Casey Stoner claimed his sixth victory in this year’s championships as he won the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix yesterday in a race he dominated from the first bend.

Stoner, who finished second in the world championships on his Ducati, crossed the finish line in 46 minutes, 46.114 seconds, followed by Dani Pedrosa on 46:49.504 and World Champion Valentino Rossi in 46:58.308.

Rossi ends the season on 373 points, Stoner has 280 and third-place Pedrosa of Spain finished on 249.

The Australian had been on pole position on the grid for the ninth time this season – matching Rossi’s 2003 record – but he made a slower start than Pedrosa who shot off the start line in first place.

A charging Stoner, who won the 2007 championship on the Italian bike, had recovered the lead by the end of the first bend, while Jorge Lorenzo – who finished fourth in the overall standings on 190 points – made a poor start, falling back from seventh to 11th place.

On lap five Rossi, who clinched his sixth championship in Sepang, Malaysia, earlier this month, had risen from 10th on the grid at the start to third place behind Stoner and Pedrosa.

By lap eight Stoner, who was racing with a slight left-wrist injury, had gone to a 1.89 second lead over second-place Pedrosa who was ahead of third-place Rossi by a similar amount.

With nine laps to go Rossi recovered well from a near-fall on a circuit where he has come off in the previous two seasons’ races to maintain his position behind Stoner and Pedrosa.

Race organisers said more than 117,000 spectators watched the race at the 4-kilometre Cheste circuit under blues skies and brilliant autumn sunshine.