Stoner: China was toughest.

Title rival Valentino Rossi threw everything he had at Stoner during the Shanghai event - but it was the Italian who eventually cracked, missing his braking point for the hairpin with six laps to go and leaving the 21-year-old Ducati star to take his third win from four starts.

"The toughest victory of the season was maybe China, up until the time when Valentino ran wide and gave me a few seconds gap," Stoner told Bridgestone's Racing All Over The World MotoGP podcast. "We had to push quite hard, but Laguna and Phillip Island were also unbelievable races for me."

The Phillip Island win came just one round after Casey had wrapped up the 2007 MotoGP title, in Motegi, and also marked his first ever home victory in any grand prix class.

"I didn't really know what to expect before we arrived at Phillip Island, then I started to see all the fans and how much support there was for the Australian riders," said Stoner. "We didn't know if it was possible to win the race, and I've been trying for many years now, so to finally win the Phillip Island GP and see all the fans singing the Australian anthem was quite a sight."

Stoner's title victory, in only his second season in the premier-class, made him the second youngest world champion after Freddie Spencer in 1983, and the first ever on a Ducati.

"It's a very nice emotion [to be Ducati's first MotoGP champion]," said Stoner, who only rode a Desmosedici for the first time eleven months ago. "It was against all expectations. Nobody expected me to win in my first year with Ducati. A lot of people said you need a lot of experience to ride this bike so we've proven a lot of people wrong with that. It's a very nice emotion and I'm very proud to be part of Ducati."

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