Stoner has led every MotoGP lap but one at Phillip Island since 2007 and after taking pole position yesterday and finishing 1.890 seconds quicker than his nearest rival in warm-up this morning he was untouchable in the afternoon, crossing the line 8.598 seconds clear of new World Champion Jorge Lorenzo.
Nicky Hayden and Valentin Rossi fought it out int he closing laps for the fional podium spot. A pass on Rossi with three laps remaining looked to be enough to seal third place for Hayden but the Italian staged a late attack to edge out the American by just 0.038 seconds at the line.
Stoner was in a class of his own though out in front and to the delight of his home crowd took an easy win.
‰ÛÏThis feels really nice. 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 expectation on me today," Stoner said.
"To be fair we have been going for the win at the last four races - unfortunately I slipped off on the first lap at Sepang but we've made up for that this weekend. Everything has gone well for us, we have been happy with the bike from the first practice and the support from the fans has been fantastic. I have to admit that before the race I was feeling the pressure, I was more nervous than I normally am but maybe I should be like that more often because I didn't make mistakes! I am really happy with the way I rode today but every single person in the team has done a great job this weekend so my thanks go to them and I hope we can keep it going to the end of the season," the Australian concluded.
Fiat Yamaha sealed the team title as World Champion Jorge Lorenzo finished second and Valentino Rossi third.
Lorenzo had feared he was unable to match Stoner's pace today, despite trying his best in the early stages. Once he realised he could not catch the Australian he contented himself with an uneventful but enjoyable race, unchallenged throughout to finish in second place. It was the 23-year-old's 50th start in the MotoGP class and his 32nd podium from those races.
"We knew Casey would be hard to beat today! I tried my best, riding as hard as I could at the start and occasionally it seemed like I was closing a little bit, but then on the next lap Casey would extend his lead again by a few tenths," Lorenzo said.
