Australian Casey Stoner won his first world motorcycling championship by finishing ahead of his archrival Valentino Rossi in the MotoGP race at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi yesterday.
The 21-year-old Stoner finished sixth in the 24-lap race won by Italian and fellow Ducati rider Loris Capirossi for his third-straight MotoGP triumph at Motegi.
"There is really no better feeling than this," Stoner said.
PHOTO: AFP
"I didn't really expect to clinch the title this weekend. It would have been a dream to win the title at any of the remaining races but to do it with three races to go is unreal," he said.
Italian Rossi, the five-time world champion in the premier class, finished 13th on a Yamaha.
His points deficit behind Stoner widened to an unbeatable 83 with three races to go. A win is worth 25 points.
It was the first time that a rider on a Ducati won the drivers championship since the Italian constructors rejoined the purpose-built motorcycle circuit in 2003 after a 30-year break while dominating the World Superbike circuit.
Ducati also moved within an ace of lifting their first ever constructors title of any category as they lead Honda by 69 points.
Capirossi finished in 47 minutes 05.484 seconds, 10.853 seconds ahead of Randy De Puniet of France on a Kawasaki.
Toni Elias of Spain came in third 11.526 seconds behind Capirossi.
Honda rider Dani Pedrosa bolted out of his pole position onto the first bend on the Honda-owned track, still wet after a morning shower.
But Australian Anthony West on a Kawasaki overtook him on the second lap of the 24-lap race on the wet 4.8km track.
Stoner started from the ninth grid position and stayed in West's slipstream.
He surged to the top at the start of the fifth lap as West was called back to the pit as a penalty for a jump-start. Melandri overtook Stoner on the fifth and Rossi surged up into third spot.
While Melandri kept Stoner on his tail, Rossi steadily narrowed the gap with Stoner and finally passed him on the 12th lap for second spot behind Melandri.
After a hard nose-to-tail duel, Rossi jumped to the lead on the 14th just before Melandri moved aside for a pit stop.
Rossi pitted in with nine laps to go and came back on track in second spot some six seconds behind Capirossi but made another pit-stop again after the next lap.
His bike slid off course and almost out of contention on the next lap while Stoner hung on in fifth spot.
Rossi, who has won four races this year against eight for Stoner, could not regain the momentum while Capirossi steadily built up the lead.
Stoner became the second youngest rider to conquer the premier GP class at the age of 21 years and 342 days.
American Freddie Spencer was 84 days younger when he clinched the title -- then 500cc -- in 1983.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set