Stoner Sustains Australian Dominance

Australian Casey Stoner sustained his domination of his home MotoGP, coming home alone to win at Phillip Island for a fourth successive season.

The 25-year-old Ducati rider, who is now just one win away from matching Valentino Rossi's five wins on the circuit from 2001 to 2005, finished over eight seconds clear of new world champion Jorge Lorenzo -- his third triumph in the last four races.

Seven-time world champion Rossi fought off Stoner's American teammate Nicky Hayden to take third place. However, the Italian is no longer third in the overall standings, with Stoner taking that location behind Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa with just two races remaining this season.

Stoner now lies 23 points behind the injured Pedrosa, with Rossi a additional eight points back in fourth position.

Andrea Dovizioso is another 18 points adrift in fifth position overall after the Honda rider retired with engine troubles on just the fourth lap of the race.

"This feels really pleasant. I think when I won two in a row here nobody expected me to make it three but having done that I felt there was a lot of hope on me today," Stoner told the official MotoGP website.

"Everything has gone well for us, we have been happy with the bike from the first follow and the support from the fans has been fantastic," he added.