During the three day test at Sepang, Repsol Honda and Yamaha engaged in some friendly bantering on Twitter, but apparently the Japanese team has decided take on that certain ‘belittling’ Valentino Rossi to set off some extra sparks between the fan factions (as if they needed something else to set them off) by posting this TwitPic of the two World Champion riders MotoGP stats from 2006 to 2011.

And the gloves are off … as the stats say it all.

Updated:

Valentino Rossi who is sitting at home recovering from his yesterday’s surgery was informed of the stats and hit back via his Twitter @ValeYellow46: with “eh eh,very easy compare the numbers between me and Stoner from 2006,when I won already 5 champs and 53 races mgp” and “more real compare the first 5 season of me with the first 5 of Stoner”

In just over an hour since Repsol Honda posted the stats they have now removed them after some backlash saying “exactly, it’s only pointing out the stats from the last 5 years, not belittling what VR46 has achieved before!” - “Ok ok… will remove… wasn’t belittling @ValeYellow46 achievements … just comparing” - “hope you’re right… it was only a comparison… not malicious!”

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After the three-day test at Sepang, everyone was more or less happy with their new bikes and Casey Stoner left Malaysia on the top of the charts with a best lap of 1’59.607, despite problems with chatter, however the reigning World Champion had something to say regarding the last minute and unexpected decision by the FIM, MSMA and Dorna last December to increase the weight of the bikes.

In a Q&A interview released by Repsol Honda, the Australian was specifically asked if he felt the 4kg difference between the bike used at Sepang and that used at Valencia and answered:

Yes, and it is rather frustrating. We already had the bike developed and then they decided to change the regulations, so we had to add 4kg to the weight of our bike. This is a disadvantage for us, because the bike was already developed with a specific weight in mind, and now we have to add more. This affects the bike. It isn’t something that you notice much in your general riding, but unfortunately you do feel it quite a bit mid-corner. We have to try to adapt a little more and overcome this, but it is disappointing that the decision was made so late on.

According to the Italian media, Stoner was actually much more critical about the weight increase, “This world doesn’t have clear rules. They talk about cost saving measures and at Christmas the Federation increased the minimum weight from 153 kg to 157 kg to benefit someone. Now we have to re-think about re-balancing the bike and this will surely cost money that even the privateers will have to pay. It doesn’t make sense.”

Who is Stoner refering to when he talks about benefiting someone? Is it the CRT teams who use slightly heavier production based engines (who can’t worry someone like Stoner nor Honda) than the prototypes, or is it as someone insinuated, another jab at Ducati and Rossi?

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Yesterday there was a glitch when they indicated that Ben Spie had lapped in 1.58, but there wasn’t any glitch today when Casey Stoner posted a 1’59″607 with his RC213V. His lap on the third day of testing at Sepang and early this morning was 0.058s faster than the lap time he set during the 2011 Sepang tests with his highly evoluted 800cc machine.

The Australian champion is still suffering from back pain, stating that it seemed that he’d ‘felt like he had done three rounds with Mike Tyson’ but his fast lap set a warning shot to his rivals, despite the fact that both he and Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa have yet to solve the chattering issues that emerged with the new Bridgestone tires.

Casey Stoner:

“It’s been a good test in general, we only managed two out of the three days unfortunately but the weather has been really good to us and we’ve been able to do what we planned. The day I missed hasn’t affected us too much and we’ve managed to complete our testing programme, to be honest I think track conditions on the first day weren’t that great anyway as the lap times were not so fast. I’m still not feeling great with my back but the bike is ok, so we’ve made progress in reducing the chatter a little more and trying a few different things, some small settings on the shock that we haven’t tried before amongst other points. So far it’s been pretty positive, we’ll just have to wait and see what we have for the next test and hopefully improve a little more. Now I’m looking forward to getting home to Switzerland to see Adriana and await the arrival of our baby!”

