Stoner to HRC in 2011

Stoner To Honda: Further Details Emerge



in Casey StonerHondaMotoGP

When rumors emerged after Jerez that Casey Stoner had signed a contract with Honda, the news was met with a certain amount of scepticism. The story broke in the Italian press, with the TV broadcaster Sportmediaset the first to publish the reports. But Casey Stoner has consistently dismissed any such talk, saying it is far too early to be thinking about 2011, and that his first focus is on this season.



Those rumors appear to be firming up, however. For the German-language publication Speedweek is now also reporting that the deal has been done, and that Stoner will be switching to the factory Repsol Honda team for 2011, joining his former mentor at Ducati, HRC marketing manager Livio Suppo. According to Speedweek - run by the veteran journalist Gunther Wiesinger - Stoner has been offered some 5 million euros a year to ride the Honda.



Rumors of the deal first emerged after Stoner's father and manager, Colin, was seen at Jerez, where he reportedly held talks with HRC. It is MotoGP's worst kept secret that Honda is desperate for a return to glory in MotoGP, after taking just a single title since Valentino Rossi's departure at the end of 2004, Nicky Hayden taking glory in the final year of the 990s in 2006. By signing a proven winner - Stoner has 1 championship and 20 victories to his name in the MotoGP class, twice the total of the current Repsol Honda team - HRC hopes to boost its chances of a return to championship glory. With Jorge Lorenzo looking increasingly likely to remain at Yamaha, Stoner is HRC's only realistic option from MotoGP's four current aliens. What Stoner's apparent signing means for the futures of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso remains to be seen.



http://www.motomatters.com/news/2010/06/17/stoner_to_honda_further_details_emerge.html

Stoner signs for Honda, finds himself off the pace & being beaten by his team-mate. As Pete & Dud would say "Funny".

What the hell... Why shouldn't Stoner go to Honda? He'll make more money.

And he won't have to spend so much energy compensating for idiosyncrasies

of the Ducati. He's still young. His talent will be put to much better use on a

"normal" bike and he'll have a better chance of proving his naysayers wrong.

Time for Pedrosa to go to.



And come contract time... Honda wouldn't be stupid to pick up Spies who

isn't going to be on the Fiat Yamaha for 2011 unless Rossi retires. Not to

say Dovi isn't talented and showing real potential; I just like Spies better.

What are the chances of Honda getting Stoner and keeping Dani?



Then again, I'm not going to hold my breath.

I wonder if Stoner will get accolades if he wins a championship with a second manufacturer just as Rossi did?

TP70 said:

I wonder if Stoner will get accolades if he wins a championship with a second manufacturer just as Rossi did?

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I was thinking exactly the same thing.





The Rogerbops will never see it in those terms though.

Keshav said:

What the hell... Why shouldn't Stoner go to Honda? He'll make more money.

And he won't have to spend so much energy compensating for idiosyncrasies

of the Ducati. He's still young. His talent will be put to much better use on a

"normal" bike and he'll have a better chance of proving his naysayers wrong.

Click to expand...

I thought a "normal" bike was what he got now. Now "everyone" can ride it and Stoner crash a lot. It's increasingly looking like '06 all over again except that it's harder to blame it on the tires and saboteurs.

Of course it's still early in the season and the verdict isn't final but all indicators says that Stoner very much need those Ducati "idiosyncrasies" or a front that none but stoner can control and feel.



Based on this and unless this is all decided already as the rumors says, it wouldn't surprise me if Stoner re-evaluate and conclude that Ducati is his best shot.

TP70 said:

I wonder if Stoner will get accolades if he wins a championship with a second manufacturer just as Rossi did?

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Rossi didn't get any accolades for going to a second manufacturer. He got accolades for going from the best to a 3rd rate bike.

No one will be surprised or give added credit to anyone if they win for the most successful manufacturer in the modern era.

Not that any one need it. The Rider World Champion Ship stands well on it's own.



Honda got the most wins

Honda got the most resources

Honda got the most money

Someone win on a Honda, BIG surprise, not.



Going from Ducati to Honda would in many ways be the opposite of what Rossi did.

Bunyip said:

I was thinking exactly the same thing.





The Rogerbops will never see it in those terms though.

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If you have problems seeing the differences pointed out above then there is not much hope, is there?

