Casey Stoner on pole for Valencia Grand Prix

Ducati rider Casey Stoner maintained his form to secure pole position on the final weekend of the MotoGP season.

The Australian clocked the fastest lap of one minute 32.256 seconds at the final event of the season in Spain.

Honda's Dani Pedrosa was second fastest ahead of Spanish compatriot Jorge Lorenzo with Lorenzo's Yamaha team-mate and world champion Valentino Rossi in fourth.

Rossi clinched his second successive MotoGP title in Malaysia and his ninth motorcycling championship overall.

Stoner, who missed three races with illness before returning last month to win at Phillip Island and in Malaysia, is currently third in the championship standings on 220 points.

He trails Lorenzo in second by 25 points, the total awarded for a race victory, with Pedrosa fourth on 209.

Stoner, who won the race from pole last year and also set the lap record, moved to the top of the standings just eight minutes into the session and only Lorenzo ever threatened to challenge him.

Valentino Rossi claims pole at Sepang as another MotoGP title moves closer

Valentino Rossi took another confident step towards wrapping up the MotoGP title at Sepang on Sunday as he claimed a comfortable pole position.

The Italian clocked two minutes and 0.518 seconds to beat title rival and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to top spot by over half a second.

Lorenzo's fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa completes the front row for Repsol Honda, with Australian Casey Stoner fourth for Ducati Marlboro after being deprived of a front-row spot late on in a session contested in sweltering heat and humidity.

Rossi set the early pace in the hour-long session, but Stoner lowered his mark shortly after the 20-minute mark with a lap of 2:01.445.

But Rossi, chasing a seventh world title in the top MotoGP category and his ninth overall, regained top spot with 25 minutes remaining in 2:01.210.

Nobody was able to challenge his lead and the 30-year-old was left to race purely to lower his own leading time, providing the crowd with a champagne finish as his eventual pole mark saw him break the lap record two minutes from the end of the session.

There was still time for Lorenzo to snatch second place in the closing seconds, with Pedrosa also nipping in ahead of Stoner for third.

Rossi, who has had five wins and two other podium finishes from nine races at the Malaysian circuit, holds a 38-point advantage in the standings after nearest challenger Lorenzo's fourth fall of the season last weekend in Australia.

He needs only to finish in the top four in tomorrow's 21-lap race to secure the title, even if Lorenzo wins.

Rossi closes in on title

Valentino Rossi romped to his fifth win of the season in Brno to move a step closer to a sixth FIM MotoGP Championship.

The Fiat Yamaha star started the Czech Republic race on pole position ahead of team-mate and nearest challenger Jorge Lorenzo and the duo fought out a race-long duel before the young Spaniard crashed out with five laps remaining to all but end his title hopes.

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa inherited second after Lorenzo's error with Toni Elias, Andrea Dovizioso and Loris Capirossi rounding out the top five.

With Casey Stoner beginning his three-race break to recover from a mystery illness, Mika Kallio stepped into the factory Marlboro Ducati team for his debut and was lying in a creditable ninth before crashing on the penultimate lap, while British rider James Toseland was ninth on his Tech 3 Yamaha.

Pedrosa led at turn one ahead of Rossi after a trademark quick start but the masterful Italian took just three corners to slide past to leave Lorenzo in third.

Lorenzo soon passed Pedrosa on lap three to chase down Rossi and the pair then exchanged a series of new lap records before Lorenzo made a fine move with seven laps remaining to take the lead.

Rossi then made a move at the same corner with five laps to go and Lorenzo buckled under the pressure to crash out and leave Rossi to streak away to a 102nd career win, some 11.766 seconds ahead of Pedrosa.

Lorenzo - who also crashed out at Donington last time out - is now 50 points behind Rossi with the absent Stoner back in third in the standings.

Rossi said: "For us it was a great race - nearly perfect.

"I got in front of Dani and then pushed very hard but Jorge was just as fast. When he went past me I thought, ok, now the battle begins again but unfortunately he crashed.

