2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix

  2008 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 16 of 18 races in the 2008 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	5 October 2008
Official name	Australian Grand Prix
Location	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.448 km (2.764 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position Rider Casey Stoner Time 1:28.665 Fastest lap Rider Nicky Hayden Time 1:30.059 Podium First Casey Stoner Second Valentino Rossi Third Nicky Hayden
250 cc
Pole position Rider Marco Simoncelli Time 1:32.075 Fastest lap Rider Álvaro Bautista Time 1:32.710 Podium First Marco Simoncelli Second Álvaro Bautista Third Mika Kallio
125 cc
Pole position Rider Mike Di Meglio Time 1:37.553 Fastest lap Rider Stefan Bradl Time 1:37.908 Podium First Mike Di Meglio Second Stefan Bradl Third Gábor Talmácsi

The 2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixteenth round of the 2008 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 3–5 October 2008 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Race report

The premier class MotoGP race was won by Casey Stoner from pole position. Stoner rode a lights to flag victory ahead of a fast and charging Valentino Rossi who started the race from 12th position on the grid. Nicky Hayden rounded out the podium finishing in a respectable third place.

In the early stages of the race, Stoner and Hayden had a battle that lasted many laps with the two pulling away from the chasing pack, trading fast laps between them. Casey Stoner gradually began to pull away as Hayden's tyres appeared to wear out slightly. Meanwhile, Rossi was charging through the midfield, getting up to 8th position after only the first lap. Rossi quickly disposed of a number of riders in the first few laps, but lost vital time while attempting to overtake his teammate Jorge Lorenzo and former SBK champion James Toseland. Rossi was setting fast lap times but his entertaining battle with these two riders meant he was losing time, and all chances of catching Stoner and Hayden who were riding off into the distance were slowly fading.

After losing the front end going in MG Corner just after Lukey Heights, Rossi lost yet more time. After a few laps he managed to get into the tow behind Toseland and past him going into the long sweeping turn 1. Toseland had no reply and Rossi had his eyes firmly set on catching the leaders. Rossi caught Hayden with only 2 laps to go, but Stoner was simply too far already to be challenged for the win. By this stage of the race, Hayden's rear tyre was very worn as he had not conserved it in the early stages of the race. Rossi pulled a textbook move going into turn 1 on the last lap, Hayden lost ground from here and could not get close enough to attempt to retake second place.

MotoGP classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Casey Stoner	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	27	40:56.643	1	25
2	46	Valentino Rossi	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	27	+6.504	12	20
3	69	Nicky Hayden	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	27	+7.205	3	16
4	48	Jorge Lorenzo	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	27	+11.500	2	13
5	56	Shinya Nakano	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	27	+11.914	9	11
6	52	James Toseland	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha	27	+12.243	5	10
7	4	Andrea Dovizioso	JiR Team Scot MotoGP	Honda	27	+12.780	8	9
8	5	Colin Edwards	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha	27	+25.920	7	8
9	14	Randy de Puniet	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	27	+26.037	4	7
10	65	Loris Capirossi	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	27	+26.799	11	6
11	24	Toni Elías	Alice Team	Ducati	27	+27.027	13	5
12	13	Anthony West	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki	27	+47.808	18	4
13	21	John Hopkins	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki	27	+48.333	16	3
14	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Alice Team	Ducati	27	+48.899	14	2
15	7	Chris Vermeulen	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	27	+48.935	15	1
16	33	Marco Melandri	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	27	+1:11.767	17
Ret	15	Alex de Angelis	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	0	Accident	10
Ret	2	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0	Accident	6
Sources:

