Stoner blames chronic fatigue for Misano performance
Added on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Stoner blames chronic fatigue for Misano performance
Despite getting off to a storming start at the Misano MotoGP circuit last weekend, Casey Stoner seemingly ran out of steam in the second half of the race, something he blames on severe fatigue.
The Respol Honda rider was a serious contender for eventual winner Jorge Lorenzo, but ended up dropping back to third place after tiredness set in.
With temperatures hitting a high of 28 degrees, once the heat and humidity kicked in, the tiredness took over and after the first 11 laps, Stoner started to struggle to maintain his pace. The former world champion’s lead was cut to 35 points, and there are five races remaining for 2011.
Stoner said that travelling across the pond from Indianapolis had left him feeling fatigued throughout the practice sessions and with the added heat, tiredness quickly set in for the 2007 world champion.
He said: “On Friday morning already I was really tired from Indy and it has been a difficult week with sleep deprivation and just struggling to recover. We did everything we could to try and recover and try to keep as much energy as we could for the race. At the start I felt pretty good.”
He went on to say that tiredness was the reason for his slip in performance, adding: “As the race wore on we started to pick up the pace and the bike was reacting well to it and I just got to a point where I started getting tired, simple as that. I started being weak on the brakes and running wide and that caused me to start braking earlier and I was losing more time and step by step Jorge started to build the gap.”
After slipping to second place, things got even worse for the young rider, when fellow Honda rider Dani Pedrosa passed him, relegating Stoner to third place. He said: “I tried to keep the gap to Dani and concentrate on that but even that was too much for me. I was losing chunks of energy lap by lap and it was too hard for me to keep going. I saw there was a big gap behind Dani and thought third was definitely the way to go.”
However, it was still a podium finish for Stoner, who finished the race in third place, and he still remains 35 points ahead in the championship standings. He said he is up for the challenge of the Aragon Grand Prix and that his health is not a significant issue.
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