"But that was good for me because 50 points is a big lead. Now we must try to keep it up and look to win again."

For Elias the unexpected podium meant a great end to a bad week in which he was told he would not be retained by the Gresini Honda team for 2010.

He said: "I am really happy because for the last four races we have been close to the front and this was a great result.

"I needed a podium and it was a present for me because of Jorge's crash.

"At this moment I don't have a bike or a team for next year but after this I hope to sort something out."

Earlier in the 125cc race, British rider Bradley Smith was fourth to keep his title hopes alive.

Rossi pips Lorenzo for German win

Valentino Rossi extended his lead over Jorge Lorenzo in the championship standings to 14 points after edging out his team-mate to win the German MotoGP.

The Yamaha duo were involved in a cat-and-mouse duel but Rossi pounced with two laps left to win at Sachsenring by nine-hundredths of a second.

Lorenzo had to settle for second, with Dani Pedrosa third ahead of Casey Stoner, who had tyre problems.

Britain's James Toseland came home in 10th place.

Rossi, who claimed his 101st victory, was thrilled to have held on for such an important victory over his closest rival, which also saw him equal Giacomo Agostini's record of 159 podium finishes.

"It was a great race. I made a good start and had to fight at the beginning with Casey which was funny," he told BBC Sport.

"But our two Yamahas worked very well and it was another great battle with Jorge. It was fantastic, we enjoyed it, and it was perfect for me.

"I braked so deep on that corner [to overtake Lorenzo]. I didn't make a mistake at a crucial point and it was an important victory for the championship."

Rossi led from pole position on an eventful first lap which saw Randy de Puniet crash out of third position following a fine start.

Stoner had worked his way past Pedrosa before taking over the lead from Rossi on lap six as the four main riders in the championship pulled clear of the field.

Stoner, who has been suffering recently with anaemia and gastritis, seemed a rider rejuvenated but it soon became clear he was holding up the Yamaha duo, allowing Pedrosa to keep in touch.

Rossi and Lorenzo both got past the Australian and that left the team-mates with a third of the 30 laps remaining to battle it out.

With five laps to go, Lorenzo took over the lead into turn one but Rossi managed to return the compliment with two laps remaining, and held off the Spaniard's attempts at a late challenge.

Afterwards, Lorenzo admitted he had mistimed his overtake.

"I made a bit of a mistake because I thought there were a few more laps left when I passed him," he said.

"I hoped to overtake him and then try to pull away but it didn't work out.

"Of course I'm disappointed to lose another very close race, it is always sad but I know that we are capable of fighting with him and considering his experience this is something I must be proud of."

In the 125cc race, championship leader Julian Simon headed an all-Spanish top five, coming home ahead of Sergio Gadea and Joan Olive.

Briton Bradley Smith's 100% points-scoring record for the season ended after he crashed twice early on, but Danny Webb finished in eighth place.

And a rain-shortened 250cc race was won by Italy's Marco Simoncelli, ahead of Spanish duo Alex Debon and Alvaro Bautista.

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German MotoGP result:

1 V Rossi (It) Fiat Yamaha 41:21.769
2 J Lorenzo (Sp) Fiat Yamaha 41:21.868
3 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda 41:24.668
4 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 41:31.995
5 A de Angelis (SMR) Honda 41:43.291
6 T Elias (Spn) San Carlo Honda 41:52.621
7 M Melandri (It) Kawasaki 41:53.070
8 N Hayden (US) Ducati 41:53.495
9 C Edwards (US) Tech 3 Yamaha 41:54.634
10 J Toseland (GB) Tech 3 Yamaha 42:05.695
11 L Capirossi (It) Suzuki 42:19.144
12 N Canepa (Ita) Pramac Racing 42:22.308
13 C Vermeuluen (Aus) Suzuki 42:25.414
14 M Kallio (Fin) Ducati 42:25.924
15 G Talmacsi (Hng) Scot Racing + 1 lap

Championship standings:

