Stoner taking in title achievement

Added on Monday, October 17th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Casey Stoner admitted that he was struggling to take in his achievement at claiming the MotoGP title at his home Grand Prix and on his 26th birthday.

The Repsol Honda rider enjoyed the perfect birthday present at Phillip Island as he secured his fifth consecutive Australian Grand Prix victory, with Jorge Lorenzo’s crash in Sunday’s warm-up effectively guaranteeing Stoner the title before the green light.

“Not too many people have the opportunity to have all these things align: your home grand prix, your birthday, to have this many straight wins here, and then a world championship,” Stoner said. “There are that many things in one day, it’s hard to take hold of it all.”

But Stoner admitted that the gloss had been taken off the achievement somewhat by Lorenzo’s injury in warm-up , with the Aussie claiming that he would have preferred to battle for the title with his rival.

”But it’s not the way I wanted to win the championship,” Stoner added. ”For us it was not a lucky thing that this happened. When everyone was out there looking for the end of his finger it made me feel a little bit sick. It’s not a nice thing, especially with the hands because that’s what we have got to work with.

“You can’t really wish them upon anyone, especially someone who puts so much effort in.”

“When I saw Jorge’s crash I thought it was a small crash. Then I saw the replay and saw what actually happened. My first thoughts were to go and see him as soon as the parade lap finished, and that’s what we did. Jorge and I have a very good relationship even though we are championship rivals so I think there is enough respect there to put championship things aside.”

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