STONER SAYS 2011 HONDA TITLE SILENCED DOUBTS ABOUT HIS TALENT

Casey Stoner’s 2011 Australian Grand Prix remains one of the most remarkable days of his MotoGP career. Racing at Phillip Island on his birthday, the Australian won his home race for the fifth consecutive year and clinched his second premier-class world title. He still holds the record for the most MotoGP victories at the circuit, with six.

Looking back in a video shared by MotoGP.com, Stoner called the combination of achievements extraordinary: “A championship on your birthday and at your home Grand Prix … it was the fifth race win in a row there and my second world title. All those things happened on one day at my home circuit. I don’t think anyone else in history has had all of that happen in one day.”

The race took on a different significance after Jorge Lorenzo, Stoner’s closest title rival, crashed during the morning warm-up and injured a finger. Lorenzo withdrew, changing Stoner’s approach. With three rounds remaining and a substantial championship lead, Stoner needed only to finish in the top four to secure the title early.

“I went from thinking about winning the race to thinking that I just had to finish in the top four to win the championship,” he recalled. Starting from pole, Stoner was confident in the dry conditions and set a strong pace. But rain arrived with roughly a quarter of the race remaining, and he nearly crashed as several riders fell, including Valentino Rossi, then riding for Ducati.

Stoner said he had to balance his desire to win with the need to protect the title. “I didn’t want to take too much risk, because we had to win this championship. At the same time, you want to win the race. I had that internal battle: how hard can I push, how much risk can I take? It was difficult to find the balance and bring the bike home.”

He did both: Stoner won by 2.2 seconds from Marco Simoncelli, with Andrea Dovizioso third and Dani Pedrosa fourth. All four leading riders were on Hondas, and Stoner secured the championship with the victory.

The title also answered doubts that had followed him since his first championship, won with Ducati in 2007. Stoner said many people had attributed that success to the bike’s powerful engine rather than his ability. “People didn’t believe in my talent; they thought I was successful only because of Ducati,” he said. His move to Honda gave him the chance to prove otherwise. Although the team had struggled for a long time, Stoner won the 2011 title with Honda, matching his 2007 achievement. “That made me proud,” he said, adding that victories and championships were shared by the whole team: “We win and lose as a team.”

Stoner took ten Grand Prix wins in 2011, equalling his tally from his title-winning Ducati season. He won at Phillip Island again in 2012, his final MotoGP campaign, completing a run of six straight home victories. The 2011 celebration was followed a week later by tragedy: Simoncelli died after a crash at Sepang on 23 October.