After Casey Stoner chastised the press, and called out Kevin Schwantz for his opinion on Stoner’s illness, Wayne Gardner, the 1987 500GP Champion, has weighed in his thoughts on Stoner’s absence from MotoGP racing. Saying what everyone already felt, Gardner calls Stoner’s absence “very suspicious” but still considers the Australian rider the favorite at the Australian GP this weekend.
Ducati has announced the return of Casey Stoner to MotoGP racing, with the Portuguese GP only days away from its first practice session. Stoner’s return is right on schedule, despite some speculation that the Australian racer might never race again after his prolonged hiatus from two-wheeled jousting.
The Portuguese GP is only a handful of days away, and already the talk about the return of Casey Stoner to MotoGP racing is becoming a fervor. Absent for over a month now, Stoner’s return to the MotoGP is expected to be both anti-climatic in results, but monumental in quieting the circulating rumors.
Likely to disappoint any remaining fans, the young Australian is out of any points contention for the Championship, and isn’t expected to be on his A-game come this Sunday. Making matters worse are the clearly strained relations within the Ducati team and Stoner, as well as with title sponsor Marlboro cigarettes. Recently Maurizio Arrivabene, the most senior executive inside Philip Morris’ motorsports division stated he hopes “Stoner has the decency to apologize to the team in Portugal.”
Ducati MotoGP project director Livio Suppo is insisting that rumors of Casey Stoner’s departure from MotoGP are untrue, and that the 2007 World Champion will be back in action at Estoril. Casey has also revieled his side of the story, saying that he “was doing something [he] hated”, but also confirmed his return at the Portuguese track.
Ducati has just announced that Casey Stoner will miss the GP this weekend at Brno, as well as the next two races. The decision was made by Stoner and his medical staff back in Australia, who have been trying to track down the reason for the rider’s chronic fatigue.
Stoner will return to MotoGP racing in October, at the Portuguese GP. Until then, Mika Kallio will replace Stoner on the Ducati Marlboro factory bike, and WSBK rider Michel Fabrizio will take Kallio’s spot on the Pramac Ducati satellite team.
After the US GP in Laguna Seca, Casey Stoner stayed over in the California for medical analysis to try and get to the bottom of his fatigue and sickness after racing.
Stoner worked with Clinica Mobile and the Fremont Surgery Center in assessing his condition, and the doctors have declared that Stoner is suffering from slight gastritis and mild anaemia.