Cycle Torque Grand Prix Special - Sunday

Stoner Makes it Three IVECO Australian Grand Prix 2009

Race Day Wrap

MotoGP: Stoner, Rossi, Pedrosa

Stoner’s Unlikely Casey Stoner

Island Victory

Valentino Rossi

Casey makes it three In what has been described as a superb victory, Casey Stoner has triumphed at Phillip Island this afternoon winning the 2009 Iveco Australian Moto GP race by 1.935 seconds from Valentino Rossi.

It was Stoner’s second race back from an absence due to a mystery illness which he attributed partly to a lactose intolerance - but stated his recent health problems are now ‘stamped out of his system’. It was a dominating victory from Stoner, his third of the season which now takes

him to overall third in the championship.

Stoner also acknowledged again that he was glad to have the last three races off, saying “I think without taking that time off, we wouldn’t be anywhere near that podium step today. Things would have been too difficult for me and physically, definitely, I wouldn’t have been able to last the race.”

Rossi’s second place opened the gap in the championship to 38 points to his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, with Lorenzo failing to finish after

crashing out at the very first corner.

Rossi described the race as one of the hardest and most important second places of his career, saying “Behind Casey we go very fast.

Riding MotoGP at Phillip Island is always a great pleasure with some great slides on the left side. I tried to stay with him [Stoner] but there was no way for the victory”.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa completed the podium, a distant 22.618 seconds behind Rossi.

After yet another blistering

Check out all the pictures on our web galleries

www.cycletorque.com.au

Casey makes it three start, he led briefly until being overtaken by Stoner on the second lap.

“It’s a shame they don’t give points for the holeshot!” Pedrosa joked after the race.

“Casey and Valentino were going superfast today and I just couldn’t keep pace with them once they came past.”

Alex De Angelis completed an impressive weekend by finishing fourth with Colin Edwards coming home fifth, Edwards blaming a ‘messed up’ start for not having a chance at finishing any higher.

Andrea Dovizioso

was 2.5 seconds behind Edwards - his sixth place result meaning he maintains fifth place in the championship.

Marco Melandri, Randy De Puniet, Mika Kallio and Toni Elias completed the top ten. Aussie Chris Vermuelen had to settle for eleventh, battlling throughout the race with team-mate Loris Capirossi (twelth) and

Above: Lorenzo crashes into Hayden. Left: He’s out of control. Below: Title chase in the gravel.

Photo both pages: F. Kirn.

Jorge Lorenzo

Gabor Talmacsi (thirteenth) The only non finisher of the race was Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo who touched bikes briefly with Nicky Hayden on the first corner of the race. As he tried to negotiate turn one the bike became unstable and Lorenzo went down, lucky to escape any serious injury. The incident effectively finished Hayden’s race, who was forced to cross the infield, eventually rejoining the race and finishing 15th.

Dani Pedrosa

250cc Race

Simoncelli closes on Aoyama

a

Simoncelli, Barbera and Faubel going into the hairpin on lap one. Simoncelli would win, Barbera would stay second, Faubel would fade to eighth.

Simoncelli closes on Aoyama

Italian Marco Simoncelli won a shortened 250cc race at the 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, a race that finished six laps short of the scheduled 25-lap distance after his Gilera team-mate Roberto Locatelli crashed at Turn 10.

Simoncelli led by 2.4secs on lap 19 when Locatelli had a huge high-side coming out of the bottom of the hill at Turn 10, an accident which left the Italian and his bike prone on the circuit.

Officials quickly red-flagged the race, and the final classification was taken back to the last lap completed by all riders, lap 18.

Simoncelli commented, “The race today was very difficult - from the first lap the rear tyre was sliding around so much. But I saw that my lap times were very good, so I decided to continue to push more lap by lap. Later in the race I had success in breaking away and when I saw the red flag I was happy for the victory”.

After starting from fifth on the grid, Hector Barbera was second on an Aprilia, while polesitter Raffaele de Rosa secured his first 250cc podium finish, coming home in third after being swamped off the line and finding himself down in sixth midway through the first lap.

De Rosa said he was delighted to be on the podium, but like most of the other riders found it a shame they did not get to see the chequered flag at the end of the race.

De Rosa, riding a Honda, also set the fastest lap of the race, a lap of 1min 33.519secs on lap 13.

The victory was Simoncelli’s second straight 250cc triumph in Australia, and was the fourth win in the last five races for the reigning 250cc champion. The 22-year-old reduced Hiroshi Aoyama’s lead at the top of the championship to just 12 points with two races remaining.

Aoyama finished in seventh place in Sunday’s race, and was never able to match the searing pace of Simoncelli, who led at the end of every lap.

Simoncelli, who started second on the 24-bike grid, was jumped into Turn 1 off the start by veteran Spaniard Alex Debon, but Debon’s moment in the sun was brief – the 33-yearold Aprilia rider ran wide through the gravel at Turn 8 on the opening lap and was in 24th place by its conclusion. He recovered to finish the race in 13th place.

Simoncelli resisted early pressure from Barbera, who soon found himself under attack

from championship contender Alvaro Bautista.

Bautista, who started from a season-worst 10th place on the grid, scythed through the field to be up to fourth by seven laps, and overtook Barbera for second on lap 17.

His quest to catch Simoncelli, with whom he engaged in a spirited battle in the 2008 race in Australia, came to a sudden halt when he crashed his Aprilia at Turn 4 on the next lap.

Bautista was able to return to the circuit, and was eventually classified in 10th position after Locatelli’s accident.

