New wold champion!

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Chris Vermeulen says give Casey Stoner credit

Chris Vermeulen believes it is time for people to stop detracting from Casey Stoner’s impressive 2007 success and start paying him some more respect for an outstanding world championship-winning campaign.

Casey Stoner wrapped his first world title in Japan last weekend, but the Aussie's critics have said he only won the title because of the performance advantage held by Ducati and Bridgestone.

Chris Vermeulen and Casey Stoner are close pals and the factory Suzuki rider said: “I think it is incredible what Casey has done this season. He has done an awesome job.

"A lot of people say it is the bike, that Ducati is the best and is so fast. It is quick and Casey has some advantages but I’m sure the Ducati also has some disadvantages but no one talks about them.

"There are three other Ducatis out there and he is wiping the floor with those guys every week.”

Vermeulen said the most impressive thing about his compatriot in 2007 has been his ability to withstand the intense pressure from Valentino Rossi in races like Qatar, Shanghai and Barcelona.


“The most impressive thing is the pressure he has put up with in different races. I put him under pressure in two races when I really pushed him but more importantly in the championship against Valentino Rossi.

"Actually racing and beating Valentino is impressive, and in some cases not beating him but then bouncing back the next week just as determined is something you have to admire, “said Chris Vermeulen.

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British stars pay tribute to Casey Stoner
British riders who raced newly crowned MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner early in his career paid tribute to the Aussie who kick-started his career on UK tracks.

Cal Crutchlow

“I raced against him all year in the 2000 Aprilia Supersteen season. He rode an OGK-backed bike. I was riding for Kickstart Motorcycles. First time I ever saw him was at Mallory Park when he passed me sideways into the Hairpin.

“We had loads of scraps but I remember one time when me, him and Chaz Davies all banged into each other going down Craner.

“There was some good rivalry between us. He was a good lad. He got a good break and was off, but then he was good enough to go to GPs.”

Steve Patrickson, multiple British 125 and 250 champion

“Stoner was the best 125 rider I ever raced against, except for Loris Capirossi. You could tell straight away that Stoner was going to make it. He was just so special on a bike.

“What did it was his first lap. He had so much confidence in his own ability that he was gone from the start. I never did manage to beat the little bugger!”

Leon Camier

I raced against him in 2001 and he was shit-hot from the very start.

The bike looked nothing special but it was really well set up with good suspension too. I had a similar Honda that was run by Mark Hodgson (Neil’s dad) under the RCB Motorsports banner.

I won the title but, myself, Chaz Davies and Casey missed races to do the Telefonica Movistar series in Spain.

Eight of us did a test on identical bikes at Catalunya but I crashed twice and Casey ended up a tenth quicker than me.

When we got to the next test, Chaz Davies and I still had stock bikes but a Spaniard had got Casey a ’99 A-kit bike and that was it.

He won races and we struggled but that was it for Casey. He was on his way but we’ve been buddies ever since.

Chaz Davies

The first time I saw Casey was at Donington Park and he wasn’t hanging around! Up to that point, from what I’d seen of the opposition, I was pretty confident I’d win the Aprilia Superteen title in 2000.

We had some good battles and stopped talking to each other mid-season.

We both raced in the 2001 British 125 Championship but I didn’t really get going until mid-season. By then Leon Camier had rattled him a couple of times then I rattled him a few times toward the end of the year - but he took some stopping.

Some time later in 125GPs we started to talk to each other again when we both realised we knew no one else in the paddock!

We’re mates now and he’s been really helpful for me with Ducati. His influence hasn’t hurt.

When I was at Mugello recently he drove 300kms to come and help me out.

In MotoGP Casey gets the job done. There’s no fuss but he’s a real determined bastard. He’s also very talented and, when he’s on a roll, he takes some stopping.

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Lucio Cecchinello praises Casey Stoner for incredible season

Casey Stoner’s first ever Grand Prix team boss has described the Australian as one of the best riders of the last 10 years after the Aussie won his first world championship title in Japan last month.

Italian Lucio Cecchinello not only gave Casey Stoner his MotoGP break when he ran him on an Aprilia 250 in 2002, he was the man who stepped in at the last-minute to help the 21-year-old get into MotoGP last season.

Four out of Casey Stoner’s six years in Grand Prix were spent under Lucio Cecchinello’s wing and he said: “Without any doubt Casey has made an extraordinary, excellent job.

“You can see that he is in really top form. My best congratulations to him because this year he really deserves to win the world championship.”

Lucio Cecchinello admitted he took great personal pride in being able to have played a part in helping Ducati’s Casey Stoner emerge into one of racing’s hottest young talents.

“It is a good feeling to know that I could help such a good rider.”

Lucio Cecchinello said he knew Casey Stoner was destined to achieve great things when he first signed him as a raw 16-year-old for the 2002 world 250 championship.

Recommended by Alberto Puig, Lucio Cecchinello said: “Without any doubt his debut on a 250 machine was impressive. I remember in January 2002, he made his debut in Jerez with a kit Aprilia 250.

“At the end of the first day Marco Melandri was just a few tenths ahead. I remember everybody in Aprilia and everybody in my team was completely shocked because the time he made was impressive for a young kid of 16 and testing for the first time a 250 machine.

“It was completely fabulous and he rode the bike very natural. He adapted to the bike very naturally without making very much effort.

