Casey Stoner – The Linchpin of Ducati’s team
Every MotoGP fan would remember the years, when Valentino Rossi was struggling on his Yamaha bike, while other bikers were allowed to win the championships. First, in 2006 Nicky Hayden won the championships, as the series of misfortune struck the defending champion, Valentino Rossi. However, in the 2007 season the Australian, Casey Stoner, won the championships with an impressive record throughout the season. After that championship, Casey Stoner came to be recognized as one of the most feared drivers on the grid.
Stoner started his career in Motorsports at an early age of four, as he moved from Australia to England to pursue a career in motorsports. He started in the 125cc category in 2003, and had a slow start to the career. In 2003, with Aprilia, and in 2004, with Red Bull KTM, he won only two races, one with each team. However, in 2005 Stoner moved to the 250cc, and finished the season on second place, behind the eventual winner Dani Pedrosa.
After showing a lot promise, Casey Stoner went into talks with Yamaha for a move in MotoGP. However, his talks failed and he joined a one-bike Honda RC211V team. Stoner showed a lot of consistency throughout the season and finished eventually in 8th position. The best of Casey Stoner was still to come, as the driver had failed so far in proving himself to be one of the best drivers around. The opportunity came in the 2007 season when he joined Ducati team. The second half of the season was amazing as Casey Stoner eventually took the championships by a big margin of 125 points. Throughout the season, Stoner showed the mixture of class and speed, as he overcame his main rival Dani Pedrosa, who was also his rival during the 2005 season in the 250cc. The Australian stunned his critics, as throughout the season his worst performance was a sixth place finish in the final race at Motegi.
Many critics would believe that during the 2007 season, Ducati was running very fast which gave Stoner his eventual championship. But, his teammate Loris Capirossi failed to impress that season, which meant that Casey Stoner had to do a lot of other things for the title, including the good display of mental and physical strength throughout the season.
Sadly, after the championship, a series of unfortunate events led Casey Stoner to move down from the top spot. In 2008, Stoner started the season with a victory in Qatar, while carrying his good form, from the 2007 season. After the fourth race of the season, Casey Stoner started on his run of seven pole positions in a row, while winning three of the races. This showed that Stoner once again, would be the one to beat in the season, while this time his major rival was none other than Valentino Rossi. Stoner found himself in three crashes in succession, which proved too much for the driver, as he gave the lead to Valentino Rossi, finishing second in the season. But, he did go down in style, as he finished with 280 points, the highest ever for a runner-up.
At the start of the 2009 season, Casey Stoner again showed a lot of promise for Ducati, with his new teammate Nicky Hayden, a former champion. However, Stoner did outrace his teammate, while fighting a three-way battle with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, the Yamaha teammates. Unfortunately, Casey Stoner found himself to be ill as he felt tiredness and fatigue a long way before the finish line. He was diagnosed with anaemia and an inflammation to the stomach lining. Stoner had to retire for a short while to get cure from the disease, and returned after missing three GPs. His return was emphatic, with a second place in Portuguese GP, and a victory in his home race, the Australian GP. Casey Stoner kept on showing the improvement by winning Malaysian GP as well, which was a good sign. The fans were happy that the rider was re-attaining his top form which would prove helpful in the next season.
However, the 2010 season also brought misfortune to the driver. He started the season with a pole in Qatar, but crashed out of race. Again, in Le Mans, Stoner crashed while attributing his misfortune to the bike. However, he is again showing some consistency as he finished third in the last two GPs. Right now, Casey Stoner is in no way driving like he was doing in the 2007 championship winning season. Everyone knows that he has got the potential, while he needs to work hard with the testing of the bike and keep improving his mental strength during the races. There is no doubt that in a season where Stoner does not meet any misfortune, like the one in 2007, he will definitely threaten to regain the top spot in the drivers’ championships.
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