Casey Stoner is 25 years old and with multiple 125cc, 250cc and Motogp wins and 1 world title with Ducati in 2007, which obviously goes to prove this young Australian has a wealth of talent.
After 3 years of trying to regain his world title without success he saw an opportunity to jump ship from Ducati and was offered a unprecendented 3rd bike at Repsol Honda, partnering Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso. For most fans and riders this was the right move at the right time because towards the end of the 2010 season the Honda seemed to have the edge over Yamaha and Ducati.
Casey has already ridden a Honda during the 2006 season, his first season in MotoGP and finished 8th overall with his highest finish a 2nd place in Turkey and only being beaten by Marco Melandri in the final turn. Ducati obviously saw a talent and signed him on a 1 year contract and promptly won the title in his first year, with 6 pole positions and 10 race wins. Pretty astonishing for a 21 year old.
The following 2 years he probably would want to forget, as Valentino Rossi was back on form on a bike that was beginning to close the gap to the unbeatable Ducati. During these two years Rossi really piled the pressure on Casey and took every opportunity to play mind games on and off the track and everyone in the world saw Casey begin to fold under the pressure, with many seemingly easy successive possible race wins (Laguna, Brno and Misano) in 2008 thrown away, as Rossi began to push him to the limits.
In 2009 The season started fairly well for him but early July he was struck down with a mystery illness which caused him to miss 3 rounds and was finally diagnosed with anemia and lactose intolerance, not pleasent by anyones standard but for an elite sportsman a definite disability when fighting at the top of your game on 230bhp monsters, that want to spit you off at every opportunity.
The season was gone and Rossi had yet again romped his way to the title with his mind games. Had he destroyed another rival? Was Stoner going to fall by the wayside like Biaggi and Gibernau before him?
in 2010 Stoner had what can only be described as a nightmare season, The Ducati development did not go well and all season they had problems with front end grip and rear chatter, no matter what the factory at Bologna tried, they failed to cure it. Stoner was getting increasingly frustrated and early on in the season you could see he was already writing off the chance to regain his title. During this season he picked up the nickname of moaner, with his constant complaing about the bike. In my opinion he was justified, as all the riders from Nicky Hayden his team mate at the factory team and the 2 satellite team riders at Pramac, were all suffering the same issues. No matter how he rode the bike or what the mechanics tried to cure it, he couldnt ride the bike 100% and it showed.
2010 ended with him in 4th place overall but he so obviously wanted more and that elusive world second world title.
Which brings me full circle to the beginning of the this piece. Stoner jumped ship and went to Honda as i've mentioned and has had the perfect start to pre-season testing, the fastest in all tests and when the season started in Qatar, a pole position and a win, was the perfect way to boost the moral and he became the only person to win on 2 different manufacturers in the 800cc era.
Round 2: Jerez, Spain. Pole position and a good chance to win as he was the fastest in all sessions just as he was in Qatar. The race was declared a wet race, and rain was definitely in the air. On the grid before the race, the rain stopped but everyone had to choose Full Wets as the track was very wet. Rossi had crashed in qualifying and had to use his spare bike which wasn't set-up the same way and only managed to qualify in 12th, the back of the 4th row. He was praying for rain, because in the wet his shoulder would get some relief because the forces are in no way as much as they are in the dry. add to that, Rossi would be back on his number 1 bike with the correct settings and he had a good chance of getting a podium even from a lowly 12th on the grid.
Rossi began to make his way through the field and on lap 7 he was catching Stoner going into turn 1, Stoner turned in and Rossi went underneath him and lost the front and because Casey was on the outside, contact was inevitable and they both slid into the gravel with Rossi trapped underneath both bikes. Casey was left in the middle of the the track and ran back to lift his bike upright, in the meantime the marshalls were helping Rossi and seemingly ignoring Casey.
Now on reflection and after watching the re-run, they do indeed leave him to his own devices, and he has since admitted to hitting the killswitch as he went down, on purpose or by mistake? Now, the Honda by design needs a special starter and needs at least 2 people pushing to bump start it, 1 marshall was never going to make it happen and Casey realised this and gave up. In the meantime a handful of marshalls had got Rossi going again and he was away and running in 15th.
Once behind the tyre wall, casey vented his frustration on the marshalls and was clearly annoyed at his mis-treatment. in my opinion it was justified and warranted his reaction. He was vinidicated as later in the race Cal Crutchlow also needed assistance after he lost the front and didnt get it.
Rossi in the meantime began one the the greatest comebacks of his career and began carving his way through the field and finished a respectable 5th place and gaining 11 important points to add to the 9 he scored in Qatar.
This is where the story would normally end, but as Vale crossed the line Casey felt the need to stand trackside on the finish line and clap him sarcastically to the finish. Necessary? definitely not. Anger? Frustration? probably. Once the race was over and Vale had completed his cool down lap, he took the time to go into the Repsol Honda pit box and he sought out Casey to apologise. With a camera crew in tow and in front of millions Vale, in his leathers and crash helmet still on his head he was heard to say sorry. Casey's reaction was this, "The ambition outweighed the talent eh?" WTF!
To be honest i was fuming, it was clearly a racing incident, one that had been played out hundreds of times in the past, all over the world; from club races to MotoGP. A racer trying to overtake, going 2 or 3 km/hr too fast, pulls the brakelever just a fraction harder so they can get to the apex in front of the rider they are overtaking and they lose grip on the front tyre and the front folds and the rider goes down. a simple mistake and in the heat of battle one that is easy to do.
Casey just happened to be on the outside and coudn't avoid the sliding Vale and down he went. Pedrosa did exactly the same to his teammate Hayden in 2006 on his way to becoming world champion, Hayden didnt react in the same way and soon got over it.
Caseys reaction was totally unjustified and to say to a nine times world champion that "your ambition outweighed your talent" is quite frankly, disrepectful. Vale did what he thought was right, and apologised, to be disrespected in front of millions is not what he expected and certainly not what he deserved.
Casey has never been a popular rider with the worlds fans and especially the British. I was witness to the hatred the British fans have for him at the 2008 round of the world championship at Donington, and to be honest, i was disgusted at the way he was treated, but disrepecting the one man that has made this form of motorsport what it is today, is tantramount to popularity suicide.
what was he thinking? one can only imagine what went through his head, but he certainly will not win any fans around the world and especially in Italy. If donington 2008 is anything to go by, then he needs to keep his head down when they get to Mugello!
Should Vale have apologised with his helmet off? persoanlly i believe he should have, for whatever reason he didnt and he can't change that now? but he did apologise, more than most would have done. it is common knowledge they are not friends on the track or off it, but all is fair in love and war and i am sure no-one could race as hard against someone if they were your best friend.
The fact of the matter is, the incident has happened and the result stands. Nothing can change that. In my eyes it was a racing incident and Casey needs to move on and concentrate on the season ahead because Vale has been given the boost he needed to kickstart his season and will not give any quarter on or off the track after a comment like that. Rossi v Biaggi again? as an armchair fan i bloody hope so!
Casey has talent, there is no doubting that. he is fast from the off and can race with the best of them, but he needs to let the race results to the talking and maybe one day the worlds fans will appreciate what he has done for the sport.
MotoGP has always had its rivalry and this event has certainly lit the touch paper for an exciting season ahead.
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