250 cc classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	58	Marco Simoncelli	Gilera	25	39:02.553	1	25
2	19	Álvaro Bautista	Aprilia	25	+0.223	3	20
3	36	Mika Kallio	KTM	25	+14.450	2	16
4	60	Julián Simón	KTM	25	+14.478	6	13
5	6	Alex Debón	Aprilia	25	+26.226	8	11
6	15	Roberto Locatelli	Gilera	25	+26.392	11	10
7	72	Yuki Takahashi	Honda	25	+26.434	7	9
8	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia	25	+40.546	9	8
9	14	Ratthapark Wilairot	Honda	25	+1:00.219	12	7
10	32	Fabrizio Lai	Gilera	25	+1:20.825	13	6
11	17	Karel Abraham	Aprilia	25	+1:22.802	17	5
12	25	Alex Baldolini	Aprilia	25	+1:22.864	18	4
13	10	Imre Tóth	Aprilia	25	+1:23.995	16	3
14	52	Lukáš Pešek	Aprilia	25	+1:39.740	14	2
15	35	Simone Grotzkyj	Gilera	24	+1 lap	21	1
16	92	Daniel Arcas	Aprilia	24	+1 lap	20
17	45	Doni Tata Pradita	Yamaha	24	+1 lap	22
Ret	4	Hiroshi Aoyama	KTM	15	Retirement	4
Ret	75	Mattia Pasini	Aprilia	15	Accident	10
Ret	55	Héctor Faubel	Aprilia	4	Accident	5
Ret	90	Federico Sandi	Aprilia	1	Accident	15
Ret	43	Manuel Hernández	Aprilia	1	Retirement	19
DNQ	89	Ho Wan Chow	Aprilia		Did not qualify
DNQ	27	Stefano Bianco	Aprilia		Did not qualify
OFFICIAL 250cc REPORT

125 cc classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	63	Mike Di Meglio	Derbi	23	37:55.589	1	25
2	17	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia	23	+10.255	3	20
3	1	Gábor Talmácsi	Aprilia	23	+13.106	9	16
4	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	23	+13.149	5	13
5	44	Pol Espargaró	Derbi	23	+26.796	15	11
6	11	Sandro Cortese	Aprilia	23	+27.123	6	10
7	12	Esteve Rabat	KTM	23	+27.181	17	9
8	24	Simone Corsi	Aprilia	23	+27.871	8	8
9	93	Marc Márquez	KTM	23	+28.287	12	7
10	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	23	+35.087	11	6
11	7	Efrén Vázquez	Aprilia	23	+57.392	25	5
12	8	Lorenzo Zanetti	KTM	23	+57.413	19	4
13	22	Pablo Nieto	KTM	23	+57.451	16	3
14	6	Joan Olivé	Derbi	23	+57.539	18	2
15	21	Robin Lässer	Aprilia	23	+1:06.318	23	1
16	72	Marco Ravaioli	Aprilia	23	+1:06.320	29
17	26	Adrián Martín	Aprilia	23	+1:42.441	30
18	36	Cyril Carrillo	Honda	23	+1:42.455	31
19	28	Enrique Jerez	KTM	23	+1:43.792	32
20	91	Jed Metcher	Honda	22	+1 lap	33
21	34	Randy Krummenacher	KTM	21	+2 laps	20
Ret	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia	21	Accident	2
Ret	48	Bastien Chesaux	Aprilia	14	Retirement	28
Ret	33	Sergio Gadea	Aprilia	13	Retirement	14
Ret	51	Stevie Bonsey	Aprilia	12	Retirement	13
Ret	70	Rhys Moller	Honda	10	Accident	34
Ret	16	Jules Cluzel	Loncin	8	Accident	27
Ret	46	Brad Gross	Yamaha	8	Retirement	35
Ret	56	Hugo van den Berg	Aprilia	7	Accident	21
Ret	95	Robert Mureșan	Aprilia	2	Accident	24
Ret	35	Raffaele De Rosa	KTM	2	Accident	7
Ret	5	Alexis Masbou	Loncin	1	Retirement	22
Ret	18	Nicolás Terol	Aprilia	1	Retirement	4
Ret	73	Takaaki Nakagami	Aprilia	0	Retirement	26
Ret	77	Dominique Aegerter	Derbi	0	Accident	10
DNS	99	Danny Webb	Aprilia		Did not start
DNQ	32	Blake Leigh-Smith	Honda		Did not qualify
DNQ	92	Jake Horne	Honda		Did not qualify
DNQ	60	Michael Ranseder	Aprilia		Did not qualify
OFFICIAL 125cc REPORT

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round sixteen has concluded.

Riders' Championship standings

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Valentino Rossi	332
2	Casey Stoner	245
3	Dani Pedrosa	209
4	Jorge Lorenzo	182
5	Andrea Dovizioso	145

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos.	Constructor	Points
1	Yamaha	361
2	Ducati	286
3	Honda	275
4	Suzuki	165
5	Kawasaki	81

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.