Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner ends Sepang test on top

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:28:38 +0000

Moto GP NewsCasey Stoner, the 2011 MotoGP World Champion, finished concluded three days of testing on the sweltering Sepang Circuit with the fastest ever lap by a motorcycle around the 5.548km circuit.On the second of 21 laps, the 26-year-old Australian lapped in 1m, 59.607s, lowering the mark of 1m, 59.665s that he’d set a little less than a year earlier at the second Sepang test of the 2011 winter season. Stoner was the only rider to lap under two minutes and finished the test with a margin of .591s on the second fastest rider, Jorge Lorenzo. The time might have been even lower had he not continued to suffer soreness in his back, which compromised the strength in his right arm as he tried to compensate.Now Stoner returns to his home in Verbier, Switzerland to be with his wife Adriana as they await the birth of their first child. The child is expected to arrive between this test and the next three-day Sepang test which begins on Feb. 28.”It’s been a good test in general. We only managed two out of the three days, unfortunately, but the weather has been really good to us and we’ve been able to do what we planned,” Stoner said.”The day I missed hasn’t affected us too much and we’ve managed to complete our testing programme. To be honest, I think track conditions on the first day weren’t that great anyway, as the lap times were not so fast. I’m still not feeling great with my back, but the bike is ok, so we’ve made progress in reducing the chatter a little more and trying a few different things, some small settings on the shock that we haven’t tried before amongst other points. So far it’s been pretty positive, we’ll just have to wait and see what we have for the next test and hopefully improve a little more.”Now I’m looking forward to getting home to Switzerland to see Adriana and await the arrival of our baby!” The Yamaha Factory Racing Team today completed the first test of the 2012 season at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. RidersJorge Lorenzo spent the three track days working to develop the base set up of the 1000cc YZR-M1 ahead of the second Sepang test in one month’s time. The Spaniard and his engineers focused on the balance of the M1 chassis along with improving the electronics package…

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Casey Stoner Doninates Test

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:40:04 +0000

SEPANG, MALAYSIA, FEB 2 – Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner picked up where he left off last year by clocking the fastest-ever time by a motorcycle on the steamy final day of a three-day test at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. On the second of 21 laps, the 2011 MotoGP World Champion lapped in 1:59.607, lowering the mark of 1:59.666 from his dominating performance here almost a year ago. The previous best lap was set in the second Sepang test. This year’s version of that begins on February 28. Stoner might have gone faster if not for two factors, a recurrence of the back problems that kept him off track on the first day and sky-blackening showers that shut down the test about an hour early. Still, it was clear that the extra 200cc hadn’t changed the balance of the field. “Yeah, I’m very surprised, to be honest, that we were able to be competitive,” he said. “After what happened on Tuesday, we went out Wednesday and tried to do everything we could and get as best a set-up as we possibly could in a short time. We just tried to make the test as productive as possible without doing more laps than necessary. “We would’ve liked to have tested a couple more things, but they weren’t really necessary and they weren’t really going to make a huge difference on what we’ve got now. So I think the best thing we could do is compare back-to-back the chassis. A few suspension changes today, a couple of different modifications and then a clutch yesterday, as well, so we just had to try and weed out what was good and what was bad and try and go in the right direction for the next test.” Now Stoner returns to his home in Verbier, Switzerland to be with his wife Adriana as they await the birth of their first child. The child is expected to arrive between this test and the next three-day Sepang test. Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo was the closest to Stoner and not very close. His best lap was .561 of a second slower, though he said, “To be honest I wasn’t worried about the lap time at all. It is not important so much in the tests, but even less so at the first test. But the feeling is very good because I have never been so close to the…

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VIDEO: Casey Stoner fastest in MotoGP testing

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:37:21 +0000

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:18p.m. The current MotoGP champion Casey Stoner was fastest on the second day of pre-season testing at Malaysia’s Sepang track. The MotoGP bikes for the 2012 season are 1000cc machines. Stoner set a two minute 0.895 second time ahead of Yamaha’s Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo, the 2010 world champion. Dani Pedrosa was fourth and Cal Crutchlow fifth. Multiple world champion Valentino Rossi, aboard the Ducati, was seventh and his team mate Nicky Hayden, recovering from a testing accident at the end of last year, was tenth. Hayden gave his bike to team test rider Franco Bataini for a while because of his injured shoulder. Stoner was recovering from a minor injury which forced him to miss testing on Tuesday. “You know I can’t fill as many laps as I would want to,” Stoner said. “I think it’s better we just try and really focus on what we need to but so far so good. And just the fact that I am out on a bike today was really good.” Over in Spain the Claiming Rule Team (CRT) test, for MotoGP privateer teams, ended with Randy de Puniet setting the fastest time. His Aspar team mate Aleix Espargaro was second with Mattia Pasini, joining MotoGP for the first time, third. The CRT bikes enjoy special concessions to bring the costs down for small teams competing with the big factory teams. They can use 12 engines per year instead of just six, and their fuel tanks can be bigger. Also testing at Valencia were Moto3 bikes, the replacement for last year’s 125cc class. The engines of this class are 250cc single-cylinder, four-stroke units. Sandro Cortese was fastest with Luis Salom second. Leading times on second day of MotoGP testing at Sepang: 1 Casey Stoner 2:00.895 2 Ben Spies 2:01.052 3 Jorge Lorenzo 2:01.068 4 Dani Pedrosa 2:01.508 5 Cal Crutchlow 2:01.565 6 Hector Barbera 2:01.788 7 Valentino Rossi 2:01.886 8 Alvaro Bautista 2:01.933 9 Andrea Dovizioso 2:02.160 10 Nicky Hayden 2:02.354 11 Stefan Bradl 2:02.414 12 Karel Abraham 2:02.598 13 Katsuyuki Nakasuga 2:02.941 14 Franco Battaini 2:04.311 15 Colin Edwards 2:05.603 Times from Valencia – CRT bikes and Moto3s – times provided by teams 1.- Randy De Puniet 1’34.9 2.- Aleix Espargaró 1’35.6 3.- Mattia Pasini 1’36.7 Moto3 1.- Sandro Cortese 1’43.2 2.- Luis Salom 1’43.5 3.- Héctor Faubel 1’43.8 4.- Niklas Ajo 1’44.0 5.- Zulfahmi Khairuddin…

