August 11, 2009

Casey Stoner's world title hopes have been dashed by a mystery virus that has ruled the 2007 champion out of the next three MotoGP races, the Australian's Ducati team announced.

Stoner, 23, was feeling unwell at the Catalonian and Dutch races and received treatment after Laguna Seca.

He said he had taken what he described as “this difficult decision” after consultations with his medical team back in Australia.

“The doctors believe I was already suffering from a virus in Barcelona and that in continuing to ride I pushed my body too far which led to a state of extreme fatigue,” he explained.

He will be replaced by Finland's Mika Kallio for this month's Grand Prix in the Czech Republic and Indianapolis and San Marino on September 6 with a return expected in Portugal.

Stoner was lying third in the overall standings behind Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi of Italy and Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo.

The battle for the world title will now focus on Rossi and Lorenzo with the Italian having a 35-point advantage with eight races left.

August 16, 2009

Italy's Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha won the Czech Grand Prix meeting to extend his overall championship lead and move a big step closer to clinching a ninth world title.

After a thrilling head-to-head duel with Spanish stablemate Jorge Lorenzo, Rossi profited from the latter's fall five laps from the finish to extend his lead to 50 points going into the final seven races, starting with Indianapolis on August 30.

Lorenzo had passed Rossi three laps earlier but his spectacular tumble - from which he emerged unscathed although he angrily threw his gloves down and kicked out at his machine - handed Rossi a clear run through to the finish and a 102nd career victory.

The 30-year-old Rossi, nicknamed The Doctor, is now closing in on Giacomo Agostini's all-time mark of 122 race wins.

After crossing the line exuberantly on one wheel in 43min 08.991sec he leapt over the barrier to celebrate with his crew, warmly embracing them in turn.

Afterwards, he had time to offer a word of sympathy to Lorenzo - while insisting that he could not think of putting yet more title champagne on ice.

"It's really a shame for Jorge," said the Italian, noting that, despite his handsome lead "there's a long way to go. I have to stay focused."

Dani Pedrosa of Honda placed second 11.766ec adrift of Rossi while fellow Honda rider Toni Elias, who predicted a tough future despite his first season podium as he is looking for a new team for 2010, completed the podium.

Rossi, Lorenzo and Pedrosa shot out of the blocks and had put more than 2sec between themselves and the chasing pack led by Elias.

Rossi, who had gone into the race on pole for the 56th time, was furiously jousting for the lead with Lorenzo with the Italian just in the ascendency as the Yamaha pair left the rest trailing with Pedrosa third at 2.6 sec and the gap then 9sec on Elias and company.

The 14th lap saw Lorenzo make his all-or-bust move for the lead as he set the fastest lap time of 1:56.674, a time he then bettered by 0.004sec on lap 16 before nipping through the gap into the lead.

But his 18th-lap fall brought his brave challenge to naught as Rossi stayed doggedly with him before his rival's misfortune allowed him to breeze home in the knowledge that Pedrosa was trailing by a huge 14.772sec.

There was further drama in the penultimate lap when Finland's Mika Kallio ran into the back of Italian Marco Melandri, dragging both men down although neither appeared to have suffered injury.

Italy's Marco Simoncelli of Gilera won the 250cc race as the world champion beat out compatriot Mattia Pasini with Spain's Alvaro Bautista taking third place.

The win means the Italian can still retain legitimate hope of overhauling Honda's Hiroshi Aoyama, who currently leads the standings with 172 points to Aprilia racer Alvaro Bautista's 160 and 140 for Simoncelli, who now has three wins this campaign and won off pole Sunday.

Pasini missed out at the death after coming through from seventh on the grid to give Simoncelli a fine run for his money.

Nicolas Terol of Spain won the 125cc race at the Czech Grand Prix meeting ahead of compatriot Julian Simon and Andrea Iannone of Italy.

Terol grabbed the lead from the start and was never headed after that as he recorded his first win of the year.

Czech Grand Prix Results

1. Valentino Rossi, (ITA), Yamaha, 43:08.991
2. Dani Pedrosa, (ESP), Honda, 43:20.757.
3. Toni Elias, (ESP), Honda, 43:29.747.
4. Andrea Dovizioso, (ITA), Honda, 43:30.409.
5. Loris Capirossi, (ITA), Suzuki, 43:30.529.
6. Nicky Hayden, (USA), Ducati, 43:34.535.
7. Colin Edwards, (USA), Yamaha, 43:34.667.
8. Alex De Angelis, (SMR), Honda, 43:43.100.
9. James Toseland, (GBR), Yamaha, 43:44.608.
10. Randy De Puniet, (FRA), Honda, 43:48.815.

October 17, 2009

Casey Stoner clinched pole position for Sunday's Australian MotoGP then revealed he had been battling ill-health since last year.

Stoner won a head-to-head battle for top spot with Yamaha's world champion Valentino Rossi as he continued his remarkable return to competition.

The Australian rebuffed Rossi, who had clocked the fastest lap in the last few minutes, to regain top spot with a time of 1m30.341s, five hundredths of a second better that the Italian. Honda's Dani Pedrosa survived a fall to take third place.

Stoner, Ducati's 2007 world champion, recently made his comeback from a 10-week layoff to take second spot in the Portuguese Grand Prix and is now ideally placed to win his third straight Australian race.

He took his first pole position since the season-opener in Qatar, which he won, but his title hopes evaporated in a ``torrid'' season of poor health.

He became exhausted towards the end of races from the sixth round in Catalunya, Spain, but his team now believe his problems can be traced back to 2008.