Dani Pedrosa:

“Three days testing here in Malaysia is very tiring. This morning when I woke up I was pretty sore and stiff, but once I got running I was a little bit better. Anyway, it’s been worth it to do a general test of the engine, chassis and tyres and overall it is the biggest test we have done on this bike and we have good data to analyse and can start to build up points we need for the second test. As I said yesterday, the biggest point to improve is on braking, and we are also working on the electronics to improve the management of the power and the grip level. The chatter is still there, I know it’s something very difficult to fix, but I’m sure Honda is working hard on it. In general, it’s been a positive test for us and we will come back here in three weeks with new ideas. This bike is physically more demanding, you feel the power in the acceleration, the speed under hard braking and also the extra weight, but it’s alright. I will keep working hard physically to prepare for the second test.”

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The third of final day of MotoGP testing at Sepang saw reigning World champion Casey Stoner thrash the rest of the field by posting an amazing 1’59.607 (beating his last year’s 800cc test time) on his second lap out early in the morning when temperatures were slightly ‘cooler’ he was the only rider to break the two minute barrier.

Despite all the riders bettering their lap times from the last two days - rain halted the final minutes of the test - the Australian remained virtually untouchable and seemingly having solved those bothersome chatter issues that the Honda RC213V has been having and already demonstrating that everyone has still have to play catch up, but there will be more tests to see if they can at least match his blistering pace.

Jorge Lorenzo ended up second on the timesheets and almost six tenths of second adrift while testing various set-ups. Yamaha teammate Ben Spies posted the fourth best time and the last rider to be within a second from the top of the charts despite a crash earlier in the day when he lost the front of his M1, and fortunately not suffering any consequences. Spies then quit for the rest of day, apparently he had already completed his entire test program.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang test Day 3: Casey Stoner thrashes the field

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After missing the first day of testing yesterday due to back problems (something he says he suffers from a couple of times a year since 2003) World Champion Casey Stoner enjoyed good track conditions on his first outing of 2012. Stoner who wanted to spend more time on the track - he did a total of 29 laps - did a chassis comparison between his two RC213V chassis’ and finished the day as the fastest rider of the day with a time of 2′00.895, but like everyone else freaked out when the the official timer had a glitch and briefly indicated that Spies had posted a terrifying 1.58.

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa and used his second day of testing to work on braking and to improve the stability of the new 1000cc bike in corner entry, and look for solutions to reduce the chattering. He finished the day 4th with a time of 2′01.508.

Casey Stoner:

“It was great to be able to ride today and everything went pretty well, although I would have liked to have done a few more laps. We spent most of the day on the new chassis comparing it back to back with the one we had in Valencia and we found a good direction and where we want to go. As usual it would be great to take some elements from one chassis and some from the other, but at least we found the direction we are happy to follow. We used the hard front tyre this afternoon but found we had more chattering with it so we have to work on this, there is still room for improvement. We didn’t get a chance to use the new spec tyres that Bridgestone have brought here, we’ll try them out tomorrow and go from there.”

Dani Pedrosa:

“Today we started to work well from the beginning; the track conditions were better than yesterday and it was hotter out there. We’ve been working on the setting of the bike, focusing mainly on the braking and reducing chatter, to improve the stability on the entry of the corners, that’s our main target right now. We made some comparisons between the two chassis’ and we will keep working with the bike and see what can we do before choosing. We have one more day, so we’ll try some other things with the shocks, this could help, and also different tyre pressures, we will see. I didn’t do many laps during the day, but now it’s time to test as much as possible and sometimes you have to spend more time in the garage, it’s normal. The new Bridgestone tyres are working ok, I just tried one hard on the rear but I didn’t have much grip and the soft ones are working better, even for the endurance they don’t look so bad.”

