Having undergone surgery at the end of a challenging 2008 season to rectify a nagging scaphoid problem in his left wrist, Casey Stoner is confident that the operation has put right an old injury which resurfaced midway through last year’s campaign.
Stoner was hampered by the wrist during the latter stages of his ultimately fruitless title defense as he saw the rampant Valentino Rossi run away with his MotoGP crown – and the Australian is determined to win the title back from the Italian in 2009.
Stoner said of his wrist, “I’m reasonably happy. I would like to have a little more movement but the check-up went well yesterday, the bone graft has healed well and that is very positive. It means I can start to work my hand and arm a little harder now and start to recover some muscle mass and get in the best possible shape for the next test.”
Reflecting on what went wrong last time around Stoner added, “Last year we were perhaps a little too confident and overlooked some of the work we needed to do, leading to a few highs and lows at the start of the season that end up costing us dear. In any case, despite a breakdown and two crashes we still won six races and finished second in the championship, which means we can look forward to this year really positively.”
“...I also plan to be a little more aggressive this season and maybe be a bit more decisive in races where nobody seems to want to take the initiative,” he revealed.
Stoner also believes that input from new team-mate and 2006 MotoGP world champion, Nicky Hayden, will help develop the GP9 in the right direction.
“I’m really happy with the addition of Nicky to the team. He has always been kind to me, even when I was racing in the smaller classes, and I think we can work well together,” said Stoner. “The communication between us is great and I think we can work together on fixing certain situations and getting the most out of the GP9 so that we can both be competitive.”
“Everything’s fine, though my movements are still a little restricted,” the 23-year-old said.
“I’m at 80 percent but I hope to be at practically 100 percent for the first tests in Malaysia at the start of February. I’ll be more aggressive,” the Ducati rider said.
He added that he was disappointed in his 2008 season despite wins in Qatar, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia and Valencia, Spain.
“At the start of the year I thought I’d be stronger than in 2007” which brought him 10 victories, but “the end of the season was very difficult with my injury as I couldn’t break hard going into the bends.
“In 2009, I shan’t have to change my tactics but I will be more aggressive overtaking. We should be more competitive with the new bike (Desmosedici GP9) and the new chassis.”
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