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Five ... SPEED takes a look back at Casey Stoner's Phillip Island winning streak. Source:Supplied
As Casey Stoner gears up for his last Australian MotoGP, he stands on the edge of extending an already tremendous feat.
Which of Casey Stoner's Australian MotoGP wins was your favourite?
You see, the 27-year-old has a winning streak on home soil dating back five years. In fact, it doesn't even suffice to say he has merely won those five consecutive races.
He has utterly dominated them.
King Casey has made Phillip Island his own personal fiefdom, ruling his two-wheel contemporaries with absolute authority.
The cast of characters that have fallen to Stoner's dominance are by no means mugs, either. At the top of the list is Valentino Rossi, who himself also notched up five-straight wins at the Island, but none since Stoner's arrival.
Similarly fruitless has been Jorge Lorenzo. Same-same Dani Pedrosa. Champion riders all, but none have been able to hold a candle to Stoner on home soil.
And this is at no pokey, point-and-squirt circuit, either. The fast and flowing Phillip Island circuit is one beloved and revered by riders, offering a high-speed challenge without peer on the MotoGP calendar.
Perhaps the most startling statistic is this: Stoner has led every single racing lap on home soil since the lights went out at the start of the 2007 race.
So sit back and enjoy as SPEED turns back the clock and remembers each of Stoner's five-straight wins at Phillip Island.
Which win is your favourite and why? Leave your comment below.
2007 - THE PERFECT END TO A PERFECT YEAR
2007 ... Stoner greets the chequers first. Source: Supplied
First MotoGP win: check. First MotoGP World Championship: check. First win on home soil ...
There was just one box left to tick in Casey Stoner's incredible 2007 season, and after locking up his first title at Motegi a week earlier, he arrived at the Island looking to complete a dream year by winning in front of a home crowd.
Despite never having won at Phillip Island he started as he meant to go on by dominating every practice session, a pair of crashes on Friday and Saturday showing just how hard he was trying.
He missed out on pole to Pedrosa - the only time Stoner wasn't fastest on Saturday during his streak - but wasn't to be denied on Sunday.
A good start saw him hold a narrow lead over the field in the early laps, before putting the hammer down on lap 10.
Suddenly a margin measured in tenths stretched out to seconds, and at the end of 27 laps he led teammate Loris Capirossi across the line by almost seven seconds.
Just the third Aussie to win his home race, Stoner said the reception from the crowd while he stood on the podium was unbelievable.
2008 - HARD-FOUGHT SEASON, HARD-FOUGHT WIN
Stalked by Hayden early, Stoner pulled away for win No.2. Source: News Limited
2008 wasn't the dream year that 2007 had been for Stoner.
It started off well with a win under the lights at Qatar, but problems with the bike followed by a string of crashes meant that Stoner kissed goodbye to the world title at Motegi just over one year after he'd won it.
After a season-long battle with new champion Valentino Rossi that peaked with a heated duel at Laguna Seca, Stoner was shaping up for a battle to win at Phillip Island.
But the expected Rossi challenge failed to materialise; instead, Stoner's opposition came from an unexpected quarter.
Shadowing Stoner's red Ducati in the early laps was the Repsol Honda of his soon-to-be teammate Nicky Hayden.
For 10 laps the American stalked Stoner, pushing the Aussie hard. Finally Stoner started to eke out a gap, with Hayden unable to lap within a second of the Ducati rider's times, eventually losing second place to Rossi on the last lap.
This win was special for the Ducati team, Stoner posting his second Australian MotoGP victory in their 100th MotoGP race.
2009 - THE COMEBACK KID
White Duke ... Stoner completed comeback with Island win. Source: News Limited
Stoner arrived at the Island in 2009 under a big question mark. This was the year he suffered his 'mystery illness'. Sapped of strength and stamina, he struggled to the finish of races through the mid-season.
Courageously, he hopped off the bike for three races to both work out what was wrong and recover, copping plenty of criticism from media, fans, and past-champions for not racing through it.
Australia was his second race back, Stoner admitting he still wasn't fully fit, nor had the mystery illness – later determined to be lactose intolerance – been diagnosed at that point.
From pole, Stoner passed a fast-starting Pedrosa early on lap one and shot away from the main pack, tailed only by Rossi's blue Yamaha.
Lap after lap Stoner and the nine-time world champ traded fast times like punches, their bout looking like it would be decided on points.
That was until seven laps to go. Suddenly the margin between the pair stretched. Stoner had been toying with the Doctor, who had been riding on the ragged edge just to keep up.
When the chequered flag waved Stoner and Rossi were separated by two seconds, but they were in a race of their own. In a distant third was Pedrosa, a whopping 23 seconds behind.
2010 - TOTAL DOMINATION
2010 ... fans flocked for Stoner's Ducati swansong. Source: News Limited
Sometimes the numbers really do tell the story, and so it is with Casey Stoner's 2010 win.
As the pack headed into Doohan Corner on lap one, pole-sitter Stoner was parallel with Lorenzo.
By the exit of the Southern Loop, Stoner had a quarter-second margin. When they got to Honda the lead was out to half-a-second. At Siberia, it was one second neat.
Over Lukey Heights and down into MG his lead stretched further still.
By the time the field crossed the start-finish line at the end of the first lap, Stoner had gapped the field by an incredible one-point-five-seconds.
In that one spectacular opening lap, Stoner crushed the field under the heel of his boot and said to them, "match that you bastards."
And they couldn't.
Stoner closed out his time at Ducati with his most dominant victory, eight-point-five seconds to the good over Lorenzo at the finish despite popping a monster wheelie over the finish line.
2011 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
New bike, same result for Stoner in 2011. Source: News Limited
If you could plan the perfect birthday, what would you do for it?
How about this: winning the Australian MotoGP for the fifth-straight time with a home crowd cheering you on, and also clinching your second world championship, all while feeding it to the knockers who said you only ever won because of the bike you raced.
Welcome to Casey Stoner's 26th birthday party.
Arriving at the Island aboard a Repsol Honda for the first time, Stoner notched up eight wins to make a clear statement on just how talented he was, punctuating it with another dominant win on home soil.
He had one hand on the title as it was, but when his main rival Jorge Lorenzo hurt himself in practice badly enough to miss the race, Stoner was left with a clear shot at winning the championship on Sunday.
While not as emphatic as his 2010 victory, he checked out to a small gap early and maintained the margin while the pack behind him fought for second.
Not even a light shower could rain on Stoner's parade this day, the Aussie finishing weekend with pole, the win, the fastest lap, and the championship.
Follow Casey's last race on home soil with SPEED's Live Blog, Oct 28 from 12:30pm EDT.
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