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Casey Stoner fastest in Sepang

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:19:07 +0000

MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner has shrugged off a sore back to post the fastest time in pre-season tests on the sport’s new 1000cc bikes at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. The Australian Honda rider, who won the championship in 2007 and again last year, was sidelined on day one after pulling a back muscle while stretching. But he bounced back on Wednesday to outpace his Yamaha rivals in conditions that, while hot and humid, were drier than on day one and led to faster lap times as teams appeared to get the feel for the new bikes. Stoner, who won 10 races last season, hit the top of the timesheet in late practice runs, logging 2 min 00.895 seconds while his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa of Spain was fourth with a time of 2:01.508. ‘When I went out the track was good. The bike was performing pretty well. It was nice to feel the wind on your face again,’ Stoner told reporters. MotoGP has moved to 1000cc bikes this year in place of the earlier 800cc engines. American Yamaha rider Ben Spies, who was fastest in early practice on Wednesday, ended up in second place on 2:01.052 while his teammate Jorge Lorenzo of Spain, the 2010 world champion, was third with a best time of 2:01.068. Yamaha’s British rider Cal Crutchlow rounded out the top five with a time of 2:01.565. ‘Yamaha (is) looking strong and competitive,’ Stoner said. ‘Jorge is doing a great job. Ben is starting the season strong. Hopefully they can continue that.’ The testing session marked an emotional return for riders to the Sepang circuit for the first time since Honda rider Marco Simoncelli died there in a shocking crash in October’s Malaysian MotoGP. Seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi of Ducati, who is looking to make up for a disappointing 2011 campaign, ended in seventh place on 2:01.886. The 32-year-old Italian last year failed to win a race for the first time in his 15-year career. Testing ends on Thursday and is followed by another three-day session at Sepang beginning on February 28. The MotoGP 2012 season will officially start on April 8 in Qatar. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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Casey Stoner ‘back’ on top at Sepang

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:35:58 +0000

“It was good to get back out on track and feel the wind in your face again” – Casey Stoner.After a delayed debut with the #1 plate on his Repsol Honda, Casey Stoner put his new RC213V on top of the timesheets during day two of the Sepang MotoGP test.The double world champion had been forced to miss the entire opening day of 2012 testing following a back strain, while stretching in the pits yesterday morning.“It happens two or three times a year to me, but normally not around bikes and yesterday was far beyond anything I’ve ever had before,” explained Stoner. “I’ve had two or three scans on my back because of the [125cc] crash I had in 2003. I’ve had back problems ever since then, but the scans have never shown anything conclusive.“We’ll have another scan. I’ve still got to have a scan on my neck, from Assen last year. I haven’t got full movement. So I have to get both of them checked out. It’s quite frustrating, but it’s just something that happens. It seems you have a good back or bad back. At least it doesn’t affect me most of the time.”Stoner used ‘off the shelf’ pain killing tablets to “take the edge off” the back problem on Wednesday and was able to ride for 29 laps, although the morning began worryingly when he tweaked another part of his back.“I could still ride well, just not do as many laps as I’d like,” said Stoner.The loss of the opening day also meant Stoner couldn’t waste any time in getting up to speed, but still enjoyed riding a grand prix prototype for the first time since November’s Valencia test.“Your mind is one or two corners behind at first, but it was good to get back out on track and feel the wind in your face again,” he said.Stoner’s best lap – his 19th – was a 2min 0.895sec.After a false 1min 58sec time for Ben Spies had been corrected, Stoner finished the day 0.157sec ahead of the Texan, whose factory Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo – quickest on day one – was just 0.173sec behind in third.“When I first saw Spies’ [false] time I thought ‘freak’! Then I looked again and thought ‘hang on – 2.7sec quicker?’ He should have gone a little slower and done a high 1m 59s!” joked Stoner.This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS…

