Stoner: I’ve lost respect for Rossi
Added on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor | One Comment
Stoner and Rossi fought a thrilling encounter at Laguna Seca.
Casey Stoner has continued his attack on world championship leader Valentino Rossi by claiming that he had “lost all respect” for the seven-time world champion.
Stoner and Rossi fought an epic battle at Laguna Seca with the lead changing hands several times before Rossi eventually took the chequered flag following a mistake by the Ducati rider in the closing stages.
Following the race in California, Stoner branded some of Rossi’s moves as “far too aggressive” and the Australian continued his attack on the Italian when questioned by Spanish reporters.
“In Laguna I lost respect for him,” Stoner was reported as saying by Visordown.
“I always try to race with my rivals in a clean and fair way. I know that Valentino is an exemplary rider who made a great race, but I am very disappointed with the tactics he used on me to win. He went too far.
“The Ducati now is very competitive and I believe that I can be faster than Rossi. He knows that too and it worries to him. I probably shouldn’t say it but I think that it was because of that in Laguna he let his ambition to win take control over his technique.
“We will have to see how he behaves in the races to come.”
Rossi’s crew chief Jerry Burgess defended has Rossi’s actions however, claiming that Stoner was unprepared for such a competitive race.
”I think that if Casey had raced in the ’80s and ’90s with Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey and Mick Doohan, he’d have seen that every weekend,” said Burgess.
”It was probably something that he wasn’t particularly expecting, [he] probably expected to win the race easily like he’d dominated in the practices.”
What do you think of Casey’s latest comments? Give us your views in the Insidebikes forum.
One Comment
Dave Nuttall
August 2nd, 2008i’ve watched the race several times now, very closely, thanks to stoners uneccesary comments towards valentino, its become very evident on more than 1 occasion, infact several, that stoner hates confrontation on the track, he is very good when leading by x amount of seconds but in my opinion is absolutely awful when put under any sort of pressure, unfortunately vale’s bike isn’t what stoners is, if it was and i’m sure almost all would agree, valentino would win the championship by an absolute country mile, i salute rossi for what he did in that race and condemn stoner for whining, i love valentino rossi, now go and win the championship.