Casey Stoner

Casey Joel Stoner (born 16 October 1985) is an Australian retired professional motorcycle racer, and a two-time MotoGP World Champion, in 2007 and 2011. During his MotoGP career, Stoner raced for the Ducati and Honda factory teams, winning a title for each team. Born in Southport, Queensland, Stoner took up racing at an early age and moved to the United Kingdom to pursue his career. He joined MotoGP in 2006, riding for the Honda satellite team LCR. He joined the factory Ducati team in 2007 and won the championship. He was Ducati's first MotoGP World Champion, and would remain their only champion until Francesco Bagnaia in 2022. Stoner remained a strong contender on the Ducati in 2008 and 2009, winning multiple races despite the increasing superiority of Yamaha and Honda's bikes. Stoner made a good start to the 2009 season but had to miss three races due to chronic fatigue syndrome. In 2010, Ducati failed to challenge Yamaha and Honda until very late in the season, when Stoner picked up three race wins. Stoner left Ducati for Honda for the 2011 season. He won a second world championship in dominant fashion, taking ten race wins and sealing the title by winning his home race with two rounds remaining. In 2012, prior to the French Grand Prix, the 27-year-old Stoner unexpectedly announced that he would retire from Grand Prix racing at the end of the season due to burnout. Due to a crash during practice at Indianapolis, Stoner missed several races due to injury, curtailing his last championship challenge. He rounded off his MotoGP career with a remarkable sixth consecutive win in his home Grand Prix at Phillip Island, and a podium in his final race. On 27 March 2015, HRC announced that Stoner would return to competition for a one-off...