Run down Stoner should be ok for Laguna

The Ducati Marlboro team have been doing everything they can to help Australian former World Champion Casey Stoner recover from what appeared to be severe exhaustion following the race at the Alice TT Assen.

Like at Barcelona Stoner crossed the line third behind championship rivals Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, though on this occasion he was even more run down than at Catalunya, unable to attend post-race media briefings and receiving treatment from Clinica Mobile staff in his motorhome.

Ducati’s MotoGP Project Director Livio Suppo spoke to motogp.com on Saturday afternoon in the Netherlands, saying, “There is something wrong with Casey’s condition and we are trying to understand what is wrong and trying to help. What we have done so far is not enough and we have to investigate more. Dr Claudio Macchiagodena from Clinica Mobile has done a lot to help after the race and he has some ideas for Laguna so let’s just hope.”

Stoner was quoted by Ducati as stating, “I’ve been feeling fine all week but started to feel run down again on Friday and I’ve just got worse as the weekend has gone on. I’ve taken every kind of supplement and vitamin tablet you can think of but nothing seems to have worked, so it is obviously something we need to have looked at closer because I can’t keep going like this and it is costing us points.”

“Thankfully I had a fantastic bike underneath me again today and I owe the team for that. A big thank also to Dr Macchiagodena and our physiotherapist Freddie (Dente), who took good care of me both in Catalunya and here. Unfortunately we don’t have much time to get fit for Laguna but we’ll see what we can do.”