Racing: MotoGP results - Lorenzo wins

Sunday's Estoril MotoGP in Portugal saw Spanish star Jorge Lorenzo take the win in front of thousands of adoring fans, but Australian ace Casey Stoner proved a point by beating both Dani Pedrosa (3rd) and championship leader Valentino Rossi (4th) with a strong second place.

Local fans will be stoked to see that Stoner is back and fighting fit (saying his illness seems to be low blood pressure) and able to keep the front runners honest, while Lorenzo's win from pole position pegs back ground between himself and Rossi in the championship fight – Lorenzo is now only 18 points behind the Italian stalwart.

The win makes it four this season for Jorge Lorenzo, who won this race the year before, and was 6.3 seconds ahead of Casey Stoner at race's end.

"I didn't expect to win with such a gap. It was a perfect weekend as we dominated in practice, feeling great on the bike and also in the race I think it was one of the best performances in my life," beamed Lorenzo.

Talking about his 2009 MotoGP championship hopes, Lorenzo admitted it would be difficult, but not out of question: "It will still be very difficult but now we can say that it is not impossible. I think I can take a few risks because I don't have anything to lose. Valentino has to win the championship and we just have to keep trying."

Meanwhile a second place for Casey Stoner will be a huge confidence boost not only for the Aussie gun, but also for his Ducati Team who are working on his 2010 bike with a view towards another world championship.

After his first race in two months, Stoner had this to say: "There was a lot of criticism of my decision to stop [racing] but people need to understand that if you are not competitive and you are getting worse every race there is no sense to just keep going. You have to stop, find the problem and fix it."

"So to come back like this and be more competitive than I have been in a long, long time it was a really good feeling. In the last five races I rode I was putting in so much effort and still slowing down at the end of the races, so today it was nice to be able to relax towards the end and still do a good lap time."

Asked what a podium finish meant ahead of the Australian MotoGP this month, Stoner revealed: "We didn't expect to do this well and in fact up until a week and a half ago I still had similar problems to those I had two months ago. It was only a sodium diet and a few other things that seem to have helped. I'm hoping that we have discovered my low blood pressure levels to be the problem and we can look forward to Phillip Island and trying to be competitive there.

"I hope it is a bit colder than most of the tracks we go to as that might help my physical condition a bit more," added Stoner.

Australian compatriot Chris Vermeulen, riding for Rizla Suzuki but switching to World Superbike in 2010, managed a competitive 10th place, had tyre issues later in the race but is confident of a strong finish at Phillip Island.

"I got a good start," said Vermeulen, "but from the fifth row it was always going to be difficult. I got a bit blocked in the first few corners and that didn't help things at all. I chose the softer tyres because I knew the first part of the race was going to be very important, but after about eight laps the rear tyre that I had chosen was too soft and it started to move around a lot and the grip level dropped off. This meant I couldn't do the times I'd been doing all weekend - or that I wanted to do in the race.

"I am quite happy with the way I rode and the fact that I moved up through the field. We've definitely made improvements with the GSV-R at this track and I'm really looking forward to going to Phillip Island with those improvements," added Vermeulen.

The way things are going, the Australian riders look set to deliver a strong showing at Phillip Island and seeing Stoner back in contention is a cause for celebration.

Meanwhile, the championship could go to the wire with Rossi and Lorenzo potentially fighting it out until the final race of the season in Valencia.

Results:
1. Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team
2. Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team
3. Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team
4. Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team
5. Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6. Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini
7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team
8. Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team
9. James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3
10. Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
11. Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 
12. Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team
13. Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 
14. Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP