Hand injury still concerns Casey
Added on Friday, February 6th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Stoner saw his title challenge last year hampered by a long-term injury.
Casey Stoner’s title prospects could be in jeopardy again after he revealed that he is still suffering from his troublesome wrist injury.
Stoner underwent surgery at the end of the 2008 to repair a long-term scaphoid injury in his right hand and was expecting to be fully fit for the MotoGP season opener in Qatar on March 12.
Whilst still in the recovery stages of the operation, Stoner was limited to just a handful of laps per session at the first day of testing in Sepang on Thursday and the Australian admitted that the pain took him by surprise.
“This morning was really difficult, I really didn’t feel comfortable on the bike,” said the 2007 champion.
“My wrist is still in a lot of pain and I honestly hoped it would be in better shape than this after three months since the operation.
“Even though the lap times were good from the start, the wrist was still giving me a lot of problems - it is weak and painful under braking, especially in the first left-hand turn.
“I can’t do more than four or five laps at a time and there’s nothing I can do about that at the moment, other than hope that it improves over time.”
Stoner still managed to post the second fastest time of day one and there were some positives to take from the session.
“Sepang is a physically demanding circuit and probably not the best place to be riding for the first time after three months out,” he added.
“I preferred not to ride too much and tire myself out and hopefully it will already be a bit better tomorrow.
“The GP9 is running well and I have the same positive feeling as the last two tests at Barcelona and Valencia.
“The chassis is completely different and we’ll have to work on improving the set-up but we have a good starting point and we can use the GP8 as a reference.
“The power delivery has improved and now we have more torque, which helps on the exit of the slower corners.”
