MotoGP news

Rossi enjoys important second place

Valentino Rossi has taken an important step towards the 2009 MotoGP championship title. The Italian finished in second, while his championshp rival and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo failed to finish. After the race Rossi said it he enjoyed his battle with Stoner and admitted his second place was an important one for the championship.

Rossi, starting from the front row for the tenth race in a row, finished the first lap in third position, behind Dani Pedrosa and Stoner. On lap two both Stoner and Rossi passed the Spaniard and then quickly began to pull away on their own, quickly opening out a gap from the chasing pack. Darkening skies overhead at that point meant there was a rush in pit lane as the mechanics switched the spare bikes over to wet settings, but the sun eventually came out and the threat of rain subsided as the Italian and the Australian set in for a head-to-head battle. At times Rossi looked to be within striking distance and he made a couple of moves at mid-race distance, but with Lorenzo out he knew that he had to capitalise and he eventually played it safe to come home behind the resurgent Stoner with twenty important points in his pocket and an impressive gap of over twenty seconds to Pedrosa in third.

Speaking about the race Rossi said: "This was one of the most fun and definitely one of the most important second places of my career! We were on the limit for the whole race and there were some amazing slides, it was 'old-style' racing. To have a race like this in the sunshine at Phillip Island is an incredible emotion and I really enjoyed myself.

"Of course I wanted to win but I had to use my head a bit and once I'd seen that Lorenzo was out, I knew that if I made a mistake it would be a big disaster! Anyway I tried in places but Stoner was a bit faster than me. I didn't give up until the end but Casey really deserved this win; I want to give him my congratulations. We leave with twenty important points and now the championship lead is big and we can try to finish it in Malaysia, where we will have the first 'match point'."

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