Impressive Rossi delays Stoner's coronation

Italian Valentino Rossi won the Portuguese MotoGP yesterday to deny championship leader Casey Stoner the satisfaction of winning the title early.

Australian Stoner had hoped to clinch the title with four races to go but had to settle for third place in yesterday's race, behind Rossi and Spain's Dani Pedrosa.

Five-times world champion Rossi overtook Honda's Pedrosa on the final lap to steer his Yamaha to the finish line of the 4,182-metre Estoril track in 45 minutes 49.911 seconds at an average speed of 153.294 kph.

Pedrosa clocked 45:50.086 with Ducati rider Stoner third on 45:51.388. World champion Nicky Hayden of the United States was fourth on a Honda on 46:02.862.

It was Rossi's fourth win this season and the first since the Dutch grand prix at the end of June.

Stoner remains the favourite to take the title with 287 points, 76 ahead of Rossi.

In the 250cc category, Spaniard Alvaro Bautista cruised to victory on an Aprilia, while Italian Andrea Dovizioso was second.

Bautista, who started sixth on the grid, took the lead with 11 laps to go and finished in a time of 43 minutes 56.458 seconds, ahead of the Italian Honda rider on 44:00.825.

World championship leader Jorge Lorenzo of Spain, who started in pole position on his Aprilia and led the race until the 15th lap, clocked 44:02.606 to capture third place.

Spaniard Hector Faubel won the 125cc category at the Portuguese GP after fighting a wheel-to-wheel battle with his Aprilia team-mate Gabor Talmacsi of Hungary.

Faubel started eighth, his lowest grid position of the year, and clocked 40 minutes 46.337 seconds, 0.132 seconds ahead of Talmacsi with Spaniard Pol Espargaro in third on 40:46.572.

Aprilia took the first six places in the race.