Stoner silences doubters with Laguna Seca win
Added on Monday, July 25th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Stoner silences doubters with Laguna Seca win
Casey Stoner claimed that his victory at Laguna Seca yesterday proves that people were wrong to write him off in the championship race.
Stoner secured his first win four races on Sunday with a success over Jorge Lorenzo in California, taking the lead with nine laps remaining to extend his lead in the championship over the Spaniard to 20 points.
And the Repsol Honda rider said that the win was proof that he had what it takes to secure a second world championship, claiming that the result would silence some of his doubters.
“We felt good, really good, at the end,” said the Aussie.
“I think people have forgotten about us a little bit over the last few weeks. We’ve definitely struggled, but for some reasons that we know.
“It’s really good to come back with a race like this and show everybody that we can still win.”
Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile claimed that he was lucky just to be able to race at the demanding Laguna Seca circuit following a crash in Saturday’s practice session.
“I’m lucky to be in the second position this weekend, because after the crash yesterday morning, in the first moments I thought it wasn’t possible to take part in the race,” claimed the Yamaha man.
“So after qualifying I really hoped to fight for the victory until the end. But sometimes expectations are not the reality, and today Casey was faster than us, especially at the end. He had something more than we had.”
