Stoner cruises to Australian triumph

Casey Stoner eased the disappointment of relinquishing his world title to arch rival Valentino Rossi with an impressive victory in the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.

Having lost his crown in Japan last time out, the Australian dominated the race from start to finish to bring his Ducati Marlboro home comfortably ahead of Rossi's Fiat Yamaha and Nicky Hayden, who finished third for Repsol Honda.

Jorge Lorenzo claimed fourth ahead of Shinya Nakano, who snatched fifth right at the end. James Toseland gamely battled to hold on to a podium position for a sizeable portion of the race before succumbing to the superior machinery of his rivals and eventually finished sixth.

Stoner, who cruised to victory in his home grand prix by over six seconds, said: "We've had a bit of an up and down weekend but I was confident for the race.

"Nicky (Hayden) was pressing me at the start but he dropped off and I could build an advantage.

"My two crashes is when we really lost the championship but Valentino's ridden really well this season."

Rossi was delighted with his second place.

"For me it was a very exciting race, I couldn't relax for a second," he said.

"Starting on the fourth row is very difficult but I was confident we had a good pace. The battle with Toseland was very tough but then I saw Nicky coming closer lap by lap. Second is the best result we could get."

Hayden added: "The beginning was really fun but we ran into problems later in the race. It was a bit of a gamble with tyre choice but I went a lot faster in the race than I did all weekend."