Stoner to quit Moto Gp

Just heard it on the radio OMG!!

Twice world motorcycling champion Casey Stoner stunned the sport on Thursday by announcing he will quit at the end of the season for "family reasons".

The 26-year-old Australian, who has won 35 MotoGP races in his career and leads the current standings after winning two of the season's three events, made his announcement at a news conference ahead of Sunday's French Grand Prix.

"After a long period of thought and numerous discussions with my wife and family, I have decided to stop competing at the end of the season," said Honda's defending champion.

In pictures: Stoner doing it for love

"After so many years taking part in this sport that I love, and with all the sacrifices that I have had to make, I no longer have the passion to continue and I think that it is best to stop."

Stoner, who also won the world title in 2007 with Ducati, became a father for the first time in February when his wife Adrianna gave birth to a baby daughter.

At the time he shrugged off suggestions that fatherhood would dampen his love of motorcycling.

"They say you slow down when you get married, but in my first year of marriage I won the title," said Stoner on the eve of the season.

"When I found out we were having a baby, I won it a second time. I don't think that's the case (that you slow down)."

Despite his blistering start to the season, Stoner has been critical of a series of technical changes to the sport that he claimed were undermining the championship.

This year's MotoGP bikes are 1000cc as opposed to the 800cc of old, while manufacturers such as Kawasaki and Suzuki no longer field factory teams, leaving just Honda, Ducati and Yamaha with official squads.

He has also been battling cramps in his arms that prove particularly painful under braking. Those problems came to the fore in the season-opener in Qatar, where he finished third before going on to secure wins in Spain and Portugal.

Stoner joined the elite MotoGP class in 2006 with a satellite Honda team after working his way through the 125cc and 250cc ranks following his debut as a 125cc wildcard at Donington, England, in 2001.

His switch to Ducati in 2007 proved an inspired decision as he won the MotoGP season-opener in Qatar, followed by nine more victories that propelled him to the world title.

He moved to the factory Honda team last year and clinched his second title on home ground at Phillip Island, having already won nine races. Stoner closed the season with a 10th victory in Valencia.

Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi, one of Stoner's great rivals, said he was shocked by the Australian's decision.

"It's a huge surprise to me as it is for everyone else," said the Italian. "It's bad news for the world of MotoGP.

"At the end of the season, we are going to lose a great rider and a great rival, but it's his decision."

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8469407

Good to see him get out while he is still in one piece imo.
Retired at 26 how good would that be,well deserved Casey

edit- now we need all those sup riders to do the same hey Hilly

Ahem, Holden I would expect my good man

Why ought any of us care?

In a time of peak fuel, and marked increase in young people with hearing loss and/or tinnitus, what exactly is there to commemorate?

I partake in 'extreme' sports; windsurfing, white-water kayaking, rock-climbing (outdoor leading, thanks) - but my use of fuel ceases at my destination.
FWIW, I do have a motorcycle riders licence.

2008 recipient of Young Australian of the Year via carbon-emitting need-for-speed, yet the recipients for 07 and 09 worked for harmony and social justice.

Good on ya mate

Dear ChrispyChops,

And what exactly is your 'left one'? Please stop inviting other men to caress you - your sarcasm hints at your deciding sexual preferences of others, while hinting yourself to be a homophobe.
Your infantile words have little to do with a measured opinion, except to show yourself to being a bogan. Are you still Proud, Inspired and True to being uneducated towards rational thought, and turning a blind eye to what is before us all?

~~~~

With respect to motor 'sports', from live.org.au It is commented that; 'It celebrates hoon behaviour which in any other context would be condemned as anti-social and irresponsible (driving cars too fast and making too much noise).'

Geez chrispychops thats a new one

You should have read the quoted piece before quoting it. The commentator is correct when he/she says, "which in any other context". When it's done in this context - in an organized manner, at a location specifically set aside for it - it's NOT hoon behaviour.

When you do it, it's hoon behaviour . Context is everything (sometimes ).

To Dinsdale -

Yet when interviewed, any person convicted under any anti-hoon laws present in Western Australia or New South Wales is likely to have an affinity to motor sports - even if it is just paying more attention to the televised motor races - 2 wheels or 4. There is a correlation.

Another poor lad conned by the media hype re fuel so called shortages
Look beyond me ol mate, look beyond

A picture says a thousand words...

Come on over Hilly, Lacey will be retiring any minute

Leave Wollemi alone you lot !!!

He may be feeling a little fragile like his namesake - the Wollemi Pine.

The pine is on the critically endangered list so maybe Wollemi the man is just drawing attention to himself to try and help the cause

.....and by the way is there really such a thing as "peak fuel"?? That phrase may well have been coined to help raise the price of fuel for all sorts of reasons.

.....and maybe all the hearing problems could have more to do with ear plugs stuffed into their lugs while pumping loud music (read NOISE) into their heads.

Well played - as others have said good work going out on top. He is only 26 and has spent the last 11 yrs cruising round Europe (although the last 5 would have had lots more comfort) living out of a suitcase 11 mths of the year. He deserves to take a break. He has probably saved a cartload of cashola which shows he is from good stock.

The correlation you suggest is mythical.

Since the day an internal combustion engine was fitted to a device to create the horseless carriage men have desired to prove they can make their own faster than the others.

Circuits were created to facilitate the competition.

Hoons will be hoons and of course motor racing attracts them. Their behaviour will be same with or without it.

The question is does motorsport create hoons? No way.

I have been involved in motorsport for many years. I raced Karts successfully in the 90's (national tittle in 2000). Before this I would have been considered a hoon driver. Pretty bad actually. Racing quenched my thirst for speed. I lost my desire to create havic on public roads. I even lost the desire to own a performace road car.

Perhaps if more facilities were available for people to vent their frustrations in a controled environment things would be quieter on the street.

The 240 000 or so fans that go through the gates at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide every year vote with their feet and wallets. Compare this to the pathetic little lobby group that oppose it. They are so selfish they can't tollerate a week of traffic detours for the sake of one of the most awesome sports spectacles in the country.

Anyone concerned about the preservation of fossil fuels would do much better to concentrate their efforts combating the huge waste going on in big bussiness IMO.