 95: More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha: Grand Prix of Australia Phillip Island – 18 October 2009 Race report Fantastic fifth for Edwards, Toseland frustrated in Phillip Island Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland had a day of contrasting fortunes at the spectacular Phillip Island circuit in Australia this afternoon. Starting from fifth on the grid for the fifth successive race, Edwards made a slow getaway off the line and dropped down to ninth on the first lap in front of 50,094 fans. The Texan then produced a magnificent exhibition in overtaking to first pass Andrea Dovizioso on lap four. Setting a fast pace after pre-race tweaks with the set-up of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 helped with stability and agility, the 35-year-old then superbly passed Mika Kallio, Toni Elias and Ran dy de Puniet in quick succession on lap five. Edwards then set about closing the gap on Alex de Angelis in fourth position, but despite consistently lapping faster than the San Marino rider throughout the race, his hard challenge was in vain. His seventh top six finish of 2009 though boosted his hopes of overhauling Dovizioso for fifth place in the championship standings. With just two races remaining, Edwards is just seven points behind the Italian. It was a frustrating afternoon for British rider Toseland, who had started the 27-lap race optimistic of claiming a second successive top six finish at Phillip Island. Toseland was locked in the intense battle for fifth place when Race Direction imposed a ride through penalty after the 28-year-old was adjudged to have jumped the start. Toseland entered the pits on lap 10 and gallantly rode a hard pace in the second half of t he race to almost fight his way back into a creditable 13th place, finishing just 0.034s behind Gabor Talmacsi. Colin Edwards 5th 145 points “I’ll hold my hands up and say I really messed up the start. I pretty much fell asleep and when the lights went out, I was just sat there. That left me down in ninth place but the pace was pretty quick in the low 31s and I was able to pick off a few of them quite quickly. I knew if I didn’t get my head down then I’d be towing them around because of how you can slipstream at this track. I never relented and my pace was pretty hot, and thankfully it wasn’t too difficult for me to make a break from the pack. I saw de Angelis in front of me and I tried everything I could to get close to him. I’m tired of finishing fifth, so I gave it everything I had. But the start cost me fourth and some precious points. Towards the end of the race I star ted to lose some side grip and I couldn’t do anything more to try and put pressure on de Angelis. I beat Dovizioso again which is all I can do to try and get fifth in the championship. I really want that fifth to reward all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3. They’ve been great and I’ll be giving it my all for them in the last two races.” James Toseland 14th – 87 points “I’m really struggling to describe how I feel right now. All I can say is I feel the jump start decision was incredibly harsh and I am extremely disappointed. I have looked at the start on TV and I can’t see I’ve done anything wrong. It is hard for me to take but I’ve got to try and put it behind me as soon as possible and aim for a strong result in Sepang next weekend. I was confident of a strong race today and I was latched onto the back of the group fighting for fifth. I felt my pace was strong enough to hav e put up a strong fight for a positive result, but the ride through ended all that. I want to thank all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 for all their hard work and effort this weekend. They have been brilliant as always and I’m not going to let this disappointment stop me from giving my all to finish this season on a high at the last two races.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “It was another very strong weekend from Colin and he rode another hard race. Had he made a better start then I’m convinced he would have been able to fight with de Angelis for fourth place. His lap times were better than Alex for most of the race and it would have been a good battle. Unfortunately we only gained one point on Dovizioso, but Colin is still fighting hard for fifth in the championship and there is still a lot to fight for. With James, I understand his frustration. I went with him to Race Direction to look at the start and honestly speaking, it was a very marginal decision. We have to respect the decision of Race Direction and I am convinced that James will bounce back strongly in Malaysia next weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna: Stoner continues home dominance Iveco Australian Grand Prix Sunday 18 October Report Day 3 Casey Stoner’s dominance of his home circuit continued on Sunday as the Australian won at Phillip Island for the third year in a row, leading Valentino Rossi over the finish line by a margin of 1.935s. In his second Grand Prix back after a three-race absence, the 24 year-old celebrated his birthday weekend with an impressive win from pole position, his third race victory of the season, which took him to third in the championship standings. A frustrating weekend for Jorge Lorenzo was compounded when the Spaniard crashed out at turn one of the first lap after touching bikes with Stoner’s Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden. Having struggled through the practice sessions and qualifying with both rear-grip issues and illness, Lorenzo was unable to continue after sliding off, although Hayden climbed back aboard his Desmosedici GP9 to finish 15th. Rossi’s second place opened his lead at the top of the championship to 38 points over Fiat Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo with two races remaining, after it had been cut down to 18 following the latter’s win last time out at Estoril. Dani Pedrosa secured his first podium at the circuit in the MotoGP class but came in 22.618s adrift of Rossi, while Alex de Angelis’ fine weekend was completed with a fourth-placed classification. