Stoner wins to close in on title

Casey Stoner moved within touching distance of the MotoGP world title as he won and his rivals had a day to forget at the San Marino Grand Prix.

He now leads nearest rival Valentino Rossi by 85 points after Rossi's engine failed on lap five, while Dani Pedrosa was forced off at the first corner.

Good starts helped Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins to finish second and third but they never challenged Stoner.

Marco Melandri finished a creditable fourth despite Saturday's heavy crash.

At the opening corner Randy de Puniet clipped the back of Pedrosa, sending them both skidding onto the grass and forcing Nicky Hayden to ride off before returning to the track.

Local hero Rossi was in fourth place when his engine died mysteriously and he had to limp back to the pits, to the huge disappointment of his army of fans.

"When I first won two races in a row, it was my aim to win three in a row, and we did that today," said Stoner.

"It's awesome, everything's going really well for us, the team's doing everything right - I can't say much more than that."

Afterwards, Rossi's chief mechanic Jerry Burgess admitted this year's title race was "history" and it had been since the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in June.

San Marino MotoGP race result:
1 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 44 mins 34.270 secs
2 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 44:39.571
3 J Hopkins (US) Suzuki 44:50.722
4 M Melandri (It) Honda 44:57.457
5 L Capirossi (It) Ducati 44:59.507
6 C Checa (Sp) Honda 45:09.706
7 T Elias (Sp) Honda 45:15.616
8 A West (Aus) Kawasaki 45:16.494
9 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 45:21.866
10 S Nakano (Jpn) Honda 45:23.528

San Marino 250cc race result:
1 J Lorenzo (Sp) Aprilia 42 mins 54.427 secs
2 H Aoyama (Jpn) KTM 42:58.005
3 H Barbera (Sp) Aprilia 43:01.468

San Marino 125cc race result:
1 M Pasini (Ita) Aprilia 39:47.944
2 G Talmacsi (Hng) Aprilia 39:52.718
3 T Koyama (Jpn) KTM 39:56.520

Source: BBC Sport