Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi has said he aims to wrap up the 2009 MotoGP Championship at Sepang after title rival and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo crashed out of the Phillip Island race earlier today.
Lorenzo handed Rossi a further 20 points when he ran into the back of Nicky Hayden going into the first corner, and now The Doctor has a virtually-unassailable 38-point gap over the Spaniard with two races to go.
"This was one of the most fun and definitely one of the most important second places of my career! We were on the limit for the whole race and there were some amazing slides, it was ‘old-style' racing," said Rossi.
"To have a race like this in the sunshine at Phillip Island is an incredible emotion and I really enjoyed myself. Of course I wanted to win but I had to use my head a bit and once I'd seen that Lorenzo was out, I knew that if I made a mistake it would be a big disaster! Anyway I tried in places but Stoner was a bit faster than me.
"I didn't give up until the end but Casey really deserved this win; I want to give him my congratulations. We leave with twenty important points and now the championship lead is big and we can try to finish it in Malaysia, where we will have the first ‘match point'."
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