Casey Stoner

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Casey Stoner born October 16, 1985 (1985-10-16) (age 21) is a motorcycle racer originally from Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. He currently competes in the MotoGP class for the Ducati Marlboro team.


Contents

* 1 Biography
o 1.1 125cc
o 1.2 250cc
o 1.3 MotoGP
+ 1.3.1 2007 Season Summary
* 2 Personal life
* 3 Career statistics
o 3.1 By Seasons
o 3.2 By class
o 3.3 Races by year
* 4 References
* 5 External links

Biography

His first race was when he was four years old, in an under nine years old race at the Hatcher's dirt racing track on the Gold Coast of Australia. Between his very first race win at the age of nine and the age of fourteen, young Casey Stoner won 41 dirt and long track titles and 70 state titles. One feat he achieved that illustrates his passion and "need" for racing was done at age twelve. Over one weekend he raced in 5 different categories in all 7 rounds of each capacity. A weekend consisting of 35 different races... Not only did he compete in all these categories and different engine capacities, the young Casey Stoner went on to win 32 out of the 35 races. There were five Australian titles to be won that weekend, Casey Stoner won all 5.

The legal age to enter into road races in Australia is 16, at 14 years old Casey Stoner and his parents agreed he was ready to move up onto road racing so they packed up the family and moved to England - reason being that the legal age for road racing in that country is 14.

From 2000 to 2002, he contested the national 125cc GP championships in Britain and Spain, winning the English 125cc Aprilia Championship in 2000, before moving fulltime to the 250cc GP World Championships in 2002. His season on an Aprilia under the guidance of Lucio Cecchinello was turbulent, with no podium places from 15 race starts.

125cc

In 2003 Stoner moved to the 125cc GP category. Here, working again with Cecchinello and Aprilia, he met with considerable success, scoring his first GP race win and three second places, finishing 8th overall at the season's end.

In 2004 Stoner joined the Red Bull KTM factory team in 125cc class and continued to improve, with another race win, two second places, three thirds, and a final championship position of fifth.

250cc

In 2005 he rejoined the 250cc world championship class, racing once again for Lucio Cecchinello on an Aprilia. Onboard a factory Aprilia, Stoner emerged toward the season's end as a serious threat to championship leader Dani Pedrosa; a threat that only dissipated with a crash at Stoner's home Grand Prix of Phillip Island, allowing Pedrosa to establish an insurmountable points lead. Stoner went on to claim a solid second place in the overall championship standings, with an impressive five race victories for the season.

MotoGP

Stoner was rumoured to be considering a position with Yamaha,[1] but eventually settled on an alliance once more with team manager Lucio Cecchinello on a Honda RC211V, on a one-bike team new to the series for the 2006 Season. He took pole for only his second race, but crashed several times. He finished his debut season in 8th position with his best result being a 2nd place at the Turkish GP, where he was overtaken on the final corner by Marco Melandri.

Stoner secured a ride with the factory Ducati team for the 2007 season,[2] joining Loris Capirossi on the new 800cc Ducati Desmosedici GP7. He recently signed a contract extension with Ducati that will see him remain with the team for the 2008 and 2009 seasons (in which he will partner Italian Marco Melandri), with a further option for a 4th season in 2010.

2007 Season Summary

* On March 10, 2007, at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Stoner won the first grand prix of the season, the first ever 800cc grand prix, and had his first win in the MotoGP class.[3] Starting 2nd on the grid, Stoner was in a race-long battle with multiple champion Valentino Rossi - the Yamaha had the advantage in the corners, but Stoner's Ducati had too substantial a speed advantage on the kilometre long straight.

* On 25 March 2007, at the Jerez circuit in Spain, Stoner fought his way back from 9th place at mid race to finish in 5th place behind Toni Elias, Colin Edwards, Dani Pedrosa and race winner Rossi.

* On April 22, 2007, at the Istanbul Park circuit in Istanbul, Turkey, Stoner won the 2nd Race of his MotoGP career by coasting to victory over Spains Toni Elias by nearly 7 seconds with teammate Loris Capirossi finishing 3rd.

* On 6 May 2007, at the Shanghai International Circuit in China, Stoner made it back to back victories for the first time in his MotoGP career, and his 3rd win from 4 GP's this season by beating once again 7 time world champion Valentino Rossi into 2nd place. John Hopkins completed the podium on his Suzuki.

* On 20 May 2007, at the Bugatti Circuit Le Mans in France, Casey rode an impressive ride in torrential rain to 3rd place, behind eventual winner and countryman Chris Vermeulen, with Italian Marco Melandri in 2nd Place. The ride was described by many media members as Stoner's best ride in MotoGP up to this point.[citation needed] He now led Rossi by 21 points.

