Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner (born 16 October 1985) is a professional motorcycle racer. Born and raised in Southport, Queensland, Stoner raced from a young age and moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a racing career. After first competing internationally in 2002, he won the title of 2007 MotoGP World Champion when he succeeded American Nicky Hayden. He currently competes in the MotoGP class for the Ducati Marlboro Team. In 2008, Stoner was named Young Australian of the Year. Contents [hide] Casey Stoner Casey Stoner 2010 Qatar.jpg Stoner at the 2010 Qatar Grand Prix. Nationality Australian Date of birth 16 October 1985 (1985-10-16) (age 25) Place of birth Southport, Queensland, Australia Website caseystoner.com.au MotoGP Record Current team Ducati Marlboro Team Bike number 27 Championships 1 MotoGP – 2007 Race starts 144 Wins 30 Podium finishes 63 Pole positions 26 Fastest laps 24 Points 1807 2010 championship position 4th (225 pts) * 1 Career o 1.1 Early years o 1.2 125cc o 1.3 250cc o 1.4 MotoGP + 1.4.1 2006 + 1.4.2 2007 + 1.4.3 2008 + 1.4.4 2009 + 1.4.5 2010 o 1.5 Status and personality * 2 Personal life * 3 Career statistics o 3.1 By season o 3.2 By class o 3.3 Races by year * 4 References * 5 External links [edit] Career [edit] Early years He competed in his first race was when he was four years old, in an under-nine years old race at the Mike 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, Stoner won 41 dirt and long track titles and 70 state titles.[1] One feat he achieved that illustrates his passion and "need" for racing was 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, Stoner won all 5. The legal age to enter into road races in Australia is 16. At the age of 14 years, Stoner and his parents agreed he was ready to move up onto road racing so they packed up and moved to England – where the legal age for road racing is 14.[1] 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. [edit] 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. [edit] 250cc In 2005 he rejoined the 250cc world championship class, racing once again for Lucio Cecchinello' team 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. [edit] MotoGP [edit] 2006 Stoner during the MotoGP pre-season test session at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia in January 2007. Stoner was in advanced negotiations with Yamaha,[2] but after they dropped him he 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, Team LCR. He took pole in just his second race MotoGP, but crashed several times during the season. He finished in 8th position with his best result being a 2nd place at the Turkish GP, where he was leading until overtaken on the final corner by Marco Melandri. [edit] 2007 Stoner secured a ride with the factory Ducati team for the 2007 season,[3] joining Loris Capirossi on the new 800cc Ducati Desmosedici GP7. 6 poles and 10 race wins (including three of the first four[4]), took him to his first GP title, by a margin of 125 points (equivalent to five victories) over Dani Pedrosa, which he built during the second half of the season.[5] His worst finish was a 6th place at Motegi, which was all he needed to clinch the title that day.[6] [edit] 2008 Stoner opened the 2008 season with a victory at Qatar, before a run of two races without a podium. He returned to the podium with a second place at Mugello, before starting a run of seven successive pole positions.[7] He turned three of them into successive victories – a lights-to-flag win at Donington[8], leading every lap at Assen six days later[9], and recovering from a huge Friday crash at Sachsenring[10] to win in the wet after Dani Pedrosa crashed[11], moving to within 20 points of the championship lead. However, successive crashes while fighting for the lead at Laguna Seca (where he remounted to finish second to Valentino Rossi),[12] Brno and Misano ensured that he could not defend the title successfully.[13][14] Stoner finished the 2008 season as runner-up to Rossi with 280 points, the highest amount of points ever gained without taking the title.[15] [edit] 2009 Stoner's bike in Brno Stoner remained with Ducati for the 2009 season with new team mate Nicky Hayden, with a further option for a 4th season in 2010.[16] A strong start to the season left Stoner in a three way battle with the Fiat Yamaha duo of Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, before he was struck by a mystery illness which caused him to feel tired long before the end of races, leaving him 16 points behind Rossi and 7 behind Lorenzo after the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca on July 5. Stoner was subsequently diagnosed with anemia and an inflammation of the stomach lining.