Nicky Hayden is the new Moto GP World Champion after the American finished third in a tense final race of the season at Valencia. His title rival Valentino Rossi could only finish 13th after he crashed on lap four.

Hayden, who took the title by five points, followed a Ducati one-two to the flag as Australian Troy Bayliss recorded his first Moto GP win ahead of his team-mate Loris Capirossi.

After qualifying second, Bayliss, who was only making a one-off appearance in place of the injured Sete Gibernau, stormed into the lead immediately, and would not surrender it for the remainder of the 30-lap race, eventually beating Capirossi by 1.319 seconds.

But while the 37-year-old Australian had things all his own way, the same could not be said for Yamaha rider Rossi. After starting poorly from pole, The Italian made an uncharacteristic error on lap four, falling off at turn two.

Amid scenes of distress in the Yamaha pits, Rossi got back on the bike and began his fight-back.

By that stage, Hayden lay second, but was soon passed by Capirossi's Ducati. The pair would maintain their positions to the flag, meaning Rossi needed to finish eighth to take the title – something that proved just too much for the five-time champion.

While the top three positions remained unchanged for the final 24 laps of the race, the same could not be said for the fourth-placed battle between Marco Melandri's Fortuna Honda, the Repsol version of Dani Pedrosa, and Casey Stoner's LCR-run machine.

Spanish rider Pedrosa looked to have the place won when he dived past Melandri for fourth on lap 20, but was immediately re-passed by the Italian and Stoner.

A more controlled effort saw him win back fourth by the end from Melandri, as Stoner dropped out with just a handful of laps left.

It was a good day for the Fortuna Honda team, as Toni Elias followed Melandri home in sixth, after passing Shinya Nakano's Kawasaki and Kenny Roberts Jr's KR late on.

Colin Edwards and Carlos Checa completed the top ten on their Yamahas, with Checa on a Tech-3-run version.

(Eurosport)