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) took fifth spot from fifth on the grid, and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) overcame his worst qualifying position since Germany tenth to take sixth place. Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing), Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) and Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) all also finished inside the top ten. Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) came in twelfth after being demoted to the back of the grid after his team was penalised for using an extra engine outside its allocation. 250cc Marco Simoncelli narrowed the gap on Hiroshi Aoyama in the 250cc FIM World Championship to 12 points with victory, as the Japanese rider was classified in seventh position when the race was red flagged. Roberto Locatelli’s high-side crash which resulted in him lying stricken on the track brought the action to a premature end, with Simoncelli leading, Álvaro Bautista having already crashed when in second place earlier in the race, and Aoyama having risen to fourth from seventh on the last completed lap. Simoncelli assumed the lead early on and maintained it for the remainder of the race until the red flag on the 18th lap, with Héctor Barberá in second and Raffaele de Rosa in third. Mattia Pasini crashed out with 17 laps remaining to bring to an end a difficult weekend which saw him suffer a similar fate in qualifying, and a crash for Bautista took him out of the picture. On the next lap Jules Cluzel’s spill saw Aoyama climb to fourth, and the drama intensified with Locatelli’s spill at MG Corner which left the rider with a bruised lower back. That handed Simoncelli the race victory the 200th for an Italian rider in the 250cc class with Cluzel taking fourth despite his crash. Mike di Meglio finished fifth, and Karel Abraham’s sixth spot was the Czech’s best-ever race result. 125cc Julián Simón was crowned the 2009 World Champion as the Spaniard clinched victory on the final lap of the 125cc race, vindicating his decision to take the step down from 250cc for this season. An excitingly tight early race ensued as a group of seven riders which included Simón, his Bancaja Aspar team-mate Bradley Smith, Nico Terol, Pol Espargaró and Simone Corsi starting on the front row for the first time in 2009 all jostled closely for position. With four laps remaining there was just under a full second between Simón at this point in second position and Corsi in third, with the Spaniard seemingly happy to wait until the final lap to launch his bid for the victory which would deliver the title. He did so, and with Smith forced wide in a turn Simón attacked on the inside to stream through and take victory, while the Brit secured his fourth successive podium finish. Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) completed the podium, whilst Espargaró finished fourth from pole position. Corsi ended the race in fifth spot with Nico Terol (Jack & Jones) taking sixth. The FIM MotoGP World Championship now immediately heads to South East Asia for the Shell Advance Malaysian Grand Prix next weekend (23rd-25th October 2009). More, from a press release issued by LCR: DE PUNIET TAKES TOUGH 8th FINISH AT “THE ISLAND” GP Phillip Island, 18 October: In hard fought race LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy de Puniet finished 8th in today’s Australian Grand Prix at a sunny Phillip Island ahead 50.094 MotoGP fans. Today’s ambience temperature rose up to 16°C despite some cloudy skies in the morning and the 28-year-old was again a strong performer in this morning warm up session gaining the sixth quickest lap time (1’31.526). The Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V was happy to be in the middle of the third row but lost some tenths after the start of the 27-lap race and he was still 8th at the end of the first lap. After that De Puniet was able to set impressive lap times beginning a tough battle for the 7th place with Dovizioso, Kallio and Melandri. With 8 laps to go the performance of the rear tyre dropped and De Puniet managed to finish 8th. The LCR team will be back on track next week end for the Malaysian GP. De Puniet 8th: “We could finish in a better position but I took a bad start and got stuck behind Elias for 4 laps. After that I started to set my pace and was pretty fast. I had fun battling with Dovizioso, Kallio and Melandri but in the middle of the race the rear tyre dropped and had too much spinning. With 8 laps to go I was not comfortable on the front and decided to keep my position to score important points for the world classification. Honestly I aimed to finish sixth today but I still feel very confident for the next races”. