Stoner the pose, even injury can’t stop him
Given how he sped around the Phillip Island track to secure an imposing pole position for today’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, you would never realize Casey Stoner is suffering from a significant ankle injury.
Although Stoner may limp when walking, he outran the competition on his Honda at his favorite track, surpassing both his teammate Dani Pedrosa and MotoGP world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo by almost a second and half a second, respectively.
Any fear the double world champion would be hampered by his recovering right ankle was dispelled, as he has been quickest every time he has been on the track since Friday.
By claiming pole position so emphatically—and almost to the disbelief of his fully fit rivals—all that remains for Stoner now is to continue his dominance in this afternoon’s race to win a record sixth consecutive Australian GP.
The fresh-faced 27-year-old from Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales is all set for a triumphant farewell appearance in his national race before retiring after the last race of the season in two weeks.
”I’m just very happy to be on pole for my home grand prix and just hope we’ll have something to celebrate tomorrow,” said Stoner, who had his only scare of the weekend so far when he fell 39 minutes into the one-hour qualifying session.
He was trying out a harder tire compound on his Honda RC213V when the bike’s rear wheel locked, going into one of only two slow right-hand bends on the track, and he was unceremoniously dumped from the rearing and twisting machine.
Fortunately, he didn’t fall on his injured leg, and after dusting himself off, he returned to the pits, jumped on his spare bike, and went even quicker, setting the fastest lap time of one minute, 29.623 seconds.
