Casey Stoner to retire at end of season!

MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner will retire at the end of the season after explaining that he has lost his passion for the sport.

The 26-year-old Australian had recently denied rumours that he was to end his career, but revealed his intention ahead of the Le Mans French Grand Prix.

"This sport has changed a lot and it has changed to the point where I am not enjoying it," he said.

"I don't have the passion for it and so at this time it's better if I retire."

e added: "There are a lot of things that have disappointed me, and also a lot of things I have loved about this sport, but unfortunately the balance has gone in the wrong direction.

"After a long time thinking, a lot of time talking with my family and my wife, this has been coming for a couple of years now, but... I will be not racing in the 2013 Championship."

At Estoril recently, Stoner brushed off rumours that he was contemplating retirment in Estoril, claiming that "everyone seems quite good at making up stories".

It meant his change of mind came as a big surprise to rival Valentino Rossi.

"It's bad news for the world of MotoGP," said the nine-time world champion.

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

The Italian, 33, dampened speculation over his own future in the sport by claiming he wanted to continue for "the next two years for sure".

Stoner did not reveal his future plans beyond "going forward in different things in my life".

The Repsol Honda rider, who also won the world title in 2007, leads this year's championship by a single point from Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo after claiming victories in Spain and Portugal.

Despite the strong start to his title defence, Stoner has been critical of technical changes to MotoGP that have increased engine sizes to 1000cc from 800cc and preceded the departure of manufacturers such as Kawasaki and Suzuki from the sport.

He has also suffered with health problems during his time in MotoGP.

A problem with cramps in his arms hindered his braking in the first race of this season, while he was dogged with a mystery illness, later diagnosed as anaemia, during 2009.

Marc Marquez, the Moto2 series leader and Repsol protege, is the likeliest candidate to fill the vacancy left by Stoner, although Jorge Lorenzo is out of contract at the factory Yamaha squad at the end of the season and may also enter the reckoning.

Source: BBC Sport

Shame about this retirement news but must be to do with a long standing health issue, why would you retire at 27?. You don't just fall out of love with pure speed and the excitement of the sport. I'm sure spending more time with his fit wife helped sway his decision

To be fair when he 1st go into Moto GP he said if he was had enough money and won the world title he'd retire as soon as he could from the sport so it doesn't surprise me tbh

Amazing the lack of commitment from him to the sport. Honda will be really annoyed about this, with Rossi retiring soon, motogp will be seriously affected.

First i heard it was family reasons. But this morning i heard that it was his "lack of passion" for the sport, due to change in regs etc. To be honest the first person i thought of was LH. hmm

Casey is upset because the playing field is being leveled. He doesn't like competition.

Casey Stoner will be missed and I do hope he can go out on a high as champion again at the end of this season.It won't be easy as Lorenzo is on top form and there is very little between the two,and you can't rule out Pedrosa. Whatever Stoner decides to do I wish him all the best in the future and thanks for the excitment he gave Moto GP.

Certainly Jorge showed who's boss today. Brilliant ride from Valentino, just to see him challenging at the front was brilliant to watch.

I think the Ducati looked decent in the wet, plus Valentino is excellent in the wet, but in the dry it's easily the 4th best behind Honda, Yamaha (Jorge's anyway) and the Tech 3 team.

real shame however, if you arent commited or passionate then its time to call it a day.

Seriously Spies is in danger of losing that ride, what's happened to him?

Anybody know why the Eurosport commentators said that Marc Marquez "wasn't allowed" to take the HRC ride that Casey is vacating??
Is it contractual that Honda won't put rookies straight onto the full factory bikes??

Could this be the big comeback for Vale with Honda? The sport needs high profile rivalries to get the juices flowing and Lorenzo/Vale fits the bill. Don't wanna see it go the same way as F1 which IMO is now a watered down pussyfied incarnation of its former self with absolutely nothing to capture the imagination.

If Vale goes back to Honda it would spice things up immensely between him and Jorge.

Dani wouldn't be pleased about it though

Hodginho

There's a Moto GP rule for all factory teams which denies them from giving 1st year rookies factory seats.
The scenario I'd like to see is Rossi having one last Championship contending season at Honda (unless Ducati improve the current bike), before Marc Marquez takes the seat in 2013/14 after he's had a years experience with one of the non-factory teams

Re: Stoner's retirement

Its a real shame. I've never been convinced Pedrosa has the mental strength or consistency to make a genuine title challenge so once Stoner goes, the only bonafide contender we have will be Jorge (Rossi & Ducati is clearly not a match made in heaven). Hopefully, Spies and Dovizioso will step up (and a shout out to how well Crutchlow has been doing - i did not expect that)

Pedrosa doesn't have the physical strength. He'll fall off and break a collar bone... again.

TSC wrote:Pedrosa doesn't have the physical strength. He'll fall off and break a collar bone... again.

(i ought not to laugh but its true unfortunately)

ALP
I don't think Pedrosa is lacking mental strength - his performances in the lower classes certainly didn't show this. The problem he has is simply that he is too small to get the max out of the big bikes, especially now that it is bigger, heavier and more powerful. And yes, he is not very good at bouncing when he falls off (something Rossi has traditionally been pretty good at - OK, he doesn't come off very often, but other than his broken leg a couple of years ago he basically never hurt himself). I wonder whether Marquez will have the same problems when he steps up, or whether he can bulk up sufficiently to be effective (I think he's perhaps got more scope for gaining muscle mass than Dani).

I think Casey and Lorenzo are about the optimum size for MotoGP riders at the moment - still fairly small and slight, but with enough physical strength and bodyweight to tip the bike side to side rapidly.

Sure Pedrosa's height/weight brings with it some issues, but it also gives him an advantage in other areas - particularly acceleration and braking to the extent that it almost balances out.
Marquez is about 10cm and 10kg better off than Pedrosa so I see him fitting the Casey Stoner physical profile. Unlike DP I think he's shown better racing craft in his wins in 125s & Moto2 and I'd expect him to progress quickly when he enters MotoGP next year much like (the late and potentially great) Simoncelli

Former world Moto GP champion Casey Stoner fuelled speculation Tuesday that he may return to the sport by announcing he will test ride with his old team Honda at Motegi.

The Australian, who won two world titles in motorcycling's most prestigious category, in 2007 and 2011, shocked the sport last year when he retired at the peak of his career aged just 27.

"There are times when I miss riding my RC213V so I am really happy that Honda have asked me to do some testing in Motegi this year," Stoner says on the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix website.

ALPanorak wrote:Sure Pedrosa's height/weight brings with it some issues, but it also gives him an advantage in other areas - particularly acceleration and braking to the extent that it almost balances out.
Marquez is about 10cm and 10kg better off than Pedrosa so I see him fitting the Casey Stoner physical profile. Unlike DP I think he's shown better racing craft in his wins in 125s & Moto2 and I'd expect him to progress quickly when he enters MotoGP next year much like (the late and potentially great) Simoncelli

Fair to say that Marquez has had a pretty good start to his MotoGP career - if it wasn't for lobbing the bike out of 2nd place in the late stages in (iirc) Catalunya, he'd be miles in front in the Championship. Two wions, multiple podiums and a style that is fantastic to watch on these machines...