My lord..............


Stoner dumps Honda for Ducati


October 16, 2006

YOUNG Australian motorcycle racing star Casey Stoner is set to quit Honda and sign a multi-million deal to ride for the Ducati factory team in next year's MotoGP World Championship.

Stoner, who celebrated his 21st birthday today, is poised to join star Italian rider Loris Capirossi at Ducati, with sources close to the team indicating the deal is worth at least $2 million.

Ducati's talks with Stoner accelerated at the Portuguese Grand Prix at the weekend, setting off a chain reaction that confirmed his departure from the Honda LCR team.

Although Stoner did not finish the Portuguese GP, fellow Australians Chris Vermeulen and Garry McCoy finished 9th and 15th respectively.

Riding the new 800cc Ilmor V4 against the more powerful 990cc motoGP bikes, Mccoy scored a world championship point on his return to GP racing.

Ducati's move has turned the rider market upside down.

While Stoner fulfilled a dream to ride for a factory team, it was confirmed that Spanish veteran Carlos Checa would replace him at the Honda LCR squad.

Both those moves left Kawasaki without a much-anticipated deal with Checa with Japan's Shinya Nakano moving to the Konica Minolta Honda squad.

Honda LCR boss Lucio Cecchinello confirmed the signing of Checa and the departure of Stoner from his team on Sunday evening at Estoril.

Tech3 Yamaha team boss Herve Poncharal also announced that Checa had gone to LCR as a replacement for Ducati-bound Stoner.

"Yes, I have reached an agreement with Carlos Checa but I would also like to wish Casey all the best with his future career," Cecchinello said.

The opportunity of a well-paid factory ride rather than continuing on a satellite Honda with LCR, has always been a goal for Stoner who had been seeking additional Honda technical support for 2007.

Less than an hour before news of the Checa-Stoner moves broke at Estoril, Stoner spoke of the appeal of Ducati as team boss Livio Suppo confirmed Ducati's offer.

"No rider has ever won a world championship on a satellite bike and that is what is appealing about a factory team like Ducati," Stoner said.

"Every year Ducati are winning more races, they are becoming more competitive, as are the Bridgestone tyres.

"They won Jerez this year and they did well in Qatar, which was a bad track for them last year. Ducati are looking better and better every year and that's another thing to take into account," he said.

Recent Honda deals to retain Italian Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda) and Nicky Hayden (HRC Repsol Honda) were part of Stoner's considerations. Hayden and Dani Pedrosa will be the HRC factory riders for at least another two years.

"Those deals with Marco and Nicky have already made me a minimum of fourth in line at Honda," Stoner said.

"That makes it harder to get factory parts and the other riders will have them before me.



I'm an unabashed Casey fan being australian, but i really do hope that he can put his head down now and improve on his racecraft and concentration, as his DNF's this year have hurt him big time.

Lets hope next year is the continuation of the journey for Casey, now he has fulfilled his dream of being a factory rider.

Congratulations Casey!!!!!!!!

Okay so Casey has had trouble with DNFs this year, but to give the guy credit it is still his first year in MotoGP! In a 'normal' year it is pretty much expected for rookies to be finishing in average places at best and having quite a few offs along the way. A certain Mr Pedrosa has made Stoner's year look less than impressive, but overall I still think he's done a great job.

He's clearly got the talent, he's now got to sort out some consistency and I'm sure he can get great results on a regular basis. The Ducati should help with that. ;)

Wow, I thought he alrady confirmed a ride with LCR - which in my opinion would have been the smart thing to do in the lead up to the 800cc rules as Honda usually comes out strongest when new engine rules come into play.

Cool 8O

where will sete be? getting fat with the other rossi rejects like biaggi?????

they can wipe eachothers tears together hehe:lol:

I think I remember hearing them say on Eurosport that Sete's been winding up some of the other riders as he's been dragging his feet a little regarding contracts. Apparently he just set his price and has waited for it to be met. Which they said was starting to look like a good tactic as there were available seats... I'm not sure which, exactly.

Wow, I thought he alrady confirmed a ride with LCR - which in my opinion would have been the smart thing to do in the lead up to the 800cc rules as Honda usually comes out strongest when new engine rules come into play.

Cool 8O

Keep in mind that the Ducati GP7 was the first 800cc to be developed............. and tested..... by a fair distance.

Publicly, that is. No-one knows how long Honda has been beavering away it it's 800.

Publicly, that is. No-one knows how long Honda has been beavering away it it's 800.

true also...... honda does have a bottomless pit of coin.

i do like stoner a lot, not my favorite...but damn when he is riding good, he can do some amazing riding. he is also incredibly fast, when he is not crashing.

Poor Sete, knocked out by Casey on the track and off the track.

Poor Sete

Sorry, but those words do not exist in my vocabulary..........;)