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.
Rossi, who had started on 12th on the grid after falling during qualifying on Saturday, had already wrapped up his fifth MotoGP world title, and sixth premier-class title overall, in Japan last week. Earlier, France’s Mike di Meglio clinched the 125cc world title after he won the race while Italy’s Marco Simoncelli increased his championship lead in the 250cc class after he pipped Spain’s Alvaro Bautista in a closely-fought tussle. – Reuters