With races in Malaysia and Valencia to come, Aoyama leads the championship with 227 points, while Simoncelli is now within striking distance on 215. Bautista drops to third in the champiosship, 29 points in arrears of Aoyama.

Marco Simoncelli

125cc:

Simon World Champion Julian Simon clinched the 125cc World Championship with a thrilling last-lap victory over his team-mate Bradley Smith in the 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island on Sunday afternoon.

For the second year in a row the 23-lap 125 at the Island decided the fate of the title as

22-year-old Simon of Spain thrust his Aprilia up the inside of Smith’s at Turn 10 and held on to win his fifth race of the season by a margin of just over a tenth of a second.

A relatively distant third was German Sandro Cortese on a

Derbi, coming from a lowly 15th position on the opening lap, while pole-sitter Pol Espargaro on another Derbi finished fourth after being overtaken by Cortese on the final straight.

Espargaro, from his first pole position of the season, led the early laps of the race from Nico Terol’s Aprilia, but Terol’s small chance of keeping his title hopes alive waned as the race went on.

Corsi too led the race by lap seven, but once Smith and Simon swept through shortly before the halfway stage the outcome was only ever going to be between the two Bancaja Aspar men.

Needing to beat Smith to make certain of the title, Simon had made a cautious start to be as low as eighth in the opening stages but came through to lead for the first time at the start of lap 14.

From then on it was a double fight for the race win and the title as Simon and Smith exchanged the lead, the two never separated by more than a tenth of a second as the battle raged over the concluding 10 laps.

“The race was very complicated,” said ‘Julito’ after his victory, “because Smith was pushing so hard to win. Now the most important thing is to compliment my team for their

support and the confidence they gave me. Today I won the race and the championship and I am so happy for this.”

Although edged out of the title on the final lap, Smith took consolation in scoring his firstever points in the Australian

race.

“It was a great race but the only disappointing thing is that finally I have to say that the championship is over,” said the 18-year-old Englishman, adding “apart from that the race was great and I loved

every minute of it. The bike was working fantastic, I gave my best and I won’t be going to bed tonight disappointed.”

The fastest race lap of the race was set by Cortese, who posted a time of 1:37.869, with an average speed of 163.614 km/h

on lap 16.

Australian wildcard Brad Gross on a Yamaha finished 24th, Andy Lawson was 27th and Levi Day 28th and last man classified. Nicky Diles of Victoria crashed out on lap two.

Julian Simon

Superbike Support Races

Maxwell 3, Waters 1 Victorian Wayne Maxwell (Honda) has continued his Superbike feast at this year’s Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island, winning his third consecutive race in an early-morning thriller.

Maxwell was locked in combat for the entire eight-lapper with his team-mate Glenn Allerton, Suzuki’s Josh Waters and privateer Craig Coxhell (Honda), with American Jake Holden (Honda) was also prominent early.

Holden then started to drop off the pace at the halfway mark with machine problems, turning it into an all-Aussie freight train.

And that’s when Maxwell decided enough was enough, spending most of the second half at the pointy end of the snarling pack, eventually completing the journey ahead of Allerton, Waters and Coxhell – just 0.968secs separating first from fourth at the chequered flag.

“That was another tight one, but a lot of fun,”

said Maxwell, fast becoming an indomitable force at Phillip Island.

“That race wasn’t a point-scorer for the Australian championship, but the next one later this morning will be – so watch out for some real fireworks!”

Currently, Allerton leads the national championship - which concludes here at Phillip Island on November 29 – by just nine points over Waters, with Maxwell another two points behind in third.

Meanwhile, the impressive Holden fell across the race in ninth, while Shawn Giles (Suzuki) was fifth from the fast-finishing David Anthony (Honda), Jamie Stauffer (Yamaha) and Kevin Curtain (Kawasaki).

Josh Waters has pulled out all stops to clinch a nail-biting victory over Wayne Maxwell in the final Superbike support race at this year’s Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip

Island.

After three second places behind Maxwell over the past two days, the fired-up Waters (Suzuki) was determined to break the stranglehold, and that’s how it panned out as he came out on top after a typically hectic run to the finish line.

After the 0.024sec victory, Waters celebrated with gusto, knowing it was critical in his quest to win this year’s Australian Superbike Championship as a rookie.

With championship leader Glenn Allerton (Honda) a distant third in race four, Waters is only 2 points (251 to 253) behind with just one round remaining – back at Phillip Island from November 27-29.

Maxwell is on 244pts, and is the only other rider capable of clinching the crown.

“My bike was sliding around everywhere around those last few turns, but I just kept on pushing and got the win,” said a delighted Waters. “The last round is going to be a sensational battle for the championship, and I’m sure the best man will win – I just hope that I’m the one!”

The race was reduced to six laps after the first attempt was red-flagged when Ducati rider Chris Knox crashed at high speed on Gardner Straight.

In a bruising few seconds, leading privateer Craig Coxhell (Honda), who was battling with the leaders at the time, also crashed out in a nasty highside at Turn Two. That left the field two riders short in the restart, but there was only one more DNF until the end of hostilities – the distributor-backed Yamaha of Daniel Stauffer.

After a lean year, Daniel’s brother Jamie showed some improved form in race two, eventually besting Shawn Giles (Suzuki) in an armwrestle for fifth position.

American Jake Holden (Honda) was a strong fourth.

Robert Budgen (Suzuki) and David Anthony (Honda) were seventh and eighth.

Courtesy of his bonus point for pole position, Maxwell won the round on 46pts from Waters (45), Allerton (36), Giles (31) and Bugden (30).