As everyone knows by now Casey Stoner was crowned the 2011 MotoGP World Champion at Phillip Island today and to acknowledge the new champion here are some facts and trivia to pour over and read what the over the moon Australian had to say that we garnered from a batch of press releases.
– Casey Stoner is the first Honda rider to win the MotoGP title during the 800cc era of MotoGP.
– Stoner last won the MotoGP championship in 2007 and in winning the title this year becomes the first rider to regain the premier class world title after a three year gap.
– He has been on pole 11 times during 2011, which is a new record for most poles in one season in the MotoGP four-stroke era.
– He becomes only the fifth rider to win the premier class title on motorcycles from two different manufacturers.
The other riders to have done this are Giacomo Agostini, Valentino Rossi, Geoff Duke and Eddie Lawson.
– Casey Stoner has 32 career victories in MotoGP, placing him fifth in the all-time premier-class Grand Prix winners list, after Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini, Mick Doohan and Mike Hailwood.
Casey Stoner Career Highlights:2000: British 125cc Aprilia Champion – Aprilia2001: 29th 125cc World Championship – Honda RS1252002: 12th 250cc World Championship – Aprilia2003: 8th 125cc World Championship – Aprilia race wins 12004: 2nd 125cc World Championship – KTM race wins 12005: 2nd 250cc World Championship – Aprilia race wins 52006: 8th MotoGP World Championship – Honda RC211V2007: MotoGP World Champion – Ducati race wins 102008: 2nd MotoGP World Championship – Ducati race wins 62009: 4th MotoGP World Championship – Ducati race wins 42010: 4th MotoGP World Championship – Ducati race wins 32011: Moto GP World Champion – Honda RC22V race wins 9 and counting“I don’t think anyone could plan things to happen better than they have today! The race was incredibly difficult, the conditions were very tough.
I built up an early lead as I saw the rain coming in, but I wasn’t sure if it would hit us.
I basically ran into a wall of rain.
There wasn’t any warning at the back part of the circuit and I came into the last turn and the rain started hard.
I nearly lost control and thought for sure I was going to end up in the gravel.
I managed to control it and maintain the gap to everyone and thankfully bring it home for the win, but it was a little bit nerve-wracking for sure.
I’m really sorry that Jorge (Lorenzo) had the accident this morning.
He’s a great competitor and I think if he’d been here racing today things might not have turned out the way they have.
I hope his operation goes well and he’s back racing as soon as he feels fit.
I can’t thank everyone enough, my team, Repsol, all our sponsors, everyone that has worked so hard all year, thank you.
”“I don’t think I could fit more things in today! To win like this is really something special; words can’t describe it.
It’s been pretty much a perfect season for us, and a big thank you to the team and to everyone.
This weekend’s been great for us, but the race threw a few curve balls.
They were very, very tricky conditions and there were a few heart-in-mouth moments! I wanted to win this one.
Not too many people have so many things align in one day and it’s hard to get a hold of it.
Maybe it was just meant to be, but it’s something unbelievable.
”“Everything that could happen happened today.
I think the only thing that could happen that’s better than this is having my child today, but I have to wait a little while for that.
and that’s something, I guess the next thing we’re really looking forward to.
Not too many people have the opportunity to have all these sort of things aligned, your home grand prix, your birthday.
To have this many straight wins here and then a world championship, there’s that many things in one day.
It’s hard to sort of take hold of it all.
Finally with the Honda we found that we had a fantastic package, so it was a chance for us to win the second championship.
The first title was a dream, the second one’s reality.
Definitely.
The first one was a dream.
It was hard to realize what had actually happened.
But this one, we know we’ve had the chance to win it all season.
the fact that we pulled back so many points to arrive at such a point lead and I think the whole team, myself, have done a great job on a new bike in a tough season.
”“It’s an incredible day, we’ve been waiting for it for sometime now and we knew we had the opportunity to make it happen here.
This morning’s crash of Jorge was not the manner in which we wanted to win, no racer would ever wish this on anyone else especially someone I respect this much and I wish him a safe and speedy recovery.
Going into the race we had the momentum and it was more or less our Championship to lose so we were going to do everything we could to win the race today, but to come away with the Championship today is just fantastic.
A huge thanks to Honda, my team, all our sponsors especially Repsol and everyone that has worked so hard this year, it’s a great achievement for us.
Now for the remaining few races I just want to enjoy my racing and enjoy knowing that I’m World Champion”.