One week after losing his world title, Casey Stoner earned a bit of redemption by winning his home Australian Grand Prix from the pole Oct. 5 at the Phillip Island Circuit.

2007 World Champion Stoner pulled away in the second half of the 27-lap race after a tight duel with Nicky Hayden and earned a 6.504-second victory over newly crowned champion Valentino Rossi, who passed Hayden at the start of the final lap. It was Stoner's fifth victory of the season on the Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati/Bridgestone and ended a five-race win streak by Rossi, who clinched his sixth MotoGP World Championship on Sept. 28 by winning the Grand Prix of Japan.

"This weekend has been a bit like the whole season - up and down," Stoner said. "Thankfully, it's finished on a high, and it's a great feeling to win my home Grand Prix in front of all these wonderful fans, with my family here, too. Sometimes at this track you can have the best pace but still get dragged into a battle, but I was able to get away, even though Nicky chased me hard for a long time before eventually dropping off and giving me some breathing space."

2006 World Champion Hayden climbed to sixth in the series standings with his second podium finish in the last three races on the Repsol Honda Team Honda/Michelin. Hayden, from Owensboro, Ky., finished second at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.