Casey Stoner,. . .now on Honda

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Casey Stoner wins

Casey Stoner holds off a challenge from Dani Pedrosa on his way to victory. Source: AFP


AUSTRALIA's Casey Stoner won the Qatar Grand Prix today, the opening race of the 2011 MotoGP season, ahead of Spaniards Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

Stoner finished 3.440sec ahead of Lorenzo to give Honda their first win in the opening round of the season in eight years.

It was the 31st career victory for the Australian, who had already won in Qatar in 2008 and 2009.

 

[Poita]

Great start to the season on the new bike, should be a good year for a change for the GP's.

 

[Car61]

Gee... look at how much of his tyre 'tread' is in contact with the road (NOT!) [bw]

and... Jorge is leaning over even further.....[bw] [bw]

 

[Gerry]

There's just something about a top Aussie rider on a Repsol honda!

 

[4EVER17]

There's just something about a top Aussie rider on a Repsol honda!

[iag] Way to Go! Casey.

 

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AUSTRALIAN rider Casey Stoner will start the Catalunya MotoGP from second on the grid after being upstaged by a mere 16 thousandths of a second in qualifying.
Stoner, who won the previous race in France and trails Lorenzo by just 12 points in the championship, dominated Friday practice and most of qualifying but couldn't find the extra speed at the death.
Surprise packet Mario Simoncelli stole the top spot in the final 30 seconds of qualifying, with series leader Jorge Lorenzo in third.

 

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Casey Stoner, did a Mick Doohan, after the novice pole sitter stuffed the start, Stoner took the lead early and was never caught, even when the rain looked like pulling riders down, he was in controll and never looked like loosing the lead, here's the PR.


Australia's Casey Stoner pulled away from championship leader Jorge Lorenzo to win the Catalunya Grand Prix, notching up his third win of the season.
The Honda rider hit the front at the end of the first lap and steadily extended his lead, the only apparent threat to his position coming from the gathering rain clouds which came close to forcing the riders to change to their wet-weather bikes.
Spaniard Lorenzo came in second ahead of Yamaha team-mate Ben Spies of the United States.
Italian Marco Simoncelli, who had started on pole, was sixth behind compatriots Andrea Dovizioso (fourth) and Valentino Rossi (fifth).
World champion Lorenzo tops the riders' standings with 98 points from five races, seven ahead of Stoner who also won in Qatar and France.

 

[Poita]

Pole again for tonights race for Casey, should be a good race.

 

[TS-50]

AUSTRALIA's Casey Stoner defied terrible conditions to win an incident-filled British MotoGP and supplant defending champion Jorge Lorenzo at the top of the world championship standings.

Stoner, who started on pole, mastered a drenched Silverstone circuit to clinch a fourth victory in six rounds, becoming the first Honda rider to win three successive MotoGP races since Italian great Valentino Rossi in 2003.

The 2007 world champion moved 18 points ahead of Lorenzo, who was in second place when he crashed out on the eighth of 20 laps - seconds after teammate Ben Spies also fell.

"It was really tough conditions," said Stoner, who was starting his 150th grand prix in all categories. "Anything could have happened. We were quite lucky in this one that I stayed up and that Jorge had a crash."

Honda's Andrea Dovizioso was second, allowing the Italian to trim the gap to Lorenzo in the overall standings to 15 points, while Yamaha's Colin Edwards of the United States was third on his return from a broken collarbone.


Heavy rain, which left surface water across much of the 5.9km circuit, accounted for Honda's Marco Simoncelli on the 10th lap, the Italian rider skidding out as he applied the brakes on the approach to a corner. He was looking threatening in third place at that stage.

"It was very difficult not to make a mistake in these conditions," Dovizioso said. "With the wet patches, it was difficult to find the line."
Stoner was overtaken by Lorenzo by the first corner but retook the lead on the second lap and was rarely threatened after that.

"At the beginning we didn't get a great start. But the bike felt good, and I waited for the tyres to get up to temperature," Stoner said.
"In the first lap I had water in my visor, so for the first five or six laps I couldn't really see properly. I couldn't see any puddles. But finally the water went away, and I was able to do the lap times I wanted and open up a gap."

