MotoGP News
Date: 13/October/2011
Casey Stoner dismissed his chances of becoming a MotoGP world champion for the second time this Sunday, during his home Australian Grand Prix.
Stoner, the 2007 world champion, holds a 40-point lead over Jorge Lorenzo with three rounds remaining. That means that he can hand Repsol Honda its first world title since 2006 if he scores ten points more than Yamaha's Lorenzo on Sunday.
"My chances of winning the championship this weekend are very, very slim to almost none," he insisted. "Jorge has to finish fourth or worse and then I have to try and win the race.
"For me the most important thing is just to win the race. We didn’t win last time in Japan so we'll try and bounce back here"
Despite his comments, Stoner has an excellent chance of fulfilling his side of the championship deal. The Australian, who will celebrate his 26th birthday on Sunday, has won the last four Phillip Island MotoGP races, as a Ducati rider.
"It's a grand prix I always enjoy coming back to. Most people enjoy their home grand prix. There's a bit more stress and things to do, but we're looking forward to riding this circuit on a Honda," he said.
"It'll be our first time with the Honda here and we'll see how we do. Until we get out there we won’t really know. The last four years have been pretty successful. The track is a lot of fun and now we just have to wait and see about the weather - as usual!"
While Stoner is thinking only of race victory, Lorenzo has an equally clear target.
"I'm going to fight to the end to delay Casey's world championship for as long as possible," said Lorenzo on Thursday. "That means we need to fight for the win every weekend. It'll be tough, but we'll try."
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