Stoner felt pressure of expectation

The former champion has not been beaten on home ground since 2006, and has also taken pole for the last three Phillip Island races.

He looked untouchable for most of this weekend, but said that just made him more anxious about completing the job in the race.

"It seemed be to that when I won it twice in a row and was going for the third, nobody was really expecting it," said Stoner, who would go on to lead throughout and win by 8.5 seconds.

"But this year everybody seemed to really expect it and they weren't going to take any other result.

"Definitely before the race I was feeling a little bit of pressure, a little bit nervous - more so than I normally am.

"I think I need to have a few more nerves before other races, because I didn't seem to make any mistakes in the whole race. I was really happy with the way I was riding."

Stoner said the victory made up for the frustration of crashing on the opening lap at Sepang a week ago.

"Every weekend for the last four we've been trying to win," he said. "We've managed to win three out of the last four, and unfortunately last week I slipped up on the first lap with a bit of a misjudgement.

"But this weekend everything's gone so well for us. From practice one we were happy with the bike and the way everything was working. The support from the fans this weekend has been fantastic. It was just time for me to go out in the race and do the job."