Casey Stoner’s hopes of winning a world title in his final year of MotoGP appear all but over after he confirmed that he will return to Australia immediately for surgery on his right ankle.
Stoner fractured his ankle and damaged ligaments after a high-side accident during qualifying for last weekend’s Indianapolis MotoGP. The world champion went on to ride in the race and finish fourth.
Detailed analysis by specialists in Australia recommended Stoner head straight into surgery back in his home country.
The Repsol Honda team confirmed the news at Brno where Stoner had been preparing for the Czech Republic MotoGP.
“I’m hugely disappointed for my team and all the guys around me,” said Stoner.
“We’ve been waiting since Indianapolis for my doctor in Australia to receive the discs of the MRI scan and x-rays to fully understand the situation. The doctors in America were fantastic but I needed a specialist to study them and give me his report and explain exactly what’s gone wrong.
“We were hoping that once they had seen the scans that it wouldn’t be as bad as I first suspected and that we could race here, but in fact it was the opposite and a lot worse than first expected. We only found out at lunchtime today that it was game over but it seems this is our only option at this point.
“We don’t have a timescale for my return yet – it depends on the surgery and how fast I can recover. We still have a season to complete and this isn’t just me giving up, I want to get back to racing as soon as possible.
“I have a job to do and a career to see through to the end and for it to finish like this would be a disaster, so I’ll be back as soon as I can to take part in as many races as I can before the end of the season”.
