Excellent win for Stoner in tricky Italian contest

Casey Stoner wrapped up the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice action in style with victory in another wet-dry MotoGP race.

In the second flag-to-flag race in two rounds Casey Stoner ended Valentino Rossi’s Mugello winning streak with a polished performance to give Ducati their first ever victory at the circuit.

Much of the race came down to tactics again in front of the 80,000-strong Italian crowd as the riders once more started on a wet surface and completed the 23 lap contest on slicks, with Stoner this time judging things to perfection.

The Australian retook the championship lead as he crossed the line a second in front of former leader Jorge Lorenzo, who also rode well after the scare of crashing on the sighting lap.

Lorenzo’s Fiat Yamaha colleague Valentino Rossi completed the podium in third place as his seven-year wining run at his beloved home track came to an end, the Italian hero crossing the line two seconds behind Stoner and less than one tenth in front of Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso.

It was a shame for Dovizioso to miss out on the rostrum on the last lap once again, having held the race lead early on, on wet tyres. Likewise, his compatriot Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) was leading at one stage – later in the race – but he fell away in the final laps to finish fifth.

James Toseland made a brave decision to come in first and change bikes when running towards the back of the field and he just missed out on equaling his best MotoGP result of sixth as he was outdone by his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Colin Edwards on the last lap, having also dueled with LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet who was eventually eighth.

Niccolò Canepa (Pramac Racing) will be delighted to have achieved his best result to date as the second highest Ducati rider in ninth at his home race, with Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) completing the top ten behind the young Italian.

Dani Pedrosa hit the deck and crashed out on lap 14 having already damaged his hip earlier in the weekend, the Spaniard stretchered away from trackside. He will face an anxious wait to see if he is fit for his own home race at Barcelona in two weeks. Honda satellite rider Yuki Takahashi also crashed out with 13 laps to go.

Rossi just pleased to be on podium

Having never had great success before in flag-to-flag races and having crashed at Le Mans just after swapping bikes in the French wet-dry contest, Valentino Rossi was pleased with his relatively smooth showing at the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice on Sunday.

His remarkable winning run in front of his adoring Italian public logically had to come to an end at some stage and he was simply content to be on the podium alongside race-winner Casey Stoner and Fiat Yamaha colleague Jorge Lorenzo, as the three continue to jostle for supremacy in the 2009 title race.

Explaining how his race had panned out at Mugello, the World Champion said, “I have never been able to take a podium in one of these types of races before so it is the first time I have done it when we have had to change the bike. It was a good race for me especially as we found a good wet setting in just 20 minutes of warm up and I was strong in the first part.”

“I made a good decision on when to come in and change this time but unfortunately we decided to go with the harder front tyre for the second part of the race and that was a disadvantage for me, especially at the beginning. I was slow in the first two laps on slicks and I was thinking about the Le Mans crash. The front choice wasn’t right and even though I found a good pace it wasn’t enough to win.”

On avoiding allowing himself to be disappointed at the end of a sensational period of home dominance Rossi commented, “After seven victories in a row here it was just important to get on the podium for all the fans. The podium here in Mugello is always a great party and a great emotion even if we are not on the top step. The championship is very close, with the three of us separated by less than ten points, but it will be a long fight and we will try again in Barcelona next time out.”

source :www.motogp.com