"Stoner" on tv i not signed with anyone

Babelfish said:

I thought a "normal" bike was what he got now. Now "everyone" can ride it and Stoner crash a lot. It's increasingly looking like '06 all over again except that it's harder to blame it on the tires and saboteurs.

Of course it's still early in the season and the verdict isn't final but all indicators says that Stoner very much need those Ducati "idiosyncrasies" or a front that none but stoner can control and feel.



Based on this and unless this is all decided already as the rumors says, it wouldn't surprise me if Stoner re-evaluate and conclude that Ducati is his best shot.

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He's got the big bang firing order - but from all accounts the chassis design is still very much a departure

from those of Honda and Yamaha. You'll agree that Kalio and the rest don't seem to be faring any better

this year with the new engine. Nicky seems to be the only one who's shown improvement - and to some

degree, that would be because he's the one around whom Ducati have been redesigning the bike. Makes sense that the rider with the most input towards a more rider friendly Ducatic would be the one (and rightly so) who would benefit the most.



Does Stoner need a "weird" bike to succeed. Mmmm could be. But I doubt it.

They won't sign him until he promises his mummy he won't cry if he loses.

Babelfish said:

Rossi didn't get any accolades for going to a second manufacturer. He got accolades for going from the best to a 3rd rate bike.

No one will be surprised or give added credit to anyone if they win for the most successful manufacturer in the modern era.

Not that any one need it. The Rider World Champion Ship stands well on it's own.



Honda got the most wins

Honda got the most resources

Honda got the most money

Someone win on a Honda, BIG surprise, not.



Going from Ducati to Honda would in many ways be the opposite of what Rossi did.

Click to expand...

I agree it begins to look very much as though through weight of engineering resources, weight of money, sheer cussedness or whatever that despite not necessarily having anyone to develop their bike honda may be close to having the fastest bike again. I would not be unhappy if casey has signed with them, although as I understand it this may be illegal at this time, and it looks as though they can do pretty well particularly in valentino's absence with riders already contracted to them anyway. I would also agree that hypothetical credit to casey in the event he does go to honda is rather clutching at straws.



However whilst rossi being better than stoner or anyone else is a separate issue, if yamaha are or were a third rate manufacturer ( I would not baulk at second rate at the time) this makes ducati at best a 4th rate manufacturer, with as I have previously pointed out one world championship against yamaha and honda both with 15 or so in the modern era (EDIT perhaps 14 or so).

Keshav said:

He's got the big bang firing order - but from all accounts the chassis design is still very much a departure

from those of Honda and Yamaha. You'll agree that Kalio and the rest don't seem to be faring any better

this year with the new engine. Nicky seems to be the only one who's shown improvement - and to some

degree, that would be because he's the one around whom Ducati have been redesigning the bike. Makes sense that the rider with the most input towards a more rider friendly Ducatic would be the one (and rightly so) who would benefit the most.



Does Stoner need a "weird" bike to succeed. Mmmm could be. But I doubt it.

Click to expand...

Well, the chassis design is different but that doesn't mean it as to feel or work very different, and my point is that with the new engine they both are very positive about the rideability of the bike.

Who says the bike are designed around Hayden?

I've heard that it is still very much Stoner that has the deciding rider input in the Duacti camp, and anything else would be really weird.

It's a bit early to say about Kallio as he is injured and the other two show promise as rookies. The Ducati results could look very different a few races ahead. Besides, there is noting new on that bike except the engine and the forks.

michaelm said:

I agree it begins to look very much as though through weight of engineering resources, weight of money, sheer cussedness or whatever that despite not necessarily having anyone to develop their bike honda may be close to having the fastest bike again. I would not be unhappy if casey has signed with them, although as I understand it this may be illegal at this time, and it looks as though they can do pretty well particularly in valentino's absence with riders already contracted to them anyway. I would also agree that hypothetical credit to casey in the event he does go to honda is rather clutching at straws.



However whilst rossi being better than stoner or anyone else is a separate issue, if yamaha are or were a third rate manufacturer ( I would not baulk at second rate at the time) this makes ducati at best a 4th rate manufacturer, with as I have previously pointed out one world championship against yamaha and honda both with 15 or so in the modern era (EDIT perhaps 14 or so).

Click to expand...

You can't set Ducati up with the others on a statistical comparison when Ducati wasn't even there. If I really knew my statistics I could have made a longer post about how we could calculate the probable number of WC's Ducati could have had over the last 30 years based on the performance the few recent years, but fortunately for both I'm not

I wouldn't rate Yamaha as a third rate manufacturer but at the time Rossi changed they had (if we are positive, at best) a third rate bike. As we all know it didn't take much time to turn that around. That was certainly not all Rossi's doing and shows why Yamaha are not a third rate manufacturer.

