The rain that fell on the Phillip Island circuit just minutes before the start of yesterday's MotoGP race was only good news for Italy's Marco Melandri.
Melandri, riding a Honda and starting from seventh on the grid at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, won the race by nearly 10 seconds after he emerged from the congested pits among the leaders after the riders had to change to bikes with rain tires.
The Italian finished the 26-lap race -- shortened by one lap due to the rain -- in a time of 44 minutes, 15.621 seconds.
PHOTO: AP
Australian rookie Chris Vermeulen was second -- his first podium finish in the series -- and Italy's Valentino Rossi came third on the 4.445km circuit at Phillip Island.
Overall championship leader American Nicky Hayden, who won the pole position for the second straight year on Saturday, was fifth. He leads defending MotoGP champion Rossi by 21 points with three races remaining.
Melandri's third win of the season made the 24-year-old Italian the first rider to win at Phillip Island in all three world championship classes.
"I really love this track," Melandri said. "I have won the 125 race [in 1999] and I also won the 250 world championship here [in 2002]."
"At the beginning in the wet it was very difficult, but when I found my rhythm I learned my bike was working very well. I was watching my pit board but nobody was coming and I just ran very smooth to the finish," he said.
Earlier, Alvaro Bautista of Spain clinched the 2006 world 125cc championship with a win in the opening race.
Bautista, who became the first rider to clinch any of the three race divisions, is also the first to win seven 125cc races in a single season since Japan's Haruchika Aoki in 1995.
The 21-year-old Bautista has finished on the podium in 12 of the 13 races this season. He has 280 points, with second-place holder Mika Kallio of Finland on 201.
The Spaniard, riding an Aprilia, celebrated by ripping the "9" off his No. 19 racing bib, signifying he would wear No. 1 next year. He said it had been an "almost-perfect" season.
He finished the 15-lap race -- shortened from the scheduled 23 due to a first-lap crash -- in a time of 24 minutes, 30.15 seconds. Kallio was second yesterday, 3.242 seconds, followed by Mattia Passini of Italy, another .150 seconds behind.
Another Spanish rider won the 250cc race -- world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo. It was the 19-year-old Lorenzo's fifth win in his last six starts and eighth win of the season on his Aprilia.
Lorenzo finished the 25-lap race in 39 minutes, 17.327 seconds, less than a second ahead of Alex de Angelis of San Marino, also on an Aprilia.
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