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Casey Stoner Talks About It

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:55:02 +0000

Repsol Honda’s MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner had a rough opening to his 2012 testing schedule when he was basically ruled out of today’s sessions in Malaysia when his back locked up. Here’s what Stoner had to say about his first day in Sepang. “I was stretching this morning for a good 20 minutes preparing to go out on track for the first time and then all of a sudden my back just locked up on me,” Stoner said in a Honda release. “I couldn’t move or do anything. I had to call someone to come and help me move into a position that was less painful! Then I had some physio on it straight away trying to get it better for this afternoon, but it wasn’t feeling good. I had some more physio after lunch, but it still wasn’t easing up. I felt I could have gone out on the bike in the afternoon, but we all agreed it would probably make it worse for tomorrow. We have two more days testing here in Sepang, we know the track well and we are getting to know the bike – we just need some time to test the new parts we have here to give feedback to HRC. I think tomorrow the track conditions will be better and as long as my back improves overnight we should get back on schedule with our testing program tomorrow.” This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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Motorcycling-Stoner sits out first day of MotoGP test

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:34:50 +0000

Reuters – Jan 31 (Reuters) – MotoGP champion Casey Stoner had to sit out the start of pre-season testing on Tuesday after the Repsol Honda rider pulled his back doing warm-up exercises at Malaysia’s Sepang Circuit. The Australian, who will be chasing his third title in the top category this year, received treatment and was hopeful of riding on Wednesday. “I was stretching this morning for a good 20 minutes preparing to go out on track for the first time and then all of a sudden my back just locked up on me,” he said in a team statement. “I couldn’t move or do anything. I had to call someone to come and help me move into a position that was less painful. “I had some more physio after lunch but it still wasn’t easing up, I felt I could have gone out on the bike in the afternoon but we all agreed it would probably make it worse for tomorrow,” said the 26-year-old. The test ends on Thursday and Stoner was keen to get out and try parts for the new 1,000cc machine that has replaced last season’s 800cc bike. “I think tomorrow the track conditions will be better and as long as my back improves overnight we should get back on schedule with our testing tomorrow,” he said. Morning rain limited track time on Tuesday with Yamaha’s former champion Jorge Lorenzo of Spain setting the pace, 0.346 seconds faster than compatriot and Stoner’s team mate Dani Pedrosa. Tuesday’s test was the first time MotoGP had returned to Sepang since 24-year-old Italian Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli was killed in a crash at the grand prix in October. Honda riders and officials laid flowers at the scene on Sunday. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, Editing by Clare Fallon) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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Casey Stoner misses day one at Sepang MotoGP test

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:51:13 +0000

“Casey pulled his back this morning when he was warming up here at the track. His back just locked up”MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner has been forced to sit out the first day of 2012 testing at Sepang in Malaysia.A Repsol Honda spokesperson told Crash.net: “Casey is not testing. He pulled his back this morning when he was warming up here at the track. His back just locked up.“He has been having some massage and anti-inflammatory pills and we will see for tomorrow. At least there are still two days.“Akiyoshi, the factory test rider, did four laps on Casey’s bike [which is why Stoner's name appears on the timing screens] and he also did the first ten laps on Dani [Pedrosa's] bike.”As of 3:30pm, Factory Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies (+0.050s) lead the timesheets, with Pedrosa third (+0.129s) and Ducati’s Valentino Rossi fourth (+0.418s).Tuesday should have marked the first time that Stoner rode his new RC213V with the #1 plate.This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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Stoner previews 2012 season

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:45:00 +0000

[unable to retrieve full-text content]MotoGP champion Casey Stoner gives Eurosport his thoughts ahead of the 2012 season.

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Rossi is belittling me: Stoner

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:40:58 +0000

Slammed … World champ Casey Stoner says Valentino Rossi is belittling him and his Honda team. Source: AAP Australian MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner has slammed his former team Ducati, stating that the Repsol Honda squad has given him a better reputation. Stoner also believes seven time world champion Ducati rider Valentino Rossi is simply making excuses for the factory Honda outfit’s dominance over the Italian’s team in 2011 and said his own performances weren’t simply because of the team’s large budget. “Valentino is saying and doing everything to belittle what was done by myself, my team, and Honda last year,” Stoner told Italian publication Autosprint. “It’s not true Honda spent so much money, because it’s not a company of stupid people. “It made no sense to invest a lot on a bike, the 800cc, on the verge of being retired, while in the meantime the new 1000cc was being developed. “As a matter of fact Honda in 2011 didn’t do much more than usual and the proof is that the 2011 bike wasn’t so different from the 2010 one, except for the gearbox. Moreover, my bike remained practically the same throughout the season. “The truth is that Honda already had a good bike even before my arrival: it just needed new strength coming from the outside, fresher strength able to make the difference without being frightened by this role.” Stoner says the public now gives him more respect and implied that Rossi had failed to achieve what he had on the same bike “Everything has changed very quickly,” Stoner said. “In previous years I would get nothing but mistrust from the media, and generally very little consideration for what I was doing and the effort I was putting in. “But then Valentino and I changed bikes: he took the one I had had for four years, while I took the bike of my dreams to show what I’m able to do. “This change of situations has allowed me to let everyone understand that I could have fought for the title in previous years too, and that I could have won at least another title.” This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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