Casey Stoner in one his last posts on his Repsol Honda blog said he would be targeting a return for the Motegi GP, and the recent rumors from Aragaon paddock seemed to validate this return date, and now the Honda rider has officially confirmed, always via his blog, that he will be in Japan to race.
The Australian has been in Australia recovering from ankle surgery following his crash during qualifying at Indianpolis and taking fourth in the race, but was stopped from racing at Brno by his doctors to avoid further aggravating his injury.
Stoner was replaced in the last two rounds by Jonathan Rea, who finished 8th and 7th respectively, and apparantly believes he’ll be fit enough to ride so the Superbike rider will not be on standby.
“It’s been another quiet week here in Australia, I’ve been resting, having some physio and following doctor’s orders to recover.
The good news is that I feel I can race in Motegi and will be re-joining my team next week and I can’t wait to get back on track! This weekend I’m off to the V8’s at Bathurst, I was lucky enough to go there last year also and it is truly one of the greatest motorsport events of the year, so I’m really happy to be going again this year.
Thanks for all the kind messages on this blog, I look forward to return in Motegi in front of all the Honda home fans!”Stoner has four more races before he hangs up his lid for good and the big question will be if in the final rounds he’ll try to help Dani Pedrosa take points off of Jorge Lorenzo – even if Pedrosa has said that he will not be asking his team mate for any help in the title challenge.