Stoner Tipped to Recover from Setbacks

Added on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor

Stoner has not been the only Ducati rider to struggle this year

I expect he's not too happy about anything at the moment

Casey Stoner is still a challenger to the MotoGP world championship despite a poor start to the season according to Jerry Burgess.

The Yamaha crew chief believes that fellow Australian and defending champion Stoner can mount a title challenge this season in spite of poor results over the course of the opening three races this year.

Stoner won the season’s opening race in Qatar with a dominant display, but has finished only 11th and sixth in Jerez and Estoril in the previous two rounds.

Stoner’s results have typified the difficult start that the Ducati riders have had this season, with question marks still surrounding the bike’s technical characteristics.

Teammate Marco Melandri has only managed to finish in 12^th, 13^th and 14^th in this season’s opening races whilst Alice team riders Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli, riding Ducati’s for the first time this season, have managed just 10 points between them so far this season.

It has been argued however that the slower circuits of Jerez and Estoril didn’t suit the powerful Desmosedici

But Burgess, who helped mastermind five world titles for Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi, believes that Stoner will come good as the season progresses.

“He had another horror weekend (in Estoril). I expect he’s not too happy about anything at the moment,” said the Australian.

“Last year everything just worked for Casey and Ducati and if they didn’t know why it worked they aren’t going to go anywhere this year.”

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