Stoner wins, Rossi quits, championship game over

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2007-09-02 Stoner wins, Rossi quits, championship game over
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Casey Stoner today picked another dominant victory in front of Chris Vermeulen, with John Hopkins providing double Suzuki podium. So, logical question would be - where is Valentino Rossi? Well, home Grand Prix ended for Valentino Rossi in lap 5, as his new, pneumatic-valve driven Yamaha stopped. Fantastic victory of Casey Stoner and Rossi failure have almost certainly decided outcome of this year's championship - with chances of Rossi being only theoretical.

Casey Stoner used pole position to get into lead from lap one, staying there untill the end of the race, once again ridign on level of his own. He was followed by pair of Suzukis and Valentino Rossi in first corner. Suzuki riders soon proved to be too fast for Yamaha of Rossi, who was in trouble trying to catch pair of blue machines.

Once again Randy de Puniet crashed in first lap, but unfortunantelly taking Pedrosa and Hayden off the track with him. Hayden managed to re-join the race and finish it in 13th lap, while his team-mate Pedrosa had to stay out of the race. We all know about de Puniet's crashing habits, but he needs to learn how to do that without involving other riders.

Chris Vermeulen looked like only rider able to stay with Stoner, but as race progressed, Stoner extended gap and finished almost 5 seconds in front of Vermeulen. Fact that Vermeulen finished more than 11 seconds in front of team-mate Hopkins shows how good Vermeule was today.

Marco Melandri, who started from 12th place, charged his way through the field, eventually settling in 4th place, which was great result considering his starting position and physical state. Loris Capirossi rode his own race in 5th place, finishing race around 10 seconds clear of Carlos Checa in 6th, who repeated his season best result today.

Another rider recovering from back end of the grid was Toni Elias, who finished in 7th place. Anthony West continued steady progress and finished race in 8th. Colin Edwards ended day in his usual 9th place, with Shinya Nakano completing top 10 finishers in Misano.

What to say after the race today? Only miracle can change outcome of this year's championship, but that is something we don't want and don't expect - simply as it would require Stoner out of the track for few races, and in motorcycle racing it does not mean nothing good for young Australian. For sure, Rossi was aware of the fact that this year's championship is going out of his hands, so he decided to take gamble with new engine - and he lost it. However, with Rossi and Stoner both having something to prove until the end of the season, we may expect few more exciting races...

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