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Ducati: KALLIO NINTH IN THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX Good start for Mika Kallio in the Grand Prix of Australia ridden on the Phillip Island circuit. The Finnish rider, who started from ninth position, found himself in sixth place after the first lap. From here to the fifteenth lap Mika was battling in the group with Melandri, Dovizioso and De Puniet maintaining a good race rhythm, but from the sixteenth lap the front tyre lost some grip and Mika had to slow down to don’t risk to fall. Mika’s lap time were almost a second slower and he lost the group and made it to conclude the race in ninth position. Mika will have now the possibility to conquer a better result in seven days in Malaysia on the Sepang circuit. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “Mika has found a good feeling with the Ducati Desmosedici GP9 Sat. At Estoril and here in Australia Mika was fighting for fifth, sixth position, but first in Portugal a slip and today a technical problem didn’t allow him to fight at the same level with his rivals until the end of the race. For sure we can say that in the last two races luck hasn’t been on our side. We know what we are capable of and we are sure that better results will arrive really soon.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing rider – 9th in the race – 15th in the Championship “I am very disappointed today notwithstanding the ninth position isn’t such a bad result. Until half of the race I was easily fighting for sixth position, but then something happened in the front part of the tyre and I couldn’t maintain the same rhythm. From there on my only objective was to finish the race, as I didn’t want to throw away a full racing weekend. Back in the garage we have checked the situation of the bike and we could clearly see that the front tyre was particularly worn out. A pity, we know that this sort of thing can happen to anyone and we confide that in seven days in Malaysia we can achieve a better result, but the disappointment to have wasted a good opportunity remains.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: SENSATIONAL STONER SEALS HAT-TRICK OF ISLAND VICTORIES, HAYDEN KNOCKED OUT OF THE RACE Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner took his third victory in as many seasons at Phillip Island today, rubber-stamping his return to form and fitness with a dominant display from pole position. After briefly conceding the lead to Dani Pedrosa in the first turn, Stoner muscled his way past the Spaniard on the opening lap and never looked back, holding off the strong challenge of Valentino Rossi in the second half of the race to put his Desmosedici GP9 on the top step of the podium for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix in June. Stoner’s victory, in front of 50,094 delighted home fans, also lifted him back up to third in the championship standings with two rounds remaining. The flip side of the coin today was for the unfortunate Nicky Hayden, who for the third time this season had his race ruined when another rider collided with him in the first lap. The American was forced off track after an impact with Jorge Lorenzo, but he did a remarkable job to stay upright across the wet grass and return to the track to eventually pick up a point in 15th place. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) (1st) “I’d forgotten how good that winning feeling is and of all my victories this is perhaps the most special. I can honestly say that from a physical perspective I can’t ever remember feeling this strong after a race, which shows that the work we have done and the time we took out has been spot on. I got a good start and was able to put together the lap times to keep us at the front but quite honestly I felt I could have gone even faster if we’d have been able to find a little more rear traction over the course of the weekend. Anyway, I can’t complain because the work the guys have done on the bike during the season has been phenomenal, from the swingarm to the new fairing”¦ they just haven’t stopped trying to make it better even when I wasn’t around. Now my aim is to help them as much as I can over the last two races and give Filippo (Preziosi) as much useful data as I can so that he can work his magic and improve the bike even more for next year.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) (15th) “I got probably the best start I have had all season but unfortunately it proved to be my downfall! I’m not sure what happened to Jorge I saw he got a bad start as I passed him, then the next thing I know I felt a really hard impact. It was so hard it tore both our bikes up and obviously he couldn’t keep his upright. Thankfully I did and I got back on track but the thing was so damaged I was just riding around. I considered coming in to conserve the engine but there was always the chance it might rain and give us the opportunity to swap bikes so we stayed out there and tried to stay out of harm’s way. I’m disappointed because I felt we had a chance to do something here and apart from anything I was excited to race here because it’s always so much fun. Anyway, I can’t blame Jorge because he is fighting for the championship, he obviously didn’t mean it and I know it is not his style. The good thing is that I didn’t get hurt, which could have easily happened in that corner, and now we go to Malaysia and try to get back in the thick end