Continue reading: Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa on Day 2 at Sepang

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It took Casey Stoner just a handful of laps - he only did a total 29 and as usual less than everyone else - after sitting out yesterday’s first day of testing at Sepang due to a back problem, to continue his dominate form and show the rest of the field why he’s the reigning World Champion.

The Repsol Honda rider lapped in 2.00.895 and was the only rider to break the 2.01 mark, leaving the Yamaha duo lead by Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo adrift by 0.157s and 0.173s respectively, which seems to indicate that the 1000cc Yamaha M1 has caught up with Honda, as Cal Crutchlow on the Yamaha Tech3 branded M1 was fifth, making it three Yamaha’s in the top five.

Dani Pedrosa ended up in fourth after a flying lap at the end of the day, but he was a mere 0.057s faster than the British rider.

The surprise of the day was Hector Barbera on the Pramac Ducati. Barbera was sixth and he’s riding the Ducati GP12, which is really the first and slightly modified version of the Ducati GPZero that Valentino Rossi tested during the post season tests at Valencia. While Rossi on the GP12 Phoenix ended up in seventh and a little less than a second adrift from his arch rival Casey Stoner, who no doubt will be silently laughing under his helmet.

Ducati team mate Nicky Hayden as we mentioned earlier in the day, had to cut short his test due to a painful shoulder, while the other recovering rider Andrea Dovizioso on the second Yamaha Tech3 gritted his teeth to complete 42 laps and finish in ninth behind Alvaro Bautista on the Gresini Honda.

Closing out the top ten was MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl.

At the back of the timesheet were the CRT bikes, with Colin Edwards on Forward Racing’s Suter/BMW who made shaved off more than two seconds from yesterday’s lap times, while Avintia’s FTR-Kawasaki’s are having immense technical problems and between the three riders, Ivan Silva, Jordi Torres and Robertino Pietro could only complete a total of 23 laps.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang test : Casey Stoner takes over on Day 2

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Honda HRC via Twitter has revealed the first official image of reigning World Champion Casey Stoner with his new 1000cc RC213V with the number one plate during today’s official launch at Sepang.

Updated with other images from the launch courtesy of Honda Racing team and official press release:

Repsol Honda Team return to centre stage in Malaysia

The Repsol Honda Team, 2011 Triple Crown Champions, hosted the media at a Team Presentation in the Pan Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur tonight with a press conference and welcome party.

After the winter break, team riders Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa returned to the media spotlight refreshed and eager to start the new season. Alongside them were HRC team bosses, Shuhei Nakamoto (HRC Executive Vice President), Hideki Iwano (Director, Assistant to Team Principal), Shinichi Kokubu (Technical Director) and Livio Suppo (Communications and Marketing Director). This was also the first opportunity for the media to see the new RC213V bike complete with 2011 World Champion, Casey Stoner’s number ‘1′ emblazoned on the front.

Continue reading: Casey Stoner debuts #1 plate on Honda RC213V

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This video interview with Valentino Rossi posted by website Moto.it for Italian TV show Griglia di Partenza was filmed during the recent Ducati Wrooom event and no doubt will take the media rivalry between Rossi and Casey Stoner to another level of dissing in 2012, especially if Rossi should be competitive with the GP12.

Even if this interview is prior to Stoner’s interview with Motosprint, where he said that the Italian belittled his and Honda’s efforts, Rossi laughingly throws off any criticism from Stoner and continues to play his usual head games.

The interviewer Giovanni Zamagni tells Rossi that he received some criticism from several of his rivals, and asks if he was expecting it or not -especially from Stoner - and how he judges it.

“Yes, I’m happy, in the sense that when someone is in difficulty and another rider wins, like in Stoner’s case, you can see his true nature. In every interview he never stops talking about me, in a negative manner. Pratically he says that he has to set the record straight because, I think it was at Misano that I said that he wasn’t pushing enough. The reason he’s so ‘mean’ to me, is that he still hasn’t gotten over getting beat at Laguna Seca in 2008 and he needed two years to get over that … because he thought he could win five consecutive races, like I did instead I stopped his plans and now that he’s winning, he never loses the occasion to ‘murder’ me. I’m sorry for him as he should look forward, because he’s winning, he’s number one in the world, he’s moving up, he has to get over it. I’m sorry for him,” commented Rossi.