After Lorenzo crashed out, Dovizioso and Simoncelli were engaged in a close battle for second but the latter's error gave his compatriot some breathing space. Dovizioso finished more than 15 seconds behind Stoner.

 

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STONER EYES CHAMPIONSHIP

MotoGP: Things are looking very good for Casey Stoner's title aspirations after he rode away from the pack at the Indianapolis Moto GP early this morning.

The win was Stoner's his third straight and seventh overall this year.

The Aussie pole sitter completed 28 laps over the 2.621-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 46 minutes, 52.786 seconds.

Stoner, making his seventh start of the year from the pole, finished 4.828 seconds ahead of runner-up and defending champion Dani Pedrosa of Spain.

American Ben Spies, who began the race on the middle of the front row, finished third.

Jorge Lorenzo of Spain, who began the race in second place behind Stoner for the world championship, was fourth.

Stoner's victory extended his lead in the season title chase from 32 to 44 points

 

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Casey Stoner was on pole again and won in style, here's the blurb ;


STONER EXTENDS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
MotoGP: IT'S not quite the foregone conclusion we're seeing in Formula One, but Casey Stoner is almost there in the race for MotoGP after his eighth victory of the season at Aragon last night.
The Australian's Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was second at the Motorland circuit ahead of Yamaha's reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo.
Lorenzo is now 44 points behind Stoner with a maximum 100 points available from the remaining four races, and will need a couple of DNFs from the Australian if he is to challenge in the remaining rounds.


Stoner's 31st MotoGP career victory placed him joint fifth on the all-time list.


[bw][y][y][bw]

 

[Car61]

I think I read that he crashed in Practice/Quali ? - Jumped on the 'spare' bike & set Pole! [bw]

 

[Gerry]

He is in a class of his own this year.

 

[Racin Jason]

I think Casey is very underestimated. He was winning towards the end of last year on a bike that Rossi struggles to get into the top 10 with. Casey then jumps on a Honda, new bike, new team and starts to woop everyone. I think Casey will wrap up the title this year and I dare say it won't be his last.

 

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With the Repsol Honda's fastest in Practise at the moment in Japan, it's looking good for Casey to hold his lead in the championship if all things are equal.



This news also for Japan;

Australian rider Damian Cudlin will make his MotoGP debut at the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi this weekend.
The 29-year-old will join the Pramac Ducati team in place of Italian veteran Loris Capirossi, who dislocated his shoulder for a second time in his career at the recent Aragon round.
Cudlin is a verteran of the Endurance World Championship and has just one Grand Prix start to his name, after riding in last year’s Moto2 event in Germany.[y][y]

 

[Poita]

If Casey wins this round he can take the title with a win at Phillip Island. [bw]

 

[Gerry]

If Casey wins this round he can take the title with a win at Phillip Island. [bw]

That's the plan!!

 

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Stoner on Pole again !

[y]

Casey Stoner’s blistering MotoGP form has continued in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.
The Australian edged out reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo by 0.26s to take his 10th pole position ahead of the 15th race of the season.
Andrea Dovizioso will start third on the second of the Repsol Honda’s, while yesterday’s fast-man Dani Pedrosa was fourth.
Ben Spies (Yamaha) secured fifth, while a last-gasp effort for Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda) knocked Ducati’s Valentino Rossi from the second row.
Simoncelli finished the session on his spare bike after an earlier fall – a fate mirrored by Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards, who qualified back in 14th.
Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki), Hector Barbera (Aspar Ducati) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) rounded out the top 10, while Australian Damian Cudlin (Pramac Ducati) continued to improve – beating Honda wildcard Honda rider Shinichi Ito into 18th.


Cudlin Qualified second last.


There was some conjecture that riders wouldn't go to Japan with the worry of latent radioactivity in the country its food and water supplies among other things. Looks like they have been forced to go to the round and compete.

 

[Poita]

RIP Marco Simoncelli

The Malaysian GP has been canceled after just one lap when an accident occurred that has sadly claimed the life of Marco Simoncelli.

Stoner was leading the race followed by his two team mates, Pedrosa and Dovizioso, they were unaware what had happened behind them until informed when they returned to the pits. Simoncelli was in forth when he crashed and was unfortunately hit by Edwards and Rossi.

 

[Antg]

Ver, very hard to watch, rest in peace Marco.