Bye Bye Stoner

Theo · Nov 13, 2018

Stoner and Ducati to end their collaboration | MotoGP?

Something tells me its politics, Stoner could still work at it but Ducati maybe have had enough!

michaelm · Nov 13, 2018

Theo said:
Stoner and Ducati to end their collaboration | MotoGP?

Something tells me its politics, Stoner could still work at it but Ducati maybe have had enough!

He is 33 and had surgery for his injuries from the Suzuka race this year, perhaps he and his family have decided enough is enough.

In the other hand I don’t know what his relationship with Dovi is like, he was very definitely the lead rider when both were with HRC, and perhaps it is uncomfortable for a Ducati test rider to have 2 premier class titles and the lead rider none. Dovi also seems to want complete ownership of the bike, his and Jorge’s relative contribution to the development of the current bike was reportedly a frequent source of contention between them..

RCV600RR · Nov 13, 2018

This sucks. It's so nice seeing Casey trot out at testing and smoke a good portion of the current regulars.

Casey is well known for losing his patience with his employers. I'm not sure whether that's a reflection of him or his employers.

Ducati pissed him off, and he left to Honda. When he tested for Honda, he became pissed off when Marquez' entourage blocked his wildcard at Austin when Dani was injured and their underuse of his feedback.

He returned to Ducati but then became pissed off that they were underutilizing his feedback.

evo9 · Nov 13, 2018

RCV600RR said:
This sucks. It's so nice seeing Casey trot out at testing and smoke a good portion of the current regulars.

Casey is well known for losing his patience with his employers. I'm not sure whether that's a reflection of him or his employers.

Ducati pissed him off, and he left to Honda. When he tested for Honda, he became pissed off when Marquez' entourage blocked his wildcard at Austin when Dani was injured and their underuse of his feedback.

He returned to Ducati but then became pissed off that they were underutilizing his feedback.

So is he going back to Honda?

RCV600RR · Nov 13, 2018

Honda want him, but apparently he's not keen.

Barbedwirebikerr · Nov 13, 2018

KTM could do with his services, and I feel he'd enjoy the challenge.

RCV600RR · Nov 13, 2018

He did work with Bartol earlier in his career when he rode the 2T KTM.

BarryMachine · Nov 13, 2018

Id love to see him giving the KTM the thrashing its not yet recieved.

Hollywood · Nov 19, 2018

I don't think he has much interest in riding any more. I also think Ducati was hoping for a few wild cards with Stoner, not necessarily to win rather more of a marketing stunt, but he turned them down. After all, Ducati has a good test rider in Pirro, why would they need two?

michaelm · Nov 19, 2018

Hollywood said:
I don't think he has much interest in riding any more. I also think Ducati was hoping for a few wild cards with Stoner, not necessarily to win rather more of a marketing stunt, but he turned them down. After all, Ducati has a good test rider in Pirro, why would they need two?

I think initially when he was faster than both factory riders including Dovi they thought they had the bike to win but not the riders, and perhaps had some idea he might change his mind about retirement; people then still couldn’t quite believe that a rider who could hop off a fishing boat as someone put it and be that fast had genuinely and permanently retired. He at least when he first returned to test ride for Ducati allowed Gigi to demonstrate the potential of the bike and perhaps was also used to prod the race team riders somewhat.

I have to say I am with MM a little on his utility as a test rider, a couple of days a 2 or 3 times a year on the face of it would not appear likely to be all that useful. However his involvement does seem to have coincided with both the HRC and Ducati bikes being strong, although coincidence may quite possibly be all it was of course.

Gaz · Nov 19, 2018

michaelm said:
I have to say I am with MM a little on his utility as a test rider, a couple of days a 2 or 3 times a year on the face of it would not appear likely to be all that useful. However his involvement does seem to have coincided with both the HRC and Ducati bikes being strong, although coincidence may quite possibly be all it was of course.

So much depends on the role he was to play, be it with Ducati or Honda (and I am not expecting him to be HRC bound) as whilst it is true that HRC have Bradl, it is also true that Bradl is not close to the times of the factory guys.

For mine, having a dedicated factory rider is a requirement (Pirro, Bradl) but if we are brutally honest, these guys are test riders because they do not have the form to be competitive MotoGP riders (in the terms of the factory guys), so in a way and not to be disrespectful they are a step below (I believe that Pirro is closer). Now this does not mean that they are not excellent at their job, they can turn lap after lap at a good pace to test the various components and what not that the factory wants.

But, they both lack that vital final step that the factory guys achieve and with the testing restrictions having a rider capable of factory guy times is beneficial in that they can test at or very close to race pace, so effectively more feedback.

problem CS has is his unique style plus availability as it is a fair question regards whether he can be used as a guide short of referencing his telemetry versus that of the test rider to see if CS' pace identified something that the test rider's pace did not. In short, he being faster found something that the slower rider could not.

For me, it has advantages but I also fully respect that the unique style makes 'trusting' him at times a challenge when the data says something else, but then, success has followed.

michaelm · Nov 19, 2018

Gaz said:
So much depends on the role he was to play, be it with Ducati or Honda (and I am not expecting him to be HRC bound) as whilst it is true that HRC have Bradl, it is also true that Bradl is not close to the times of the factory guys.

For mine, having a dedicated factory rider is a requirement (Pirro, Bradl) but if we are brutally honest, these guys are test riders because they do not have the form to be competitive MotoGP riders (in the terms of the factory guys), so in a way and not to be disrespectful they are a step below (I believe that Pirro is closer). Now this does not mean that they are not excellent at their job, they can turn lap after lap at a good pace to test the various components and what not that the factory wants.

But, they both lack that vital final step that the factory guys achieve and with the testing restrictions having a rider capable of factory guy times is beneficial in that they can test at or very close to race pace, so effectively more feedback.

problem CS has is his unique style plus availability as it is a fair question regards whether he can be used as a guide short of referencing his telemetry versus that of the test rider to see if CS' pace identified something that the test rider's pace did not. In short, he being faster found something that the slower rider could not.

For me, it has advantages but I also fully respect that the unique style makes 'trusting' him at times a challenge when the data says something else, but then, success has followed.

I think he very likely contributed to both the HRC bike in earlier days and the Ducati recently being good, but I am a Stoner fanboy and i guess no-one really knows unless Gigi was to be forthcoming. It will be interesting to see if the bike is as good with neither Stoner nor Lorenzo involved.

He was apparently on good terms with Lorenzo, but otherwise I guess if you are a number 1 rider for a team you might see no great need for having a former world champion with whom you have no particular relationship hanging round, and MM obviously but Dovi as well have the performances to back up having their preferences acceded to. However, while it mostly hasn’t been a factor given MM’s magnificence as a rider to me the HRC bike has fluctuated in quality during MM’s tenure, although given HRC’s history this may be reflective of the famously self-willed Honda engineers rather than guidance or lack thereof from MM.
(EDIT. I looked it up; the second daughter arrived in October and at age 33 after several months recovering from surgery for the injury he suffered when last at Honda maybe he just doesn’t want to fly thousands of kilometres away from his family to test ride anymore regardless).

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