1 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 176 points
2 J Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 162
3 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 148
4 D Pedrosa (Spn) Honda 108
5 C Edwards (USA) Yamaha 83
6 M Melandri (Ita) Kawasaki 70
7 A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 69
8 C Vermeulen (Aus)Suzuki 64
9 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 61
10 R de Puniet (Ft) Honda 58
11 A de Angelis (RSM) Honda 47
12 T Elias (Spn) Honda 47
13 N Hayden (US) Ducati 46
14 J Toseland (GB) Yamaha 45
15 M Kallio (Fin) Ducati 28
16 N Canepa (Ita) Ducati 20
17 S Gibernau (Spn) Ducati 12
18 Y Takahashi (Jpn) Honda 9
19 G Talmacsi (Hng) Honda 1

125cc race result:

1 J Simon (Spn) Aprilia 39:57.337
2 S Gadea (Spn) Aprilia 40:06.752
3 J Olive (Spn) Derbi 40:14.896

125cc championship standings:

1 J Simon (Spn) Aprilia 129 points
2 S Gadea (Spn) Aprilia 104
3 B Smith (GB) Aprilia 98.5

250cc race result:

1 M Simoncelli (Ita) Gilera 27:11.034
2 A Debon (Spn) Aprilia 27:11.513
3 A Bautista (Spn) Aprilia 27:11.562

250cc championship standings:

1 H Aoyama (Jpn) Honda 134
2 A Bautista (Spn) Aprilia 124
3 H Barbera (Spn) Aprilia 106

Rossi fastest in practice in USA

Championship leader Valentino Rossi was quickest in practice for the FIM MotoGP World Championship race at Laguna Seca.

The Italian, who is looking for a third consecutive victory this weekend, was the only rider to dip under one minute 22 seconds.

The Fiat Yamaha rider clocked 1min 21.981secs with his final lap of the day to finish 0.112s ahead of team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and 0.189 clear of Casey Stoner in third.

Rossi leads Spaniard Lorenzo by five points in the overall standings, with Australian Stoner four points further back.

Ducati rider Stoner, who struggled in the last two races with fatigue, led the way in for much of practice today, but was overhauled late on but his championship rivals.

The top three were comfortably quicker than fourth-fastest Dani Pedrosa.

Toni Elias, Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Melandri, Chris Vermeulen, Colin Edwards and Alex de Angelis completed the top 10.

Britain's James Toseland was 13th quickest.

"It was a good first practice because I'm in first place and also because we worked well on the bike," said Rossi. "We checked some interesting things, we tried to improve the feeling with the bike and we gathered important data in order to improve on Saturday.

"Already the lap time is not too bad. We are very close together again with Stoner and Lorenzo but it looks like we are competitive and our Yamaha is good here at this track."

Stoner, meanwhile, was not so optimistic as the Australian battles a mysterious virus that has hampered his fitness in recent races.

"The bike's working well, which is once again a disappointment for me because I don't think that we can really keep up for the race this weekend," he said.

"Everything's been working well these past three races, and I feel like we should have been fighting at the front - even if we finished in the same positions. It looks like it's going to be a similar weekend to the last two, but at least this time we are kind of expecting it, whereas at Assen I thought that all my problems were over."

Valentino Rossi storms to Spanish GP victory

Valentino Rossi, the defending champion, moved clear in the World MotoGP standings with a comfortable Spanish GP victory in Jerez as he headed off local favourite Dani Pedrosa

Rossi had been concerned about the set-up of his bike after qualifying, in which he ran fourth fastest, but hectic overnight work paid dividends as Rossi claimed his first victory of the season.

"I did not have the setting I wanted for the race, and we had to work hard," said Rossi, who stretched his championship lead over Casey Stoner, who finished third, to 11 points.

Bradley Smith, the 18-year-old Oxfordshire rider, enjoyed his first victory in the World 125cc Championship, romping home 13 seconds clear of Sergio Gadea.

Leon Camier claimed his first pole start in the ViSK British Superbike Championship ahead of this afternoon's second round at Oulton Park. Camier will start in front of Sylvain Guintoli, who he trails by seven points.