Stoner admits Rossi is worthy champion
Added on Monday, September 29th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Stoner congratulates Rossi on another win.
Casey Stoner has conceded that Valentino Rossi is the worthy world champion as the Italian celebrated at Motegi yesterday.
Stoner, who currently sits 92 points behind Rossi with just 75 points now up for grabs, conceded defeat in his title defence some time ago and Rossi’s fifth consecutive race victory yesterday confirmed the inevitable in the first of four ‘match points’.
Stoner, who could now decide to finish the season early to undergo hand surgery, admitted that early mistakes had put him at a major disadvantage but admitted that Rossi was well worth the crown as World Champion.
“At the beginning of the race everything felt good although I made a couple of mistakes on a cold tyre,” said the Australian. “We were running quite a hard compound today so we needed a few laps to get it warmed up. Once we did that the lap times were good and I felt happy with my pace.
“Unfortunately in the second half of the race I started to get tired in the changes of direction and I was having to close the gap coming out of the corners to get into the next one - simply because I didn’t have the strength to flick the bike over with the throttle open.
“The lap times dropped off and when Valentino came past I couldn’t keep up. He’s had an amazing season - he only made one mistake at Assen and the rest of the time he´s been on the podium, winning races. He’s a worthy champion - eight world titles show that - and I want to congratulate him for that.
“I’m just disappointed that we made two mistakes in the mid-point of the season that allowed him to open up such a big advantage. Anyway, after the recent misfortune we’ve had it was important to come back here with a strong performance and some solid points. Now we can go to Australia with confidence and look to finish the season strongly.”
