Stoner wins season finale
Added on Monday, October 27th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Stoner wins season finale
Casey Stoner romped to victory in the MotoGP season finale in Valencia on Sunday but lost his record points total to new champion Valentino Rossi.
The Australian recovered from a slow start from pole but soon regained the lead from home favourite Dani Pedrosa to record a processional victory in the final round of the season and only his second win since round ten.
Stoner did however lose his points tally record from last season to new champion Rossi, who fought his way from tenth on the grid to clinch the final podium place, leaving him with 373 points for the season.
Pedrosa claimed his second runners up finish in as many rounds, signalling a belated return to form and firing a warning shot for next year whilst fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo claimed the rookie of the year award with an eighth place finish, holding off the challenge from Andrea Dovizioso who finished fourth.
James Toseland had a disappointing end to the season, dropping from sixth on the grid to finish in a lowly 11th position.
The riders now head into testing for the 2009 season, with both Stoner and Rossi particuarly eagar to get their hands on the 2009 machines,
“We couldn’t really have asked for much more today,” said Stoner. “To end a difficult season in this way is a fantastic feeling and it’s a nice way to thank everybody at Ducati for their hard work.
“Once again my crew got it right, finding a good setting for the bike despite limited dry track time. To be honest I was quite worried during qualifying yesterday because I didn’t have a good feeling at all but by the time we put the softer tyres on the bike was already feeling better and then the guys did a fantastic job overnight and in the warm-up this morning to iron out a few more of the problems.
“Now I’m really excited about testing the new bike tomorrow. It felt good the last time I rode it and I’m sure they’ve made it better, so hopefully we can have a good first session and go home for the winter full of optimism about next season.”
“This has been an amazing season for us and to finish with another podium, the 16th, is great and we cannot complain,” said Rossi. “I am so happy with what we have done this year, as I said it’s definitely one of my greatest championships and I want to thank everyone once again – Yamaha, my team, the engineers, Bridgestone and everyone who helped us to get this result.
“Tomorrow we will try the new bike which means we can’t have as big a party as we would like, but it is important to try to find a base for it so I am looking forward to it.”
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