Stoner eager for triumphant return home

MOTEGI – Australian Casey Stoner promises he will be laughing all the way round his home Grand Prix in Australia in three weeks’ time, having already clinched his first world motorcycling title.

“We’ll have some fun on that weekend, which is quite strange in Grand Prix because it’s not easy to have a lot of fun,” said the Ducati ace after he was crowned the 2007 MotoGP champion at the Japanese Grand Prix here on Sunday. Stoner, who moved to England with his family at age 14 to start early in road racing because of an age limit at home, became the third Australian to conquer the premier class after Wayne Gardner in 1987 and Mick Doohan 1994-1998.”They’ve been my heroes,” Stoner said of the Australian legends.”I’ve grown up watching them.Watching them has basically made me into what I am today.”But he wasn’t sure how the Australians would greet him at the next GP on Phillip Island where he finished sixth in 2006, his rookie MotoGP year.”I really won’t know what they are thinking of until I arrive there,” said baby-faced Stoner, 21, who now lives in Monaco.”I’d really like to try and win my home race…That’s next focus of my whole season.””I give this world championship as a gift to the people who believed in me,” said Stoner, a former promising dirt-track rider at home.”And I’ve proved to the people who didn’t believe in me that if you never give up, anything can happen.”Stoner finished only sixth in Japan but it was good enough to widen his points lead to an unbeatable 83 over his nearest rival, Italy’s five-time champion Valentino Rossi.The Yamaha veteran, who had hoped to regain the world crown he lost to US Honda rider Nicky Hayden last year, struggled with a front-tyre problem on a drying track after a morning shower.He ended in 13th in the Japanese round won by Stoner’s teammate and Italian Loris Capirossi for the third straight time.”This is racing and now we have three more races and we will do our best to find a way to win and end the season on a high note,” said the 28-year-old Rossi.Stoner “is a great rival and I hope that we can continue this rivalry into the future,” said Rossi, whose tail-to-nose battle with the Australian in Catalunya in June was remembered as one of the greatest races in history.Stoner has won eight races, against four for Rossi so far in the 18-round season which started with rule changes that have reduced the engine capacity to 800cc from 990cc and limited use of tyres at races.Stoner’s title meant that both Ducati and tyremaker Bridgestone have produced a world champion for the first time ever.It was also the first time in 33 years that a rider won on a non-Japanese bike.The Italian constructors rejoined the prototype motorcycle circuit in 2003 after a 30-year break, while dominating the World Superbike tour.Will a Stoner era last long? He expected his competitors to be “trying to chase us down next year.””But we must try to win more races next year and to improve the bike and that’s the main importance,” Stoner said.”If we are able to win next year, it will be a dream come true.Then we can move on to the next one.But you know we still have a long way to go to next year.”Stoner was against a proposal made here by the MotoGP commercial rights holder Dorna that all teams use the same tyre brand next year to liven up competition.Bridgestone-shod bikes have dominated the podium five times this season.He warned that such a move would lead the championship into an “R6 Cup” format in which competitors use the same bikes.”If you do the one-tyre rule, you may go into a one-motorcycle rule and then you may go right to a R6 Cup.That’s insane,” he said.Nampa-AFPStoner, who moved to England with his family at age 14 to start early in road racing because of an age limit at home, became the third Australian to conquer the premier class after Wayne Gardner in 1987 and Mick Doohan 1994-1998.”They’ve been my heroes,” Stoner said of the Australian legends.”I’ve grown up watching them.Watching them has basically made me into what I am today.”But he wasn’t sure how the Australians would greet him at the next GP on Phillip Island where he finished sixth in 2006, his rookie MotoGP year.”I really won’t know what they are thinking of until I arrive there,” said baby-faced Stoner, 21, who now lives in Monaco.”I’d really like to try and win my home race…That’s next focus of my whole season.””I give this world championship as a gift to the people who believed in me,” said Stoner, a former promising dirt-track rider at home.”And I’ve proved to the people who didn’t believe in me that if you never give up, anything can happen.”Stoner finished only sixth in Japan but it was good enough to widen his points lead to an unbeatable 83 over his nearest rival, Italy’s five-time champion Valentino Rossi.The Yamaha veteran, who had hoped to regain the world crown he lost to US Honda rider Nicky Hayden last year, struggled with a front-tyre problem on a drying track after a morning shower.He ended in 13th in the Japanese round won by Stoner’s teammate and Italian Loris Capirossi for the third straight time.”This is racing and now we have three more races and we will do our best to find a way to win and end the season on a high note,” said the 28-year-old Rossi.Stoner “is a great rival and I hope that we can continue this rivalry into the future,” said Rossi, whose tail-to-nose battle with the Australian in Catalunya in June was remembered as one of the greatest races in history.Stoner has won eight races, against four for Rossi so far in the 18-round season which started with rule changes that have reduced the engine capacity to 800cc from 990cc and limited use of tyres at races.Stoner’s title meant that both Ducati and tyremaker Bridgestone have produced a world champion for the first time ever.It was also the first time in 33 years that a rider won on a non-Japanese bike.The Italian constructors rejoined the prototype motorcycle circuit in 2003 after a 30-year break, while dominating the World Superbike tour.Will a Stoner era last long? He expected his competitors to be “trying to chase us down next year.””But we must try to win more races next year and to improve the bike and that’s the main importance,” Stoner said.”If we are able to win next year, it will be a dream come true.Then we can move on to the next one.But you know we still have a long way to go to next year.”Stoner was against a proposal made here by the MotoGP commercial rights holder Dorna that all teams use the same tyre brand next year to liven up competition.Bridgestone-shod bikes have dominated the podium five times this season.He warned that such a move would lead the championship into an “R6 Cup” format in which competitors use the same bikes.”If you do the one-tyre rule, you may go into a one-motorcycle rule and then you may go right to a R6 Cup.That’s insane,” he said.Nampa-AFP