Rossi and Stoner were joined on the podium by Pedrosa, who survived last lap contact with Lorenzo to hold on to third position - marking his first rostrum with Bridgestone tyres and the pneumatic-valve RC212V.

Team-mate Nicky Hayden, who had qualified third, finished his final Japanese Grand Prix for Honda in fifth position - 18 seconds behind Lorenzo - with Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi holding sixth place for the entire race, most of which was spent under pressure from Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards and Gresini Honda's Shinya Nakano.

JiR Team Scot Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, who will replace Hayden at Repsol Honda in 2009, mounted a late charge to finish a fraction behind Nakano's factory spec machine, with John Hopkins completing the top ten for Kawasaki.

Hopkins hounded James Toseland for most of the race, before making a late pass. Toseland crossed the line just 0.4secs behind Hopper, with LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet in turn 0.4secs from the rookie M1 rider.

Stoner's team-mate Marco Melandri was one of a number of riders to run through the gravel at the end of the back straight, leaving him 13th at the finish, while Sylvain Guintoli (Alice) and Anthony West (Kawasaki) completed the point scoring positions.

Capirossi was the only GSV-R rider to finish, with wild-card Kousuke Akiyoshi completing a disappointing weekend by crashing on the opening lap while Chris Vermeulen retired from 13th with technical problems on lap 17.

Round 16 of the MotoGP World Championship takes place at Phillip Island in Australia, next weekend.


Japanese Grand Prix:

1. Rossi
2. Stoner
3. Pedrosa
4. Lorenzo
5. Hayden
6. Capirossi
7. Edwards
8. Nakano
9. Dovizioso
10. Hopkins
11. Toseland
12. de Puniet
13. Melandri
14. Guintoli
15. West
16. Elias
17. de Angelis