Jorge Lorenzo ended his title-winning season on a high as he picked up a ninth win of the year in Valencia.
The Spaniard, who won his first MotoGP title last month, saw off the challenges of the Australian Casey Stoner and his Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi, taking the win from Stoner by 4.576sec.
It was the final race Rossi will ride for Yamaha and likewise Stoner for Ducati.
Next season Rossi replaces Stoner at Ducati as the Australian returns to Honda.
It was so nearly not a victorious ending for Lorenzo after he almost collided with Marco Simoncelli in the early stages, with the 23-year-old doing well to avoid a race-ending incident.
Honda's Dani Pedrosa finished in seventh to seal the runner-up spot for the season, with Rossi in third overall.
Lorenzo's win also means he finishes the season with a 383-point haul, a record for the most points scored in a single season.
"Coming here to Valencia, I really wanted to win one more time in this fantastic season, in front of my home fans," said Lorenzo. "In the practices I was fast all weekend, but it seemed like Casey was even faster. I made a good start today but in the second corner trying to pass Casey I got overtaken by three or four riders, then I had a hard fight with Simoncelli when I nearly fell.
"I kept calm after that and concentrated and then lap by lap I recovered. I had a wonderful fight with Casey at the end. Winning here in front of my home crowd at this special track is one of the happiest moments of my life."
Lorenzo was also pleased to have picked up the record for the most points in a season, and put the achievement down to his new-found consistency.
He added: "We are proud to have got the record for the most number of points with 383. I used to be known as a crazy rider who crashed too much so to demonstrate consistency in this way makes me proud."
"Arriving on the podium was my way to say thank you to my bike, to Yamaha and to all the people who have worked with me in these seven seasons," he said.
"It's been a great experience and I have enjoyed it so much, 46 is a great number of wins – of course I wanted more but I think I can be happy with what I have done here.
"We have finished the season strongly with five podiums in a row and after such a difficult season we can feel happy about how we have ended. It's been a wonderful seven years, great fun with a special atmosphere, many fantastic victories and four world championships."