Unhappy Stoner complains about Assen traffic

Last year’s Assen racewinner Casey Stoner took his 2008 win from pole on that occasion but he will have to fight his way past some strong opponents if he is to repeat that victory on Saturday, having qualified off the front row for the first time this year.

The Australian starts fourth on the grid in the seventh race of the year, having qualified behind Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, 0.608s behind poleman Rossi. The pressure is on for the Ducati Marlboro star as he looks to step up the pace against fellow championship leaders Rossi and Lorenzo.

The 2007 World Champion appeared to lose his temper more than once on Friday, with Randy de Puniet apparently holding him up in the morning practice and Sete Gibernau reportedly slowing him down in the afternoon.

Afterwards, an irritated Stoner commented, “Things are going pretty well for us in terms of race set-up. When I put the qualifiers on I had so many riders in front of me it wasn’t funny. We had Sete Gibernau in the middle of the track in a sixth gear area, he looked around and saw me coming and didn’t bother to get out of the way.”

He continued, “It has happened to me about six times this weekend and I’m starting to think it’s ridiculous. I’m not the only one it happens to, it just seems like the riders running towards the rear of the field have no care and no worries about the guys setting the faster lap times. I’m pretty disappointed about qualifying but our race pace is looking ok.”