Babelfish said:

You can't set Ducati up with the others on a statistical comparison when Ducati wasn't even there. If I really knew my statistics I could have made a longer post about how we could calculate the probable number of WC's Ducati could have had over the last 30 years based on the performance the few recent years, but fortunately for both I'm not

I wouldn't rate Yamaha as a third rate manufacturer but at the time Rossi changed they had (if we are positive, at best) a third rate bike. As we all know it didn't take much time to turn that around. That was certainly not all Rossi's doing and shows why Yamaha are not a third rate manufacturer.

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I realised i had actually probably reinforced your point about the 2004 yamaha but decided not to change it. I am sure the improvement of that bike whilst requiring a short time was not necessarily easy, and depended on input from rossi and crew not available elsewhere, as well as allocation of resources by yamaha.



My main point was to agree with you that honda were looking like they had finally developed close to the quickest bike again. It would seem likely this has cost vastly more than it took to transform the yamaha in 2004, but also particularly after practice and qualifying that it is a knife-edge bike like the recent ducatis.



I still think fast as it was few could have exploited the 2007 ducati as casey did ( I have to cling to something), but he is unfortunately looking lost on the current apparently more conventional ducati and current bridgestone tyres, particularly the soft tyres. He seemed to be searching for a set-up during all of practice and qualifying, with no long runs at all, and his current approach seems to be constant alteration in the quest for a magic set-up which will change everything.

Babel, ur bopperness never ceases.

Woody, Pinky...but in reverse.

Keshav said:

Does Stoner need a "weird" bike to succeed. Mmmm could be. But I doubt it.

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I don't. I think he needs a bike not necessarily weird, but hyper-suited to his style.

michaelm said:

I agree it begins to look very much as though through weight of engineering resources, weight of money, sheer cussedness or whatever that despite not necessarily having anyone to develop their bike honda may be close to having the fastest bike again. I would not be unhappy if casey has signed with them, although as I understand it this may be illegal at this time, and it looks as though they can do pretty well particularly in valentino's absence with riders already contracted to them anyway. I would also agree that hypothetical credit to casey in the event he does go to honda is rather clutching at straws.

Click to expand...

Completely agree.

michaelm said:

...still think fast as it was few could have exploited the 2007 ducati as casey did...

Click to expand...

Again completely agree!!! Michael you're making this easy today...

Babelfish said:

Well, the chassis design is different but that doesn't mean it as to feel or work very different, and my point is that with the new engine they both are very positive about the rideability of the bike.

Who says the bike are designed around Hayden?

I've heard that it is still very much Stoner that has the deciding rider input in the Duacti camp, and anything else would be really weird.

It's a bit early to say about Kallio as he is injured and the other two show promise as rookies. The Ducati results could look very different a few races ahead. Besides, there is noting new on that bike except the engine and the forks.

Click to expand...

Haven't been privy to any inside info - but the impression that I've been aware of is that previously the bike's design

has been centered around Stoner - but judged to be suitable only to Stoner, hence Ducati's move to build a bike that

handles in a fashion that is more rider friendly to those who don't ride in the Stoner style and Hayden being the longest

running Stoner teammate and known for his development abilities was the rider whose input was most influential. It's too

bloody early in the morning and I don't have the wherewithal to start doing searches on what changes have been made

from last season to now, but it does seem to me I have overheard knowledgeable commentators say as much.

Keshav said:

Haven't been privy to any inside info - but the impression that I've been aware of is that previously the bike's design

has been centered around Stoner - but judged to be suitable only to Stoner, hence Ducati's move to build a bike that

handles in a fashion that is more rider friendly to those who don't ride in the Stoner style and Hayden being the longest

running Stoner teammate and known for his development abilities was the rider whose input was most influential. It's too

bloody early in the morning and I don't have the wherewithal to start doing searches on what changes have been made

from last season to now, but it does seem to me I have overheard knowledgeable commentators say as much.

Click to expand...

"only the forks" where a quote from the commentators at MotoGp quoting stoner. YMMV

At this rate HRC wont want stoner, as the BBC said, is price is falling with every race .... Cant say yet what they said as it would be a spoiler, but you get the jist.