of the points.” Livio Suppo MotoGP Project Director “This is a really special day. It is Casey’s third victory in a row here at Phillip Island but this time it has an extra flavour. Casey deserved it he has gone through a difficult period but he has shown enormous character and determination to come back after two months out and pick up a podium at Estoril and then a win like this today. I also have to congratulate Valentino because with the championship almost wrapped up after Jorge’s crash he produced a great race. They finished 22 seconds ahead of third place with an incredible pace, although Casey had that little bit extra today. We’re also delighted to see his health improving so much. Nicky has had such an unlucky season. He got a fantastic start but this is the third time this season that he has been involved in an incident that wasn’t his fault. It’s a shame because without them he would no doubt be in the top ten in the championship. He deserves at least that because the improvements in the bike are also down to him. It is a disappointing end to the weekend for Nicky but we know he has the character to be back fighting in the next two rounds.” 2009 Australian Grand Prix Podium 1° Casey Stoner (Ducati), 2° Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 3° Dani Pedrosa (Honda) Circuit Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha 2009 lap 5), 1’30.085 Best Pole: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’28.665 180.598 Km/h 2009 Pole Position: Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’30.341 177.248 km/h Rider Championship Classification 1st Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 270 punti; 2nd Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 232; 3° Casey Stoner (Ducati) 195; 4 Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 189°; 5° Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 152; “¦ 14° Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 82. Constructor Championship Classification 1st Yamaha (350 punti); 2nd Honda (352); 3rd Ducati (236); 4th Suzuki (121); 5th Kawasaki (100) More, from a press release issued by Honda: Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island Race day, Sunday October 18 2009 Crowd: 50,094 Weather: cool and sunny Ambient temperature: 16 degrees Track temperature: 31 degrees PEDROSA ON THE PODIUM AGAIN Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) recovered from a harrowing second turn crash in qualifying to garner his ninth podium of the season in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. By finishing third, the Spaniard was Honda’s top performer in the race, with Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) equaling his second best finish of the year in fourth place, while Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) took sixth. Pedrosa got his customary holeshot from third on the grid and led across the stripe for the first lap. But on lap two he was consumed by the battle between Casey Stoner (Ducati) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and fell in line. Today Pedrosa didn’t have the pace of the leaders and settled into a lonely third place, where he would finish. Stoner and Rossi carried their battle to the end, with the Australian Stoner winning his home race for the third year in a row, this time by 1.935s over Rossi. By winning the race, Stoner took third in the championship from Pedrosa by six points. With two races remaining, in Malaysia and Valencia, Pedrosa is determined to claim back the spot and finish on the championship podium. De Angelis settled into fourth on the first lap and stayed with the leaders for the first four laps before they were able to break away. Once that happened, he secured his fourth place to the end of the 27-lap race, held under mostly sunny conditions, with scattered clouds before a crowd of over 50,000. Dovizioso overcame a slow start-he was ninth as late as the seventh lap-to move up three spots and finish sixth. by the ninth lap there was a pack of six riders battling over sixth, but the order sorted itself out with Dovizioso moving into sixth on the 16th lap. Within a few laps he left the pack behind and rode mostly alone to the end. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) was engulfed in the most entertaining battle behind the leaders. The Frenchman sparred with Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) and Mika Kallio (Ducati) for much of the race, and with Melandri to the very end. Melandri made the pass for eighth five laps from the end, but De Puniet kept the pressure on to the stripe, finishing behind the Italian by less than half a second. Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) was in line to equal a career best finish when he was passed on lap 20 of 27. That put him 13th on a high speed track where he struggled with changes of direction. In the red flag-shortened 250cc race, Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda) scored his first ever 250cc podium with a fine third place finish after starting from his first ever 250cc pole, while teammate Hiroshi Aoyama maintained his championship lead despite having an off day and finishing seventh. The podium vaulted De Rosa into sixth in the championship, with fifth well within reach. Today’s result would have been different if the race hadn’t been stopped when Roberto Locatelli (Gilera) crashed on the 19th lap, bringing out the red flag. Aoyama had crossed the line in fourth place, but since not everyone had completed that lap, scoring reverted to the end of the 18th lap and instead he was seventh. Still, Aoyama goes to Kuala Lumpur with a 12 point lead over Marco Simoncelli, today’s race winner from Hector Barbera (Aprilia). Former championship rival Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) dropped to third, 29 points behind, after crashing, remounting, and finishing tenth. Aoyama was at the front of a pack of three Hondas that were among the six riders involved in the fight for fourth place. The world championship leader ended up seventh, just in front of Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG) and Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG), both of whom wished the race had run to term. Faubel said his Honda was the fastest it had ever been, but he was held back by a small problem with his shifter, which forced a change in his approach. Finishing eighth allowed him to stay among the group that sees sixth place in the championship as a goal. Wilairot had an encouraging start to the race, though reality quickly set in when he found he couldn’t reach maximum rpm’s. The Honda would still pull off the corners, but was slightly shy on top end speed. It wasn’t enough to discourage him from planning a late race push before the race was prematurely ended. Shuhei Aoyama (Racing Team Germany Honda) recovered from an early race mistake, only to run into rear tire problems. There wasn’t enough grip to push forwards, so he did the sensible thing and finished the race, even it meant disappointment. But before the tire problems struck he found that he could go through the corners faster than the factory bikes, which put him in a good frame of mind for the future. The education of CIP Moto-GP250 Honda teammates Shoya Tomizawa and Valentin Debise continued in Phillip Island. Of the two, Tomizawa had the more productive race, finishing 15th to 19th for Debise. Both were slightly intimidated by the track, and the weather, at the start of the weekend, but Tomizawa came to understand the circuit and improved his lap times and understanding of the track throughout. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd. “It’s good to be on the podium again, especially after the crash in qualifying yesterday, so I’m happy about that. I pushed myself to the maximum in the race and we led for a short while from the start. Actually it’s a shame they don’t award points for getting the holeshot! Casey and Valentino were going superfast today and I just couldn’t keep pace with them once they came past. From then on I just tried to keep my rhythm going and tried not to make any mistakes. It’s a little frustrating of course not to be able to fight at the front, but considering the crash yesterday this result was OK and I’d like to say thanks to the team because they worked hard this weekend. The next race is in Malaysia and it’s a track that I like, so I’m looking forward to next weekend and I hope we can get another strong result.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 4th.”It has been a fantastic weekend all round and I really enjoyed myself in that race especially the first four or five laps when I was running with the top guys in the championship. It was a good feeling but their pace was incredible and for me it was just an achievement to stick with them for a while and open up a gap over the guys behind me. From then on it was a case of staying consistent and holding my position, which is a great result for us. Despite not scoring points in the last two races we have been on an excellent run of form since Germany I’ve finished in the top five in four of the races since then, and I think I’ve proved that I deserve to be seventh in the championship and I deserve to be here again next year. It is a credit to my team as well because we have worked fantastically well together recently and I want to thank them too.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 6th. “In the second half of the race my feeling on the machine improved and this was probably the highlight of my weekend here. Once I was clear of the battle for sixth I was able to ride at a good pace and realistically I think I could have fought with De Angelis and Edwards in this race. It’s just a shame that I lost time starting from tenth and then fighting with Kallio, De Puniet and Elias – which is what I feared might happen. I cannot be happy with the 6th position but I have to consider the whole weekend and the set-up issues we experienced in the practice sessions and also my physical condition which wasn’t perfect this weekend. Still, I felt good at the end of the race, so I’m looking forward to Malaysia with confidence.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 8th. “We could finish in a better position but I took a bad start and got stuck behind Elias for 4 laps. After that I started to set my pace and was pretty fast. I had fun battling with Dovizioso, Kallio and Melandri but in the middle of the race the rear tyre dropped and had too much spinning. With 8 laps to go I was not comfortable on the front and decided to keep my position to score important points for the world classification. Honestly I aimed to finish sixth today but I still feel very confident for the next races.” Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 10th. “We have made the bike a lot better as the weekend progressed but we never managed to find any consistency from the tyres. We had them working well for six or seven laps and after that they were gone. That is exactly that happened in the race: I got a great start and kept pace with the front guys for the first few laps but then the tyres went and I was dead. I went from setting high 1’31s to struggling around in the 1’33s losing two seconds a lap is just ridiculous. Anyway, considering all the problems we’ve had we’ve rescued a few points and we’re within five points of seventh place, which is now occupied by my team-mate. That is our goal over the next two races and I’m sure we won’t suffer the same problems in Malaysia.” Gabor Talmacsi, Scot Honda: 13th.”The engine was OK, and the bike was OK in the very fast last corner. That was important. I have still problems going into the corners and in braking. But probably the main issue is the fact that I struggle when changing direction rapidly. I’m confident that if we can fix this problem, everything, including braking, will be by far better. Anyway, I can say we got the right direction. It’s OK.” HONDA 250cc RIDER QUOTES Raffaele De Rosa, Scot Honda: 3rd. “I’m absolutely delighted. I would prefer to see the chequered flag. I’m more than happy, however. I brushed the podium so many times in the 125 class. And too many times I went home with empty hands. This time I bring with me a cup and the clock I got as pole man. I’m happy. I didn’t immediately realize that I was on the podium – I thought the race could restart – and I was worried for the rider that crashed. I enjoyed every single moment of the weekend, and every meter of the race. At the start I did not risk; it was not necessary and I knew that I had a good pace. In fact, I was soon able to close on the top guys. At the end we all were experiencing problems with tyres, but I feel I could have a chance to get a second place. Thanks to the team: great job. Thanks to my family. I’m happy.” Hiroshi Aoyama, Scot Honda: 7th. “The engine was OK. The problem was the stability of the bike out of the fast corners, where I could not get a high speed, loosing a lot of time. Nevertheless, in the 19th lap I was able to pass quite a few riders and to progress in the ranking, but the race was stopped.” Hector Faubel, Valencia CF-Honda SAG: 8th. “The start of the race was incredible. I reached the third position starting from the ninth, then it was a group who was fighting for the fifth position that was very competitive. Today the bike was faster than ever, but I had a little problem with the shifter that made it difficult to change the gear and I had to close the throttle to change it. Also the front suspensión was rebounding a little bit. I think that without these two little problems I could fight for the podium. For me today the race was incredible, but it was a pity that we couldn’t the race because of the red flag. Anyway we are eighth in the general classification and this lets us continue fighting for the fifth position of the world standings.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 9th. “The start was not so bad and in the first corner I reached the fifth place, but at this moment I saw that the bike wasn’t working at 100%. The bike wasn’t taking the rpm enough and I lost a little bit of top speed. I pushed hard all I can, but with this little problem I didn’t want to take any risks at this moments of the race, because I wanted to attack the front position of the group at the end of the race. But unfortunately Locatelli had a really dangerous crash and this situation finished the race at six laps to the end of the race. It’s a pity because I was thinking that I can be in front, but we must be optimistic and as everyone could see we had finished the last two races in the top 10 and this means that we are working in the good line.” Shuhei Aoyama, Racing Team Germany Honda: 14th. “At the start I made a mistake and lost some positions and after that I tried to overtake some people. And I followed (Roberto) Locatelli and it was easy to follow him and lap by lap we were catching (Thomas) Luthi and (Lukas) Pesek. We are closing the gap, and I stayed behind Locatelli and when I caught him I tried to pass him, but after seven laps I see there’s something wrong with the tire. Then the tire was moving a lot and it was difficult to keep up the lap times and lap by lap I started coming down. And after some laps I changed my mind, because if I pushed a little bit I will crash. So I wanted to finish the race. I’m not happy about the finish, but I was happy about the potential of the bike because in the corner I was faster than the factory bikes.” Shoya Tomizawa, CIP Moto-GP250 Honda: 15th. “It was a very good race, because I have done a good lap time and faster laps all the time. At first it was difficult to learn this track, but my understanding gets better all weekend and now I like it, though it is very challenging and very fast. Next year I think I can improve my position and use better lines.” Valentin Debise, CIP Moto-GP 250 Honda: 19th. “The whole weekend I was struggling and in the race it was no different. The front end was diving in practice, so we put in another spring, but then I was fighting it harder. Then I made a few mistakes and started to lose my rhythm. Then you start to panic. You’re riding harder, but you go even slower. But it’s a learning experience for this race track. It’s quite difficult. I didn’t think it would be this