Casey Stoner's Bio
As
a toddler Casey Stoner displayed a passion and talent for motorbike
riding that was extraordinary, even by the standards of his bike-mad
family. By the age of three he'd already graduated from pushing his
older sister's (Kelly) 50cc Peewee around the yard to taking his first
ride on his own.At four years of age Casey competed in his first race in the under 9s category at the Hatchers dirt racing track on the Gold Coast. By the age of six he had won his first Australia title. Many, many hours of riding, travelling and long nights working on bikes followed. Between the ages of 6 and 14 Casey raced all over Australia, travelling with his father (Colin), mother (Bronwyn) and sister (Kelly)
In
that time Casey won 41 Australian dirt and long track titles and over
70 State titles, riding up to 5 bikes at a meeting in different
capacity categories.
When he was twelve Casey raced the Australian Long Track Titles
on the NSW Central Coast in 5 different categories with seven rounds in
each capacity; a total of 35 races over the one weekend! He won 32 out
of those 35 races and took five out of five Australian titles in the
one meet.
Just after his 14th birthday Casey and his parents decided to
make the move overseas and packed up and headed to England to start his
road racing career. Casey could not legally road race in Australia
until he was 16, but had decided he was ready for the challenge. So the
decision was made to move to England where Casey was already of legal
age to race. A big risk to take, but it paid off.
Casey
was lucky enough and talented enough to attract immediate sponsorship
after just one race in England. He went on to take out the English
125cc Aprilia Championship in 2000, in his first year of road racing.
In that year he also raced two rounds of the Spanish 125cc
Championship. It was there he was noticed by GP great Alberto Puig.
Alberto was impressed by Casey's determination and skill and invited
him to race for the Telefonica Movistar Team in the 125cc Spanish
Championships the next year.
In 2001 Casey raced in both the English and Spanish championships
in the same year. Despite missing some English races due to clashes
with Spanish rounds, he still managed to come second in both
championships. In that same year he was also granted wildcard entries
into the MotoGP 125cc world series, in both England and Australia. He
placed 18th and 12th respectively and as a result was offered a ride in
the Grand Prix world series the next year for the Safilo Oxydo LCR
team.
Straight onto a 250cc machine in his rookie year, and at only 16
years of age, Casey demonstrated his ability and speed with results.
His best result for the year was a 5th at Brno as well as several 6th
place finishes.
In
2003 he went on to ride for Lucio and Safilo Oxydo LCR in the 125cc GP
series and took four podium finishes and his first race win, in
Valencia, at the end of the season. His first win in a GP race was a
huge turning point for Casey and his career.
In 2004, at 18 years of age, Casey moved to KTM for a season
where he helped to develop the team's 125cc bike into a winning
machine. That year he made it to the podium six times and took KTM's
first ever win in a GP class.
2005 saw Casey once again come back under the welcoming umbrella
of Lucio Cecchinello's team, this time riding an official 250cc
Aprilia. He spent 2005 battling it out with Dani Pedrosa for the
championship, visiting the podium ten times in the process and taking
wins in Portugal, Shanghai, Qatar, Sepang, and Istanbul.
Finally
in 2006, at twenty years of age, Casey accomplished his long held
ambition of racing in MotoGP, the fastest and most prestigious of the
classes. He set pole position in his second MotoGP race in Qatar and
battled for the win until the final corner in the GP of Turkey,
finishing runner-up just a fraction behind winner Melandri. Too many
errors conditioned the second part of the year, but Casey, in finishing
eighth overall in his rookie MotoGP season, demonstrated that he was
in amongst the elite group, of which he is the youngest rider.
In 2007 Casey Stoner has joined the Ducati Marlboro Team
alongside Loris Capirossi, with whom he has struck up a good
friendship. In winter testing he has often been amongst the pacesetters
and has proved to have rapidly adapted to the Desmosedici GP7 and
Bridgestone tyres. 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.
After that the young Australian took other nine wins, four further
podium finished and scored five pole positions. On September 23rd, in
Japan, Stoner secured Ducati’s first MotoGP World Championship becoming
the first rider in over 30 years to win the MotoGP title on a European
made bike and the second youngest premier-class World Champion, after
American legend Freddie Spencer who won his title in 1983, and at the
time was 84 days younger than the 21 year old Stoner.
The following year Stoner set out to defend his title and began
his quest with a fantastic victory in the first GP to be held at night,
in Qatar, but this was followed by a series of highs and lows that saw
him lose ground in the classification. Nevertheless Stoner continued
to work tirelessly with his team until a breakthrough came during the
tests following the Catalunya GP when the Ducati technicians identified
a method to maximise the potential of the GP8. Three consecutive
victories followed in the UK, The Netherlands and Germany but then,
after the hard-fought podium at Laguna Seca, two falls at Brno and
Misano, and a physical problem caused by the reopening of an old
fracture to his left wrist, the defense of the title seemed impossible.
Improvement towards the end of the season with two podiums and another
two convincing wins, in Australia and at the final round in Valencia,
meant that Stoner closed the season as the vice-champion of 2008 with
the highest ever points score. Ducati is the manufacturer to have taken
the most victories thus far in the 800cc class, with 17 wins in 36
races. The day after the Valencia GP, and immediately before undergoing
surgery for his fractured scaphoid, Casey Stoner participated in the
first winter tests alongside his new team-mate Nicky Hayden, beginning
preparation for the 2009 World Championship on board the Desmosedici
GP9 with new carbon fibre chassis.
In 2009 Stoner is again involved in the fight for the MotoGP
title, in a season that is characterized by both successes and
difficult moments. The Australian rider, after the success of the
opening race and his first podium at Jerez with Ducati, also awards the
Italian manufacturer with its first ever win at Mugello. Stoner seems
ready to battle it out until the end against Rossi, Lorenzo and
Pedrosa, who together are the four riders that demonstrate a
superiority over the rest of the pack throughout the 2009 season.
Unfortunately for Casey, he is hindered by a physical problem that
forces him to sit out three races mid-season, missing the Brno,
Indianapolis and Misano GP rounds. It is a very difficult decision for
the Australian, which eliminates his chances of winning the title but
he is able to return for the Portuguese GP in October, back in shape
and ready to demonstrate once more his full potential on board the GP9.
Stoner steps onto the podium at Estoril and then wins the next two
races in Australian and Malaysia. In Valencia he is extremely fast but
then falls in the warm-up lap prior to the race, thus losing third
position in the overall standings. Casey concludes 2009 in fourth
position but knows he has regained his speed and physical strength. In
the post-race testing at Valencia he appears to be very much at ease
with the innovations introduced by Filippo Preziosi and Ducati’s
technicians for the GP10 bike.
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