Pedrosa ends season with victory

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa delighted the home fans as he won the final MotoGP race of the season in Valencia.

New world champion Valentino Rossi came second, with his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo in third place.

Casey Stoner, who had qualified on pole, missed the race after a cold tyre caused him to crash in the warm-up lap and smash his windscreen.

That ensured Lorenzo finished second in the championship standings behind Rossi with Pedrosa ending the season third.

It was a second victory of the season for the Repsol Honda rider, and afterwards he said he was particularly happy to have won.

“All week I was only thinking about the race and I really wanted to win,” he said.

“In practice we struggled a lot so the team did a great job – with Casey out of the race it was more easy but we did a great race so thanks to everybody.”

With Stoner out of contention from the start, Rossi and Lorenzo disputed the lead in the early stages until Lorenzo suffered a bizarre bit of bad luck.

MotoGP podium press conference

He retained control of the bike after a severe wobble, but the movement set off the airbag in his suit, taking a whole lap to go down again, and costing him vital time.

“It was a difficult race – I never felt great at this track, and then my airbag stayed open for one lap. I was not comfortable and Valentino overtook me,” he said.

“It was difficult to catch him – I started to, but it was not enough to overtake him.”

Britain’s James Toseland finished 12th in his last race in MotoGP for the Yamaha Tech 3 team before returning to World Superbikes, and said he was leaving the competition with his head held high.

“I’m really pleased for the team, they’ve done a great job for me in last two years,” he told BBC Sport.

“It has been a tough year, but it’s been an honour to represent my country in the elite class of motorcycling.

Toseland says goodbye to MotoGP

“There has been no lack of effort and I don’t feel I have failed because I put everything into it.”

Britain’s Bradley Smith was just edged out by new world champion Julian Simon in the 125cc race, but the biggest drama of the day came in the final ever race in the 250cc category, which will be replaced by the new Moto2 class next season.

Japan’s Hiroshi Aoyama came into the race only needing to finish 11th or higher to claim the world title, but he went off track on lap nine, returning to the race in 11th place.

Italy’s Marco Simoncelli, who was the only person who could beat Aoyama to the title, was leading when he crashed out with seven laps left, allowing Spaniard Hector Barbera to win the race and take second place in the championship from Simoncelli.