By Les Clarke
July 26th 2008 @ 1:40am
Loading ...He may be quiet, but Casey Stoner’s a true champion
On a recent trip to Italy, a few of the locals asked me what I thought of Casey Stoner. “Talented, current World Champion, a countryman, and an admirer of Valentino Rossi,” I replied. Which, in truth, was selling the young Australian short.
The important thing was that, despite his riding for the revered Italian marque of Ducati, those I spoke to had much the same reaction.
Unlike local hero Valentino Rossi, Stoner isn’t an excitable character. He’s not prone to outbursts of frustration or jubilation. And that’s what has worked for him.
A clinical performance in last season’s MotoGP series is proof of this.
For many Italian motorcycling fans, however, this doesn’t work when it comes to being a target of adulation.
They are looking for an expressive hero for inspiration. Stoner rides the right machine, but he doesn’t lay enough rubber on the tarmac following a win.
There’s not enough flair on his race suit or bike livery, and like Australian champions such as Mick Doohan and Darryl Beattie before him, he doesn’t aim to woo the world’s media.
And during a season in which Stoner has fought back to be just 25 points off the lead of the MotoGP series, there still weren’t any overly enthusiastic reactions from Italians who followed the premier class of motorcycle racing.
Still, having an adoring public behind you doesn’t win races.
In truth it’s the Gold Coast native’s strength, and the reason why Ducati values him so highly.
Development of the team’s machine has been virtually the sole responsibility of Stoner come race weekend as team mate (and Italia) Marco Melandri has hit the showers early following a string of DNFs all season.
He’ll be moving on, but there’s no such talk about Stoner.
There’s a real likelihood that Casey will successfully defend his crown in 2008, despite a slight slip-up at Laguna Seca last weekend.
With only a race wins’ worth of points separating him and Rossi, Valentino will be wary of the subdued assassin who has proved that a mild manner hides a passion for winning that many Italians just don’t get to see on the outside.
Love this article? Nominate it for The Roar’s Armchair Sports Writer Award. Or vote now for this week’s nominated articles.
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...
(2)
Kazama said | July 26th 2008 @ 9:50am | Report comment
Good article Les. I think one of the reasons Stoner doesn’t enjoy the same level of adjulation that Rossi does in the (European) Moto GP community is that he is essentially seen as the villain of the piece. On the one hand you have Rossi, who has dominated the sport and been a hero not just in Italy but to people around the world for years. He’s won fans by, as you point out, being a real character and expressing himself on the track with outrageous moves (Laguna Seca was an example of this). In Stoner you have a guy that has worked his guts out his whole life for just a chance to ride in Moto GP, let alone become its champion. Stoner is absolutely driven towards achieving his goals and he seemingly doesn’t care what people think of him so long as he wins.
I’ve heard Stoner is called the OzBot by some fans. I think this sort of puts him in that light of being like the Terminator, this faultless machine that can’t be beaten, who has come to take Rossi’s perch at the top of motocycle racing away from him. Nonetheless, I think all the fans enjoy having Stoner take it to Rossi, only they all want Rossi to win while we of course want to see Casey crowned the new king of Moto GP. And I think what happened at Laguna Seca will only serve to spur Casey on. I hope that Stoner now realises to beat Rossi at peak of his powers he’ll have to do more than just get off to a quick start and use the power of the Ducati to pull away from his pursuers. Here’s hoping for a fantastic second half of the season, with Casey edging out The Doctor to go back-to-back.
Captain Carnage said | July 26th 2008 @ 3:10pm | Report comment
I think Rossi made quite a statement last week. Stoner had the faster machine but just couldn’t make his passes stick. That was the best duel I’ve seen in MotoGP for a long time and I think Rossi will take more out of it than Stoner. Especially when you consider that Rossi hadn’t won at Laguna Seca before. Casey has a lot of work to do…