Stoner to battle on despite illness

Former World Champion Casey Stoner is still well in contention for the 2009 MotoGP title despite recently competing at less than 100% and he will try to fight for the podium again this weekend at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.

Stoner took fourth place last time out at Laguna Seca to keep within touching distance of leader Valentino Rossi in the standings – Rossi is 16 points ahead of him – even though his illness was compounded by a heavy qualifying crash which left the Australian battered and bruised on the night before the race.

Ducati and Stoner have had to put their faith in Clinica Mobile staff and specialists in California as they look to overcome a recent rough patch, whilst the rider himself also continues to praise his team for the competitiveness of the Desmosedici GP9 – the strength of which Stoner feels has masked his own recent weakness.

Having been diagnosed with slight gastritis and mild anaemia, Stoner stated, “I have been in USA until Saturday to do all the tests. First of all I’d like to thank all the Doctors involved in this, Dr. Ting and Dr. Tuan in the Fremont Surgery Center, Dr. Macchiagodena, Dr. Catani, Dr. Ceccarelli and of course my physiotherapist Freddy. Hopefully step by step I will feel better with their indications.”

“I still don’t feel like I am 100% but the biggest problem now is that my ribs are very painful after the crash in qualifying in the U.S. It will be probably another hard weekend in Germany, but as always, we will do our best to stay as much as possible close to the lead of the Championship.”

Ducati’s MotoGP Project Director Livio Suppo remarked, “This is a delicate time for Casey but we know he is made of stern stuff. He will continue to fight like a lion, as he has done in the past few races, even though the crash at Laguna left its mark on him and that certainly won’t help.”