Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner took his third victory in his home race at Phillip Island last Sunday, rubber-stamping his return to form and fitness with a dominant display from pole position.

From the start, Stoner briefly conceded the lead to Honda’s Dani Pedrosa in the first turn, but he muscled his way past the Spaniard on the opening lap and never looked back, holding off the strong challenge of Valentino Rossi in the second half of the race to put his Desmosedici GP9 on the top step of the podium for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix in June.

Stoner’s victory, in front of the delighted home fans, also lifted him back up to third in the championship standings with two rounds remaining.

“I’d forgotten how good that winning feeling is and of all my victories this is perhaps the most special,” Stoner said after the race.

“I can honestly say that from a physical perspective I can’t ever remember feeling this strong after a race, which shows that the work we have done and the time we took out has been spot on. I got a good start and was able to put together the lap times to keep us at the front but quite honestly I felt I could have gone even faster if we’d have been able to find a little more rear traction over the course of the weekend.”

Anyway, I can’t complain because the work the guys have done on the bike during the season has been phenomenal, from the swingarm to the new fairing… they just haven’t stopped trying to make it better even when I wasn’t around. Now my aim is to help them as much as I can over the last two races and give Filippo (Preziosi) as much useful data as I can so that he can work his magic and improve the bike even more for next year,” Stoner added.

In a reversal of fortune, Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden was the unfortunate one, who for the third time this season had his race ruined when another rider collided with him in the first lap.

The American was forced off track after an impact with Jorge Lorenzo, but he did a remarkable job to stay upright across the wet grass and return to the track to eventually pick up a point in 15th place.

“I got probably the best start I have had all season but unfortunately it proved to be my downfall! I’m not sure what happened to Jorge – I saw he got a bad start as I passed him, then the next thing I know I felt a really hard impact.

It was so hard it tore both our bikes up and obviously he couldn’t keep his upright. Thankfully I did and I got back on track,” Hayden said.