That mistake handed Rossi his first victory since June Italian's Grand Prix by 13 seconds from Stoner, who in turn finished 13 seconds in front of third placed
Chris Vermeulen, riding in what seemed like a different race.
In terms of fastest laps, Stoner's best was 0.225secs quicker than Rossi - but third fastest Vermeulen was over one second slower than Stoner!
It had been a truly epic display of racing talent, but when Rossi attempted to shake hands with Stoner in parc ferme immediately afterwards, an angry Stoner refused.
A smiling Rossi responded by patting Stoner on the back and saying "this is racing Casey."
"Oh this is racing?" replied Stoner. "Okay, we'll see..."
There hasn't been such parc ferme tension since Rossi and Sete Gibernau collided at the final turn of the 2005 Spanish Grand Prix - even the presence of Tom Cruise did little to lighten Stoner's mood - but it should be remembered that Stoner was speaking in the heat of the moment and whilst still coming to terms with losing a race he looked certain to dominate.
Stoner and Rossi appeared on more amicable terms by the time the podium ceremony took place, although Stoner later stood by his claim that some of Rossi's moves were 'aggressive' - while taking full responsibility for the accident that ultimately cost him a chance of victory.
"We [Rossi and Stoner] were side by side much of the race," said Stoner. "There were a couple of moves I wasn't very happy with. Valentino was riding a great race and was very defensive and hard to pass. He wasn't making any mistakes. I was basically trying to find the right place to get past.
"I thought the passing was a little rough. I've done a lot of overtaking moves, and there were a couple of passes which were some of the most aggressive I've seen in a long time," he explained. "Just a couple I wasn't happy with. The others were fine - clean side by side.
