Pre-race mishap spells disaster for Casey Stoner

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 5:10am PST (3 years ago)

DANI Pedrosa rode his Honda to victory in the Valencia MotoGP to claim third place in the 2009 championship on a disastrous day for Casey Stoner.

The Spaniard passed the Australian in the points score, Stoner failing to start the last race of the year after crashing his Ducati on the warm-up lap on Sunday.

Stoner, who had pole position, had won the previous two races after returning from along illness but didn't have enough points to challenge for better than third in..