Stoner believes he can topple Rossi
Added on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Stoner believes he can topple Rossi
Casey Stoner insists that he has what it takes to beat Valentino Rossi in 2009 and regain his MotoGP championship.
The Australian, world champion in 2007, had a disappointing 2008 as a troublesome wrist injury allowed Rossi to romp home with the championship with a record points total with three rounds to spare.
Stoner, who has a strong set of results mid-season, never recovered after losing out in an epic battle with Rossi at Laguna Seca, retiring from the next two rounds and never fully regaining confidence until the battle was already lost.
But the 23-year-old believes that he can dethrone Rossi from the top of the rider’s championship this year and is in confident mood ahead of this week’s official test in Sepang.
“To beat Valentino we don’t need anything more than what we had at the end of last season,” Stoner told the official MotoGP website.
“If things go right then we know that we are fast enough to win. We’re not alone either.
“Dani (Pedrosa) can do it, Jorge (Lorenzo) can do it, and there’s probably a couple of others that can push us as well.”
Despite finishing runner-up to Rossi, the Ducati star believes last season was one of missed opportunities and that there is nothing new that the team needs to achieve their goals.
“Last year we were perhaps a little too confident and overlooked some of the work we needed to do, leading to a few highs and lows at the start of the season that end up costing us dearly,” Stoner said.
“In any case, despite a breakdown and two crashes we still won six races and finished second in the championship, which means we can look forward to this year really positively.”
Stoner’s wrist surgery at the end of last year meant he missed the last test session at Jerez in Spain, but he says the importance of testing is over-rated.
“I think that people use the excuse of lack of testing a bit too much.
“A bike’s got two wheels, handlebars, brakes, gears and the clutch.
“You’ve probably got to get a little used to the feeling and direction of the set-up, but four days of testing before a season is enough.”
Stoner also rejects the argument that Ducati will have an edge this year because of its experience with Bridgestone, which is providing a single control tyre to all teams this season under new regulations.
“The single tyre will make people have to work a lot harder on set-up, rather than just throwing on a set of tyres that make things feel better,” he said.
“This will be good for us in a way, because we’ve always worked around things and maybe had harder tyres when everyone else is on softer rubber.”
