After winning his sixth consecutive MotoGP Australian Grand Prix, Casey Stoner has turned his back on a $15 million offer to race on in 2013.

Stoner capped his Australian farewell is style on Sunday by winning the race ahead of newly crowned world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Stoner, still carrying an ankle injury, overcame a crash in qualifying but returned to claim pole and was never troubled at Phillip Island.

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It was revealed the 27-year-old knocked back an offer of more than $15 million when he made his decision to retire, because he had lost his passion for the sport.

His paymasters at Honda discovered, to their surprise, that no amount of money would convince Stoner to reverse his decision to focus on more time with wife Adriana and baby daughter Alessandra, who turns one in February.

"If Casey had accepted our record offer he would easily have been Honda's highest-paid employee," Honda Racing Corporation executivevice-president Shuhei Nakamoto said.

"Honda offered Casey more than we ever paid any of our Formula One drivers, including Jenson Button.

"When I went to the Honda board for approval they said to me, 'Are you crazy?' But I told them we had to try to keep Casey for one more season," he said.

"I worked hard to get the budget approved, and then Casey told me he had lost his passion and it was not about money. I believe him."

Honda's offer is believed to be the highest base salary guaranteed to an Australian sportsman, including golfing great Greg Norman.

Stoner's father and business manager, Colin Stoner, said that for his son racing was always about his love of motorbikes and not wealth and glamour.

"It was an unbelievable offer from Honda for one season," Mr Stoner said.

"Casey is a lot stronger man than me - I could never had said no to that sort of money.

"I reckon for 2013 Casey would have earned more than Valentino Rossi."

In Stoner's seven seasons in MotoGP he has become its most-sought talent and dismantled the myth that Italian Rossi was an untouchable genius.

The scorecard shows Stoner thrashing Rossi 38-26 in MotoGP race wins head-to-head since 2006.

"I had a fantastic offer from Honda and I really appreciate that - they are a great company to race for," Stoner said.

"But in my mind the money became less important as I decided my future.

"The money doesn't interest me. I'm not enjoying MotoGP and I'm retiring."

Stoner is set to retire after the final round of the MotoGP championship at Valencia, Spain, on November 11.

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