Casey Stoner Dealing with Strange Illness

The former Australian MotoGP world champion officially accused a mysterious illness that kept him from being in a competitive form in the last two races. In an interview with the Italian sports news paper Gazzetta dello Sport, Stoner revealed he wasn't in his top shape in the previous two races but insisted on the fact that the Ducati GP9 is capable of beating the factory Yamahas.

Stoner admitted the situation is awkward, as he had different symptoms at Barcelona and Assen and, on both occasions, only during the race day. “The situation is rather difficult to understand,” stated Casey Stoner, “between the Catalunya GP and the Dutch TT I felt fine, but then in the race I felt sick again”.

“At Barcelona I had stomach cramps, while in Assen I threw up after the race – two different symptoms, but perhaps caused by the same problem” added the Australian rider. Stoner hopes upon a more careful examination, to discover and fix the problem so he can be in 100% form for the US GP at Laguna Seca.

“We'll do some medical tests and we'll try to understand the reason” added Stoner. He then concluded “at Barcelona we made a good step forward and the GP9 works well. Rossi and Lorenzo are going rather quick, but if the bike carries on being this competitive then we can get some good results. However, a lot will depend on my physical condition.”

The fact that the presumed illness is very vague and impaired Casey Stoner just during race days certainly raises some suspicions. Consequently, he was unable to use his powerful GP9 at its full potential - as revealed to the aforementioned publication - and had to settle for 3rd place, behind the Yamaha duo.

We personally wish Stoner a speedy recovery as it is only in the interest of motor sport spectacle to see a disputed race in the US and for the rest of the season.