difficult.” Results MotoGP Race Classification MotoGP : (27 laps = 120.096 km) Pos/ Rider / Nat / Team / Motorcycle / Time/ KM/H / Gap 1 / Casey STONER / AUS / Ducati Marlboro Team / DUCATI / 40’56.651 / 175.989 2 / Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Fiat Yamaha Team / YAMAHA / 40’58.586 / 175.851 / 1.935 3 / Dani PEDROSA / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 41’19.269 / 174.384 / 22.618 4 / Alex DE ANGELIS / RSM / San Carlo Honda Gresini / HONDA / 41’29.353 / 173.677 / 32.702 5 / Colin EDWARDS / USA / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 41’32.536 / 173.456 / 35.885 6 / Andrea DOVIZIOSO / ITA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 41’35.133 / 173.275 / 38.482 7 / Marco MELANDRI / ITA / Hayate Racing Team / KAWASAKI / 41’41.112 / 172.861 / 44.461 8 / Randy DE PUNIET / FRA / LCR Honda MotoGP / HONDA / 41’41.592 / 172.828 / 44.941 9 / Mika KALLIO / FIN / Pramac Racing / DUCATI / 41’50.996 / 172.180 / 54.345 10 / Toni ELIAS / SPA / San Carlo Honda Gresini / HONDA / 41’57.856 / 171.711 / 1’01.205 11 / Chris VERMEULEN / AUS / Rizla Suzuki MotoGP / SUZUKI / 42’02.068 / 171.425 / 1’05.417 12 / Loris CAPIROSSI / ITA / Rizla Suzuki MotoGP / SUZUKI / 42’02.601 / 171.388 / 1’05.950 13 / Gabor TALMACSI / HUN / Scot Racing Team MotoGP / HONDA / 42’14.602 / 170.577 / 1’17.951 14 / James TOSELAND / GBR / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 42’14.636 / 170.575 / 1’17.985 15 / Nicky HAYDEN / USA / Ducati Marlboro Team / DUCATI / 41’27.127 / 167.395 / 1 lap Pole Position: Casey STONER 1’30.341 177.248 Km/h Fastest Lap: Valentino ROSSI 1’30.085 177.752 Km/h Lap 5 Circuit Record Lap: 2008 Nicky HAYDEN 1’30.059 177.803 Km/h Circuit Best Lap: Casey STONER 1’28.665 180.598 Km/h 2008 World Championship Positions: 1 ROSSI 270, 2 LORENZO 232, 3 STONER 195, 4 PEDROSA 189, 5 DOVIZIOSO 152, 6 EDWARDS 145, 7 DE ANGELIS 101, 8 DE PUNIET 101, 9 CAPIROSSI 101, 10 MELANDRI 100, 11 ELIAS 96, 12 VERMEULEN 95, 13 TOSELAND 87, 14 HAYDEN 82, 15 KALLIO 58. 250cc Race Classification 250cc (18 laps = 80.064 km) 1 / Marco SIMONCELLI / ITA / Metis Gilera / GILERA / 28’17.403 / 169.806 2 / Hector BARBERA / SPA / Pepe World Team / APRILIA / 28’19.837 / 169.563 / 2.434 3 / Raffaele DE ROSA / ITA / Scot Racing Team 250cc / HONDA / 28’20.007 / 169.546 / 2.604 4 / Jules CLUZEL / FRA / Matteoni Racing / APRILIA / 28’29.521 / 168.603 / 12.118 5 / Mike DI MEGLIO / FRA / Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc / APRILIA / 28’29.595 / 168.595 / 12.192 6 / Karel ABRAHAM / CZE / Cardion AB Motoracing / APRILIA / 28’29.816 / 168.573 / 12.413 7 / Hiroshi AOYAMA / JPN / Scot Racing Team 250cc / HONDA / 28’29.858 / 168.569 / 12.455 8 / Hector FAUBEL / SPA / Honda SAG / HONDA / 28’30.515 / 168.505 / 13.112 9 / Ratthapark WILAIROT / THA / Thai Honda PTT SAG / HONDA / 28’30.963 / 168.460 / 13.560 10 / Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Mapfre Aspar Team / APRILIA / 28’45.182 / 167.072 / 27.779 11 / Thomas LUTHI / SWI / Emmi – Caffe Latte / APRILIA / 28’45.625 / 167.029 / 28.222 12 / Lukas PESEK / CZE / Auto Kelly – CP / APRILIA / 28’46.060 / 166.987 / 28.657 13 / Alex DEBON / SPA / Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens / APRILIA / 28’51.295 / 166.482 / 33.892 14 / Shuhei AOYAMA / JPN / Racing Team Germany / HONDA / 28’56.182 / 166.013 / 38.779 15 / Shoya TOMIZAWA / JPN / CIP Moto – GP250 / HONDA / 28’57.932 / 165.846 / 40.529 Pole Position: Raffaele DE ROSA 1’33.389 171.463 Km/h Fastest Lap: Raffaele DE ROSA 1’33.519 171.225 Km/h Lap 13 Circuit Record Lap: 2008 Alvaro BAUTISTA 1’32.710 172.719 Km/hh Circuit Best Lap: Marco SIMONCELLI 1’32.075 173.910 Km/h 2008 World Championship Positions: 1 AOYAMA 227, 2 SIMONCELLI 215, 3 BAUTISTA 198, 4 BARBERA 194, 5 PASINI 128, 6 DE ROSA 106, 7 DI MEGLIO 105, 8 FAUBEL 94, 9 LUTHI 94, 10 DEBON 92, 11 CLUZEL 82, 12 LOCATELLI 78, 13 PESEK 62, 14 WILAIROT 60, 15 ABRAHAM 60. 125cc: Race Classification 125cc (23 laps = 102.304 km) Pos / Rider / Nat / Team / Motorcycle / Time / KM/H / Gap 1 / Julian SIMON / SPA / Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc / APRILIA / 37’55.798 / 161.830 / 2 / Bradley SMITH / GBR / Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc / APRILIA / 37’56.111 / 161.808 / 0.313 3 / Sandro CORTESE / GER / Ajo Interwetten / DERBI / 37’57.855 / 161.684 / 2.057 4 / Pol ESPARGARO / SPA / Derbi Racing Team / DERBI / 37’57.959 / 161.677 / 2.161 5 / Simone CORSI / ITA / Fontana Racing / APRILIA / 37’58.128 / 161.665 / 2.330 6 / Nicolas TEROL / SPA / Jack & Jones Team / APRILIA / 37’59.037 / 161.600 / 3.239 7 / Efren VAZQUEZ / SPA / Derbi Racing Team / DERBI / 37’59.088 / 161.597 / 3.290 8 / Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. / APRILIA / 38’08.618 / 160.924 / 12.820 9 / Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Red Bull KTM Moto Sport / KTM / 38’18.153 / 160.256 / 22.355 10 / Sergio GADEA / SPA / Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc / APRILIA / 38’18.400 / 160.239 / 22.602 11 / Scott REDDING / GBR / Blusens Aprilia / APRILIA / 38’24.979 / 159.782 / 29.181 12 / Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Ajo Interwetten / DERBI / 38’24.997 / 159.780 / 29.199 13 / Danny WEBB / GBR / Degraaf Grand Prix / APRILIA / 38’25.020 / 159.779 / 29.222 14 / Jonas FOLGER / GER / Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. / APRILIA / 38’25.194 / 159.767 / 29.396 15 / Randy KRUMMENACHE / SWI / Degraaf Grand Prix / APRILIA / 38’25.259 / 159.762 / 29.461 Pole Position: Pol ESPARGARO 1’37.770 163.780 Km / h Fastest Lap: Sandro CORTESE 1’37.869 163.614 Km / h Lap 16 Circuit Record Lap: 2006 Alvaro BAUTISTA 1’36.927 165.204 Km / h Circuit Best Lap: Mika KALLIO 1’36.625 165.721 Km / h 2006 World Championship Positions: 1 SIMON 239, 2 SMITH 183.5, 3 TEROL 162.5, 4 ESPARGARO 142.5, 5 GADEA 128, 6 IANNONE 117.5, 7 CORTESE 112, 8 MARQUEZ 94, 9 BRADL 85, 10 OLIVE 74, 11 FOLGER 73, 12 CORSI 68, 13 AEGERTER 63.5, 14 REDDING 50.5, 15 VAZQUEZ 45. