Honda Resolve Clutch Issue for Stoner

Casey Stoner lost a lot of valuable points when he crashed out of the Spanish Grand Prix a few weekends back, and it wasn't so much because he was taken out by Valentino Rossi, but due to a clutch problem with his Honda RC212V.

When trying to restart his bike in the Spanish GP, helped by a single race marshal, Stoner was unable to engage the clutch while pushing it up the incline. By comparison, his rival Valentino Rossi managed to resume action and went on to finish 5th, while Stoner had to settle for a no-point performance in the event.

In case the same situation occurs this week, Stoner is confident that he won't have the same problems restarting the bike, as Honda have addressed those issues in the meantime.

“I crashed and didn't really deserve to be able to keep going, but in a situation where the bike had no damage or anything, it was pretty disappointing to lose so many points,” said Stoner, reminded of the Spanish GP incident by the journalists in Portugal.

“But we've fixed the problem for this weekend, so we should have no dramas,” he added.

The 2007 MotoGP champion is currently 3rd in the classification, after scoring a win in the season opening Qatar GP. His point deficit from reigning world champion and MotoGP leader Jorge Lorenzo is 20 points, while Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa lies between them, 9 points behind the Yamaha rider.