Casey Stoner has scored his sixth consecutive Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix victory in a race that saw Jorge Lorenzo secure the 2012 MotoGP World Championship title.
Pole-sitter Stoner fell to third off the start, but would retake the lead on just the second lap when team-mate Dani Pedrosa lost the front of his Honda at Turn 4.
With Pedrosa out of the race, the second-placed Jorge Lorenzo would need just a handful of points to wrap-up the crown before the final round in Valencia.
The situation left a somewhat dull contest to unfold in front of the 53,000 strong record crowd, with Stoner gradually edging away to be a race-high 9.2s ahead by the chequered flag.
The 27-year-old showed no signs of weakness from the ankle injury that curtailed his season, with the result marking his first win since returning from an enforced lay-off two races ago.
Cal Crutchlow had a lonely ride to third, while Andrea Doviziso won a race-long scrap with Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl to take fourth.
Valentino Rossi fended off the advances of Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden for seventh, while Karl Abraham and top Claiming Rule Team rider Aleix Espargaro completed the top 10.
Espargargo beat his Aspar team-mate Randy de Puniet by just 0.04s to take the 10th position.
Roberto Rolfo, Colin Edwards and James Ellison joined Pedrosa on the retirements list, with Ellison crashing out on just the sixth lap.
Stoner’s victory capped off a near perfect day for the local fans at Phillip Island after Australians Anthony West and Arthur Sissis made podium appearances in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes respectively.
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s Moto2 race report and full result
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s Moto3 race report and full result
The 2012 MotoGP season concludes with Grand Prix of Valencia in two weeks time.
Result, MotoGP, Phillip Island
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 1 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 175.7 | 41’01.324 |
| 2 | 20 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 175.0 | +9.223 |
| 3 | 16 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 174.6 | +14.570 |
| 4 | 13 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 174.0 | +23.303 |
| 5 | 11 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 174.0 | +23.432 |
| 6 | 10 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 174.0 | +23.467 |
| 7 | 9 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 173.0 | +37.113 |
| 8 | 8 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 173.0 | +38.387 |
| 9 | 7 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 172.0 | +52.613 |
| 10 | 6 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 171.5 | +1’00.299 |
| 11 | 5 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 171.5 | +1’00.342 |
| 12 | 4 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 170.0 | +1’21.951 |
| 13 | 3 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter | 169.6 | +1’27.857 |
| 14 | 2 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | FTR | 168.3 | 1 Lap |
| 15 | 1 | 22 | Ivan SILVA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 166.8 | 1 Lap |
| Not Classified | ||||||||
| 84 | Roberto ROLFO | ITA | Speed Master | ART | 168.2 | 9 Laps | ||
| 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter | 163.7 | 21 Laps | ||
| 77 | James ELLISON | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 167.2 | 22 Laps | ||
| 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 164.9 | 26 Laps | ||
Championship standings
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | SPA | 350 |
| 2 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 307 |
| 3 | Casey STONER | Honda | AUS | 238 |
| 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Yamaha | ITA | 208 |
| 5 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | SPA | 165 |
| 6 | Valentino ROSSI | Ducati | ITA | 157 |
| 7 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | GBR | 151 |
| 8 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | GER | 135 |
| 9 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | USA | 122 |
| 10 | Ben SPIES | Yamaha | USA | 88 |
| 11 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | SPA | 83 |
| 12 | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | SPA | 69 |
| 13 | Randy DE PUNIET | ART | FRA | 58 |
| 14 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | CZE | 50 |
| 15 | Michele PIRRO | FTR | ITA | 32 |
| 16 | James ELLISON | ART | GBR | 28 |
| 17 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | BQR | COL | 28 |
| 18 | Colin EDWARDS | Suter | USA | 25 |
| 19 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ioda-Suter | ITA | 19 |
| 20 | Jonathan REA | Honda | GBR | 17 |
| 21 | Mattia PASINI | ART | ITA | 13 |
| 22 | Ivan SILVA | BQR | SPA | 12 |
| 23 | Toni ELIAS | Ducati | SPA | 10 |
| 24 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | Yamaha | JPN | 7 |
| 25 | Steve RAPP | APR | USA | 2 |
| 26 | David SALOM | BQR | SPA | 1 |