[17] Stoner later disputed the diagnosis however and, after continuing to struggle with the condition, he announced on August 10 2009 that he would miss rounds 11, 12 and 13 in Brno, Indianapolis and Misano respectively in an attempt to recover from the illness[18]. Mika Kallio was chosen as Stoner's replacement for the three races.[19] Stoner returned to racing late in the 2009 season, placing second in the Portuguese Grand Prix and an emphatic first in the Australian Grand Prix, which he led throughout. At interview following the Australian Grand Prix, Stoner said that he experienced none of the premature tiredness that had dogged him earlier in the 2009 season. He followed this up with another first place in the wet at the Malaysian Grand Prix. At the last round of 2009 at Valencia, Stoner dominated all practise and qualifying sessions to take pole, only to crash on cold tyres on the warm-up lap and miss the race. [edit] 2010 At the test held immediately following the Valencia round, Stoner was once again fastest while testing the new 2010 version of the Desmosedici. However, Rossi was fastest in five of the six pre-season tests. Stoner qualified on pole for the season opener in Qatar, and was leading the race when he crashed out, later acknowledging that this was his own mistake.[20] He also crashed out of round 3 at Le Mans, this time attributing the crash to the front of the bike unloading when not running at maximum pace.[21] His first podium of the year came at Assen, despite struggling with arm pump late in the race.[22] For 2011 Stoner will join Honda Racing Corporation after four years at Ducati Corse,[23] where he will be replaced by Valentino Rossi. [edit] Status and personality Stoner has showed signs of feeling underappreciated by the general public. He was angered by consistent suggestions that the bike and tyres had a bigger role in his success than he did,[24] and unhappy at being booed at Donington in both 2007 and 2008.[25] In August 2008 he was criticised for his team's association with tobacco company Philip Morris.[26] [edit] Personal life Stoner met Adriana Tuchyna from Adelaide when she approached him at Phillip Island in 2003 and asked him to sign her stomach.[27] A relationship began in 2005 when she turned 16,[28] and they were married in Adelaide on 6 January 2007.[29] Following his experience of tiredness and sickness during 2009, Stoner was ultimately diagnosed as lactose intolerant.[30] [edit] Career statistics [edit] By season Season Class Bike Team Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts Plcd WCh 2001 125cc Honda RS125R 2 0 0 0 0 4 29th – 2002 250cc Aprilia RS250 Team LCR 15 0 0 0 0 68 12th – 2003 125cc Aprilia RS125 Team LCR 14 1 4 1 2 125 8th – 2004 125cc KTM 125 FPR Red Bull KTM 14 1 6 1 1 145 5th – 2005 250cc Aprilia RSA 250 Team LCR 16 5 10 2 1 254 2nd – 2006 MotoGP Honda RC211V Team LCR 16 0 1 1 0 119 8th – 2007 MotoGP Ducati GP7 Ducati Corse 18 10 14 5 6 367 1st 1 2008 MotoGP Ducati GP8 Ducati Corse 18 6 11 9 9 280 2nd – 2009 MotoGP Ducati GP9 Ducati Corse 13 4 8 3 2 220 4th – 2010 MotoGP Ducati GP10 Ducati Corse 18 3 9 4 3 225 4th – Total 144 30 63 26 24 1807 1 [edit] By class Class Season First Races First Podium First Win Race Wins Podiums Poles FLaps Pts WChmps 125 cc 2001, 2003–2004 2001 Britain 2003 Germany 2003 Valencia 30 2 10 2 3 274 0 250 cc 2002, 2005 2002 Japan 2005 Portugal 2005 Portugal 31 5 10 2 1 322 0 MotoGP 2006–Present 2006 Spain 2006 Turkey 2007 Qatar 83 23 43 22 20 1211 1 Total 2001–Present 144 30 63 26 24 1807 1 [edit] Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts 2001 125cc Honda JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR 17 GER CZE POR VAL PAC AUS 12 MAL BRA 29th 4 2002 250 cc Aprilia JPN Ret RSA Ret SPA 6 FRA Ret ITA CAT 6 NED 8 GBR 11 GER Ret CZE 5 POR Ret BRA 6 PAC 17 MAL 11 AUS 10 VAL 13 12th 68 2003 125 cc Aprilia JPN Ret RSA 10 SPA 6 FRA 4 ITA 18 CAT Ret NED Ret GBR 5 GER 2 CZE POR BRA 2 PAC 2 MAL Ret AUS Ret VAL 1 8th 125 2004 125 cc KTM RSA 3 SPA 5 FRA 8 ITA 2 CAT 4 NED 3 BRA 2 GER GBR CZE Ret POR Ret JPN Ret QAT Ret MAL 1 AUS 3 VAL Ret 5th 145 2005 250 cc Aprilia SPA Ret POR 1 CHN 1 FRA 4 ITA 4 CAT 2 NED 6 GBR 3 GER 7 CZE 3 JPN 3 MAL 1 QAT 1 AUS Ret TUR 1 VAL 3 2nd 254 2006 MotoGP Honda SPA 6 QAT 5 TUR 2 CHN 5 FRA 4 ITA Ret CAT Ret NED 4 GBR 4 GER DNS USA Ret CZE 6 MAL 8 AUS 6 JPN Ret POR Ret VAL Ret 8th 119 2007 MotoGP Ducati QAT 1 SPA 5 TUR 1 CHN 1 FRA 3 ITA 4 CAT 1 GBR 1 NED 2 GER 5 USA 1 CZE 1 SMR 1 POR 3 JPN 6 AUS 1 MAL 1 VAL 2 1st 367 2008 MotoGP Ducati QAT 1 SPA 11 POR 6 CHN 3 FRA 16 ITA 2 CAT 3 GBR 1 NED 1 GER 1 USA 2 CZE Ret SMR Ret IND 4 JPN 2 AUS 1 MAL 6 VAL 1 2nd 280 2009 MotoGP Ducati QAT 1 JPN 4 SPA 3 FRA 5 ITA 1 CAT 3 NED 3 USA 4 GER 4 GBR 14 CZE IND SMR POR 2 AUS 1 MAL 1 VAL DNS 4th 220 2010 MotoGP Ducati QAT Ret SPA 5 FRA Ret ITA 4 GBR 5 NED 3 CAT 3 GER 3 USA 2 CZE 3 IND Ret SMR 5 ARA 1 JPN 1 MAL Ret AUS 1 POR Ret VAL 2 4th 225