"To be honest we're actually starting to realise the more we're getting back to my fitness that we've had this problem longer than even I thought," Stoner said after his qualifying battle.

"It is definitely longer than Catalunya. We've had it all season once we started thinking back about it - how hard training was compared to how it used to be.

"We're actually starting to think it started last year, no where near to a degree what we've got now but I haven't trained properly in almost 12 months.

"I had the wrist operation so I couldn't train properly then.

"But the level my fitness is coming back up so I hope it's going to surpass anything we've done so far and hopefully next year we're going to be fitter and stronger.

"It's great to come back. We've had a torrid season - it's been disaster.

"It's nice to come back in these two races and be competitive again. It's nice to be back up front again."

Erratic weather, with intermittent rain, wind and sunshine, affected all riders Friday and Saturday but Stoner said he was prepared for anything on Sunday.

"This is to be expected at Phillip Island, it's like this almost every year. The weather's up, it's down, it can be hot, it can be cold in a few minutes difference.

"But luckily we've been fast in every session - we still need to definitely make some improvements before the race tomorrow but in general the bike's been good in all conditions."

Rossi, who Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo by 18 points in the series, said a small error cost him pole position.

"We are on the front row which is the most important thing and I think we can definitely have a good race tomorrow," Rossi said.

"I have a good setting and with the last modification we made I was able to make another step and we were quite fast.

"The pole position was possible today but unfortunately I made a mistake in the last session of my flying lap and Stoner was able to go a little bit faster than me."

Lorenzo, who was suffering from food poisoning on Friday, said he still felt weak because he had not been able to eat a lot.

Phillip Island Qualifying Times
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1min 30.341sec
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha at 0.050
3. Dani Pedrosa (ESP) Honda 0.729
4. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP) Yamaha 0.730
5. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 0.755
6. Alex de Angelis (RSM) Honda 0.919
7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 0.984
8. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Honda 1.039
9. Mika Kallio (FIN) Ducati 1.043
10. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Honda 1.131
Also 15. Chris Vermuelen (AUS) Suzuki 1.997

October 18, 2009

Casey Stoner delivered a stirring win and a stern rebuke to his critics when he romped to his third straight Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix victory.

The 24-year-old Ducati wizard held off world champion Valentino Rossi, who hounded him throughout the race, to cross the line 1.9 seconds ahead of the Italian with Honda's Dani Pedrosa a distant third.

Stoner continued his remarkable comeback from a mystery illness which prompted a 10-week break from the series.

He returned two weeks ago in Portugal and finished second to the surprise of his rivals.

But Sunday's victory, where he led virtually from the drop of the flag, was one of his sweetest under the circumstances.

Throughout his layoff the Australian had had to put up with rumours he was retiring, was sick of racing, was in dispute with his team - but he produced the perfect answer today.

"At the start of the season we were competitive enough to fight for the championship but by the time we got halfway through we were just collecting points, we weren't fighting for anything," Stoner said.

"That's why we decided to take that decision to take time off - and this is the result of it.

"I think without taking that time off we wouldn't be anywhere near the podium step today, things would have been too difficult for me and, physically, definitely I wouldn't have been able to last the race.

"It's just been fantastic to come back and get a second in Portugal and (have) almost enough pace to win it and here have the pace to win ... I can't ask for more.

"We definitely made the right decision to take that time off and find our way."

Stoner said he remained wary after his weakening illness, waiting for his "arms to start buckling" every time he went under brakes "but it just never came".

"I was definitely a little bit more exhausted in Portugal - of course the weather was a little hotter and we hadn't done any physical training," he said.

"We've done a little bit this last week just to get myself back up there a little bit and there were no problems through the race."

In fact, Stoner said he could have stepped up the pace and was able to pull away from Rossi every time the Yamaha rider closed.

"I thought the track conditions were good enough to go a little bit faster than what we were," Stoner said.

"We were struggling with rear-end grip - I think everybody was to a certain point - but that's something we struggle with in general with our bike at the moment.

"We tried to go every which way with our settings ... but we just can't get grip out of the corners at most of the circuits we go to.

"When we solve that I think things will come along a lot better and it will work a lot more smoothly."

Stoner's win was his third this year, after victories in the season-opener in Qatar and in Italy, and it moved him to third place in the world championship, despite missing three rounds.

It was also his 19th MotoGP victory, moving him one spot ahead of Australia's first world champion, Wayne Gardner.


Australian MotoGP Results
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 40 minutes 56.651 seconds
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha at 1.935
3. Dani Pedrosa (ESP) Honda 22.618
4. Alex de Angelis (RSM) Honda 32.702
5. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 35.885
6. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Honda 38.482
7. Marco Melandri (ITA) Kawasaki 44.461
8. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Honda 44.941
9. Mika Kallio (FIN) Ducati 54.345
10. Toni Elias (ESP) Honda 1:01.205
11. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1:05.417
12. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Suzuki 1:05.950
13. Gabor Talmacsi (HUN) Honda 1:17.951
14. James Toseland (GBR) Yamaha 1:17.985
15. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 1 Lap
Failed to finish: Jorge Lorenzo (ESP) Yamaha 1st lap

World Championship Standings
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 270pts
2. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 232
3. Casey Stoner (AUS/Ducati) 195
4. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 189
5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Honda) 152
6. Colin Edwards (USA/Yamaha) 145
7. Alex de Angelis (RSM/Honda) 101
8. Randy de Puniet (FRA/Honda) 101
9. Loris Capirossi (ITA/Suzuki) 101
10. Marco Melandri (ITA/Kawasaki) 100