“That day we had the confirmation of what Alberto said to us that he had great, great, great potential. We had the confirmation when we started to analyse his data and we understood how he could be so fast and what his potential was.

“We definitely understood that we had in our hands one of the best riders of the last 10 years.”

Despite that glowing praise, Lucio Cecchinello admitted he has been surprised by just how convincingly Casey Stoner has romped to the world title.

He added: “I don’t think anybody expected such a perfect season, such an incredible season. I knew that he could be very fast but I expected some more mistakes.

“Especially seeing him in the other classes where he crashed quite a lot. For me I believe he grew in his maturity and definitely the feeling he has with the Ducati is something exceptional that no other rider has.

“Honestly we didn’t expect such a high level of domination, it is incredible. Even Ducati didn’t expect this.”

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Alberto Puig proud to have helped Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner’s early mentor Alberto Puig has said he is proud to have played a part in helping launch the new MotoGP world champion’s international racing career.

Alberto Puig gave Casey Stoner his first big break to set him on the road to stardom by plucking him from the British 125 championship to race in the Spanish series in 2001.

The Spaniard recommended Casey Stoner to Lucio Cecchinello for 2002 and since then the 21-year-old has carved out a reputation as one of racing’s hottest young talents.

Out of loyalty and respect to Alberto Puig, Stoner has always raced with the number 27 he was given during his first year in the Telefonica MoviStar team in the Spanish 125 championship.

Toni Elias (24) and Dani Pedrosa (26) have also kept their numbers given to them by Alberto Puig.

“For a long time I’ve being saying Casey was fast, so for me it is not a big surprise. He’s done a very good job, he has had the equipment, had the opportunity but he took it

“Many people talk about the Ducati and Bridgestone but Casey has been riding very well and there is no question about this. You can have everything going for you but some riders have this and never do the job, Casey has done it,” said Puig.

The former Honda 500 GP rider said he took great personal pride having seen Casey Stoner convert promise and potential into his first major world championship success.

“First of all I feel happy for Casey because he’s a nice guy, he respects me and he knows I respect him.

“I have the satisfaction that at one moment in his career I tried to help him and his family, it was very nice for me at that time and I feel good about it.

“I think he could have done the same without my help but perhaps it would have been a little more difficult,” added Puig.

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Mental toughness key to Casey Stoner’s 2007 MotoGP title success

Mental toughness was the key weapon in helping Casey Stoner destroy Valentino Rossi’s hopes of reclaiming the MotoGP world crown in 2007.

That’s the view of Bridgestone boss Hiroshi Yamada, who celebrated the Japanese’s factory’s first premier class world title to finally break Michelin’s stranglehold.

Hiroshi Yamada said: “He is so strong in his mind. Normally when Valentino (Rossi) follows somebody the rider in front is very worried about him.

“But in the case of Casey it looks like nothing. He is very strong mentally.”

Hiroshi Yamada said it was Ducati's Casey Stoner displaying his mental toughness in an epic race long scrap with Valentino Rossi in Catalunya which was arguably the turning point of the season.

“The turning point was Catalunya. He had a very, very hard battle with Valentino and he won. And he had much more confidence from his battle.

“And I’ve never seen such a rider battle with Valentino and win,” said Yamada, who has echoed the sentiments of many others in expressing his surprise at Casey Stoner’s formidable form in 2007.

He added: “Honestly speaking I didn’t expect Casey to be so strong. I knew his talent and that he had good ability but I thought it would take a little bit of time to adapt to the bike and the tyres.

“I thought from the middle of the season he could win a few times, but not from the first race.”

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Casey Stoner ‘unbelievable’ says Ducati crew chief

Casey Stoner’s Ducati crew chief Cristian Gabarrini has labelled the Aussie ‘unbelievable’ after he clinched his first MotoGP world title last month in Japan.

Cristian Gabarrini formerly worked as an engine data technician in the LCR Aprilia squad Casey Stoner rode for in the early part of his MotoGP career and he reckons it was clear from the start of his MotoGP career Stoner was a one-off talent.

“I checked a lot of data from Casey and Lucio Cecchinello’s bikes and my first impression was this is a very good rider, he was unbelievable,” said Christian Gabarrini.

Gabbarini confessed to being shocked at the performance of Ducati’s Casey Stoner, who has won eight races to cruise to the world title with three rounds remaining.

“I didn’t expect the results. For me it is difficult to believe what has happened. I am the number one of fan of Casey.

“I loved the 125 experience I had with him but to try and imagine that he could make a season like this was almost impossible. We were quite sure that he could probably make some good races. But this season is a beautiful gift for Ducati,” added Cristian Gabarrini.

He reckons the first indication he had that Casey Stoner was world title material in 2007 came in a thrilling Catalunya MotoGP in June.

Stoner held off a fierce onslaught from Valentino Rossi to claim a narrow victory and Gabarrini said: “Barcelona was the revelation for me.

“In Barcelona the tyres were the same performance and the bike the same. Also Qatar was impressive. This was his first race with Ducati and he had Valentino behind him every lap and in this race Casey was unbelievable to survive the pressure without making any mistakes.

“Sure Ducati and Bridgestone make a very good package for Casey. Maybe in some occasion the best. But for me Casey makes the difference this year.”

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a

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b

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c

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d

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world champion 2007

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casey + adriana

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stoner family

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e

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f