Defending champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) closed in on a seventh MotoGP title with second place at Phillip Island in Australia on Sunday.

Local hero Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati) won the event for the third year in a row in only his second race back since a mysterious illness kept him out of the championship for two months.

Rossi now leads Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who crashed out of the race on the opening lap, by 38 points with just two races remaining.  There are 25 points for a race win.  The Italian has 270 points, with the Spaniard on 232, Stoner on 195 and the Repsol Honda pair of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso on 189 and 155 respectively.

Fiat Yamaha leads the team championship with 502 points to Repsol Honda’s 344 and Ducati Marlboro’s 300.

Stoner led from pole position with Rossi, who started alongside the Australian, closing right up in the final laps but content to score 20 valuable points for second place, 1,9 seconds behind at the chequered flag, after the dramatic exit of his team-mate Lorenzo.  The Spaniard misjudged a pass on Stoner’s American team-mate Nicky Hayden and ended up in the gravel trap at the first turn. 

Pedrosa had no answer to the speed of Stoner and Rossi on the day and finished a distant third, 26,6 seconds in arrears.  Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was fourth ahead of Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha) and Dovizioso (Repsol Honda).