* On 3 June 2007, at the Mugello Circuit (Autodromo Internazionale di Mugello) in Italy, Stoner rode to a strong 4th place, being pipped on the finish line for 3rd by Alex Barros, also riding a GP7 Ducati for satellite team D'Antin Ducati. The GP was won by Valentino Rossi who cut Stoner's title lead to just 9 points, with Dani Pedrosa placing 2nd.

* On 10 June 2007, at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Stoner took his 4th win of the season, beating out Valentino Rossi by 0.069sec in a thrilling race-long battle in which Rossi exerted maximum pressure on Stoner throughout the GP. Rossi went on to finish 2nd and Spaniard Dani Pedrosa rounded out the rostrum at his home GP.

* On 24 June 2007, at the Donington Park Circuit in Britain, Stoner won back to back for the 2nd time this season, and his 5th victory in 8 races in an utterly dominant performance winning by 11.768 seconds from Colin Edwards, with fellow Australian Chris Vermeulen rounding out the podium.

* On 30 June 2007, at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands, after leading for the majority of the race, Stoner was passed by Valentino Rossi with 3 laps remaining. Stoner was unable to retaliate, and finished a solid 2nd, with Repsol Honda rider and current World Champion Nicky Hayden finishing 3rd for the final podium spot. Stoner's championship lead was reduced to 21 points.

* On 15 July 2007, at the Sachsenring Circuit in Germany, Casey battled race long with tyre problems compounded by trying to match the leading riders lap times in the early stages of the GP. He finish a credible 5th, behind Repsol Honda rider and race winner Dani Pedrosa, with Loris Capirossi and a resurgent Nicky Hayden rounding out the podium. Main title rival Valentino Rossi crashed out early in the race, allowing Stoner to extend his championship lead to 32 points.

* On 22 July 2007, at the Laguna Seca Circuit, USA, Stoner completely dominated the entire weekend, leading every timed session, qualifying and the fastest race lap on his way to winning the GP by 9.865secs from fellow Australian Chris Vermuelen, with Italy's Marco Melandri finishing 3rd. With Valentino Rossi again finishing off the podium in 4th place, Stoner further extended his title lead to 44 points over Rossi.

* On 19 August 2007, at the Masaryk Circuit, in the Czech Republic, Casey started from pole position and led from start to finish. He completely dominated the race, setting the fastest lap and winning easily by 7.903 seconds from John Hopkins. World Champion Nicky Hayden finished 3rd with compatriot Chris Vermuelen 5th. Valentino Rossi finished 7th, enabling Stoner to increase his championship lead over Rossi to 60 points. Stoner's performance was described by runner-up John Hopkins as flawless: "Casey was unbelievable - he was on fire... I gave it everything I had and pushed everything. The tyres and the Rizla Suzuki were awesome, but Stoner was flawless all weekend long. I tried and tried and tried but after about 10 laps I just had to give up on him and concentrate on finishing second."[4]

* On 2 September 2007, at the 2007 San Marino and Rimini's Coast motorcycle Grand Prix race, Stoner started from the pole for fourth time in the row and easily took third consecutive victory with a 4,851 second margin to runner-up Chris Vermeulen while leading the race for the whole distance. While Stoner won the race, his two closest rivals for rider's World Championship were forced to quit the race, Valentino Rossi suffering from a technical failure on fifth lap and Dani Pedrosa being a victim of first lap collision, which forced him to quit the race. The retirement of Rossi and Pedrosa opened up a massive 85 point gap between Stoner and his nearest rival Rossi, with five races and 125 points available in the season. Generally, this was considered to be the end of the race for rider's world championship.[5] Regarding contemporary comments, Paul Denning, the head of Suzuki MotoGP racing team commented Stoner's performance and equipment available in the middle of discussions[clarify] considering the Ducati bike and Bridgestone tyres as too superior: "I believe that the difference at the moment is Casey and we're focusing our best efforts to improve our own performance to beat him and that's what everybody should be doing at this time."[6] Denning's comment may well be considered as an objective evaluation of the situation, after Misano race Stoner had scored more points than three other Ducati riders combined. Also, Valentino Rossi apparently gave up his hopes for championship by showing true sportmanship and stating: "Ducati and Stoner deserve to win this world championship and I take my hat off to them".[5]

Personal life

Stoner met Adriana Tuchyna from Adelaide when she approached him at Phillip Island in 2003 and got him to sign his autograph on her stomach.[7] They started dating in 2005 when she turned 16,[8] and married in Adelaide on 6 January 2007.[9]