MotoGP: Casey Stoner signs for HRC Honda team for 2011
While the paddock was busy anticipating an announcement from Valentino Rossi associating him with a move to Ducati for next season, it seems that Casey Stoner is the first to make it official. The news that he would be moving to the factory Honda team comes as no surprise but seems just a little out of sequence. The Aussie will be leaving Ducati at the end of the current season to join the HRC team and pair up with the Italian Andrea Dovizioso. Stoner will have completed four years at Ducati at the end of the season.
Stoner’s time at Ducati was a very fruitful one. 2007, which was Stoner’s first year with Ducati, saw him taking the World Championship title. This was a first for Stoner as well as the Ducati team. This was onboard the Ducati Desmosedici GP7, which was the first time that the MotoGP class was running 800cc machines instead of the 1000cc four stroke. Having only entered MotoGP in 2003, this was a remarkable result for the Ducati team and since then the Ducati has been a force to reckon with under the capable arms of Casey Stoner.
Stoner started his career rather backwardly in the smaller classes of MotoGP. At first, he was directly inducted in the 250cc class in 2002 but it was a very dreadful start as the Aussie wasn’t able to bag even a single podium. However, this did see the start of the partnership between Lucio Cecchinello. Cecchinello was the team boss of the Aprilia team in the 250cc class that Stoner got his opportunity to start from. He saw the raw talent that the young Aussie had but felt the need to polish it. For the 2003 season, he went to the 125cc class and rode for the Aprilia team of Cecchinello again. He finished the season in eighth place but managed to get his first race win. The next year he made a move to the Red Bull KTM factory team and as he continued to improve. This year he finished in fifth in the Championship with one win and five podiums.
In 2005, Stoner made a return to the 250cc class this time riding the factory Aprilia bike but once again under the leadership of Lucio Cecchinello. The year saw an epic battle between him and another young gun Dani Pedrosa. Though Stoner was unable to win the Championship, he took a solid second place. The year saw him take five wins and a total of ten podiums. Both Pedrosa and Stoner graduated to the MotoGP class this year. Pedrosa got the seat to ride the factory Honda at the time and Stoner got the seat with Team LCR, which was also making their debut in the MotoGP class under team boss Lucio Cecchinello. While Pedrosa seemed to have gotten the better seat on paper, it is always the riders on the satellite teams that come to the attention of the world, if they show good performances.
In his first season in the premier class, Stoner was able to get one pole position at the Qatar Circuit and a second place finish at the Turkish Grand Prix after being overtaken in the final corner by Marco Melandri. The season was impressive enough for him to get a seat alongside the more experienced Loris Capirossi. Therefore, it came as a surprise when he was getting the results onboard the bike in 2007. He took five pole positions, 10 race wins and 14 podiums out of the 18 races that season. This was the year that Stoner exploded onto the world stage and since has been a force to be reckoned with on any race track.
Valentino Rossi is currently recovering from a broken ankle and shoulder injury that he suffered in Mugello, Italy. This is probably the reason why the announcement has been delayed from the Rossi camp. Rossi is expected to leave the Fiat Yamaha team at the end of the season, to sign up as Stoner’s replacement at Ducati. Nevertheless, no matter what teams the two end up racing for, be sure to expect nothing but pure hardcore racing from the two.
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