Let’s get those handbags out of the closet and poised.

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Casey Stoner is basking in the limelight of being the 2011 World champion and the official MotoGP website got together with the Australian champion while he’s at his second home in Switzerland for an interview that was published last Friday and now have posted a follow up video with Stoner also answering a number of questions from fans via Twitter.

You’ll find out a little more about his time in Ducati, like when he asked for the 2009 carbon chassis to be implemented into the second half of the 2008 season, but didn’t get it and while he did receive new parts he always got got them six to eight months later. His excitment about becoming a father, the bikes he owns, tips on riding, how he relaxes, why he is taking the #1 plate and much more.

To see the video just follow this link.

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Casey Stoner is the most successful rider of the 800cc MotoGP era, he was won two titles, the first and last one and has more victories than Valentino Rossi who also took two championship titles during this period.

It’s commonly known that Stoner has little use for the media especially the Euro ones (who are more biased and often defend their countries riders even beyond belief) and detests all the PR that surrounds MotoGP and it’s no secret that he doesn’t like Rossi (which is an understatement) and European riders in general.

So it won’t come as a surprise that after a nice and rather bland interview with the official MotoGP website that an interview with Italy’s Motosprint magazine would be more revealing and much more biting.

On the media: “Everything has changed very quickly. Previously I’d get nothing but mistrust from the media, and generally very little consideration for what I was doing and all the effort I was putting in and then Valentino and I switched bikes. He was on the one that I used for four years, and I was on the bike of my dreams to show the world what I’m capable of doing. This allowed me to let everyone understand that I could have also fought for the title and that I could have won at least another one.”

Continue reading: Casey Stoner sets the record straight

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The 2011 MotoGP season finished with a spectacular Casey Stoner having becoming the World Champion having dominated the entire season with his 10 wins, his six other podiums and having reached Mick Doohan’s pole position record of 12. While the start of the 2012 championship is still four months off and will see the welcome return of the 1000cc format, Australian bookmakers are already placing the odds on their fellow countryman as the rider to beat.

Unsurprisingly reigning champion Stoner is quoted a 2,5 followed by this year’s MotoGP runner-up Jorge Lorenzo at 3.5, while Dani Pedrosa is quoted at 5. Strangely enough Valentino Rossi is at 6, despite his horrendous 2011 season in Ducati with no wins (for the first time since the start of his career) and one lucky podium and he’s still a step ahead of Yamaha’s Ben Spies (quoted at 8) and who finished ahead of him in the standings and stood on the podium four times with a win at Assen, now you can scratch your heads and wonder why.

Source | blogosfere.it

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In a video interview with Sportmediaset.com, the 2011 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner talked about his future in racing and naturally about Valentino Rossi, that we’ve translated for you.

Having a child on the way will change your attitude towards racing and if you’ll be racing until you’re 35 or 40?

Even if you become a father it doesn’t influence the decision to continue racing. I don’t intend to race till I’m 35 or 40. I don’t consider this life, the races and the paddock as part of my family. It’s very difficult to continue staying here. It’s a hard job with all the pressure you have to stand and with the criticism that oftens fall on you. In my life there are more important things, and when I achieve what I want to achieve in this sport and for me to move on.

What do you want to achieve?

This is for me to know … I have my achievements, I’m not like other people who look at records and statistics and who continue to race looking for more records. When the moment comes I won’t have problems saying good-bye and leave room for younger riders. Also if you keep riding you need motivations and you don’t have the same energy you had several years before, I started my career very early and maybe this is why I’ll finish a little earlier.

Continue reading: Casey Stoner talks about his future

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