Stoner halted by "aggressive" Rossi

World champion Casey Stoner accused Valentino Rossi of dirty tactics after the Italian great ended his winning streak with an aggressive ride at the US Grand Prix early yesterday.

An uncompromising Rossi fought a torrid duel at the front with Stoner and crossed 13 seconds ahead after the Australian crashed with eight laps remaining and remounted to claim second ahead of countryman Chris Vermuelen.

“I made a mistake in the last turn, it was completely my fault.

“Val was riding well, but some of his passes were very aggressive, some of them not really fair.

“I enjoyed a lot of the race, but I felt that some of the passes were a bit too much for me.

“I've been racing for a lot of years and have come through a lot of different ranks, and for me just a couple of passes were a little too much. I would have liked to have had a little bit of a cleaner battle,” he said.

While Rossi stretched his lead in the series to 25 points, Stoner's runner-up finish at the Laguna Seca circuit in California allowed him to take over second place in the standings from Spain's Dani Pedrosa, who could not compete after breaking his wrist in the German Grand Prix.

Rossi's victory brought an end to Stoner's storming run of wins in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. Rossi described the race as “unbelievable, a great battle with Casey.”

“It was fun, a lot of fun in this race. It was a high-level battle for sure,” Rossi said.

Stoner had dominated the weekend and led away from pole position before he and Rossi began their ferocious duel, which at times took them off track.