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner wins in Australia to mark 50th victory on Bridgestone tyres Round 15: Australia GP Race Phillip Island, Sunday 18 October 2009 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Hard, Extra Hard (asymmetric) The fiftieth premier class win on Bridgestone tyres came after a head-to-head shootout between the only two riders to have won World Championship titles using Bridgestone tyres. Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner triumphed over Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi after a race-long battle. Both riders were using the softer front and rear Bridgestone slicks as they pushed each other to within 0.03seconds of the circuit lap record, and mid-race the duo were separated by less than one tenth of a second. The track conditions were cooler than they were during yesterday’s qualifying session, and every rider except the Suzuki Team pairing used the softer Bridgestone slicks front and rear. Only Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen mixed a soft compound front with the extra hard compound rear. Whilst the pace of Stoner and Rossi saw them run away from the rest of the pack, the competition in the midfield was much closer with a close four-way battle for sixth that was eventually won by Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso. Hiroshi Yasukawa Director, Bridgestone Corporation “I’d like to congratulateCasey and the Ducati Team for their victory here in Australia today and for marking the 50th win on our tyres. It is apt that Casey took this win as it was he who took the first World Championship on our tyres in 2007. We are proud to have achieved this milestone, and whilst this is the first of three years for us as the Official Tyre Supplier, it is important to note that almost three quarters of these victories came in the tyre competition era, and that it was our success and the performance of our tyres that saw us become the sole supplier. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dorna and the FIM for their continued support, and wish each MotoGP team and rider the greatest success for the remainder of this season and beyond.” Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “It was a hard race for the tyres because Casey and Valentino were pushing very hard until the chequered and the battle between them was faster than I expected. We can see from the laptimes that the softer option front and rear slicks performed well as even though the conditions were cooler this year than last, the race time was just 0.008seconds slower which demonstrates their good consistency and the fastest lap was just 0.026seconds from the lap record. I am very happy to celebrate the 50th win on our tyres using the new specification rear tyres we developed for Phillip Island.” Casey Stoner Ducati Team Race Winner “After the season we’ve had, to come back in Portugal and almost have the pace to win was good but here I am really happy; I enjoyed every lap! We were the ones who converted everyone to Bridgestone so to mark the 50th win is a nice feeling. Everyone was happy with what they had until we came along and did what we did and all of a sudden everyone wanted Bridgestone tyres so it was quite a proud moment for us. The fact that Bridgestone have listened to what we’ve said and made changes from that has been fantastic. Three wins from three years here is also a nice way to end the season!” Top ten classification (Sunday 16:00 GMT+11) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front tyre Rear tyre Tyres 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 40m56.651s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 2 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 40m58.586s +1.935s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 3 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 41m19.269s +22.618s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 4 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 41m29.353s +32.702s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 5 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 41m32.536s +35.885s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 6 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 41m35.133s +38.482s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 7 Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Team 41m41.112s +44.461s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 8 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 41m41.592s +44.941s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 9 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing 41m50.996s +54.345s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick 10 Toni Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini 41m57.856s +61.205s Soft Hard Bridgestone slick Weather: Dry. Ambient 15-14°C; Track 32-31°C (Bridgestone measurement)