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ecco la versione inglese dal Times di Londra:
Rick Broadbent
Casey Stoner is an angry young man. Never mind the MotoGP title, the award from his own Prime Minister and the suggestion, made by Valentino Rossi, his rival, that he rides “like a God”. Bitterness and rejection inform the mentality of the champion and explain the scattergun assault on the Italian giant, the Japanese factories and the British public.
The rancour provides a backdrop to the new season, which begins under lights in Qatar a week on Sunday. The young Australian is still spitting blood at a perceived lack of respect, while Rossi has paid a £14 million tax bill and sacked his entire backroom team, including Gibo Badioli, his manager.
Stoner’s main gripes are well-founded. He destroyed the opposition last season, winning ten grands prix and finishing a staggering 126 points ahead of Rossi. Only “Fast” Freddie Spencer, the legend from the Bible Belt, was younger when he won the title in 1983, but Stoner, now 22, believes his achievement has been overshadowed by the belief that his Ducati gave him a huge advantage.
“It’s been frustrating because everyone said my results were down to other things,” he said. “It was traction control or the tyres or the bike. It p***ed me off. Now the Japanese factories have been trying to bring in new rules to squish us down. You think about the amount of manpower they have compared to an Italian manufacturer and they are running scared. They are trying to use politics to bring down Ducati when they should just work harder.”
Rossi has not escaped Stoner’s ire. The Italian likes to get inside his opponents’ heads and compliments usually come with hidden agendas. Stoner, like many before him, has found that the shutters go up when Rossi perceives a genuine threat. “At the beginning of last season it was fantastic and he was giving credit, it was a real good time,” Stoner said. “By the end of the season he never spoke to me. He did not like the fact that I was able to come in and win.”
Where Rossi famously managed to rattle rivals such as Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau, he would be well advised not to play with Stoner. A bloody-minded individual, Stoner left his home in New South Wales at the age of 14 to move to England. The move from Kurri Kurri to a camper van in the Lake District evinced a steely desire. From there he went to Spain and eventually the junior classes of the World Championship, coining the moniker Rolling Stoner for his habit of crashing � the first injury came at 18 months when he suffered a blistered hand from overusing the throttle of his father’s bike. He looks like a boy, but nobody should doubt Stoner’s toughness.
“We met some really good people in the UK, but we also met some people who have just tried to stamp us into the ground,” Stoner said. “Whatever we do we don’t get the credit.”
In terms of Australian motorcycling he is a chip off the old block. Mick Doohan was a remorseless and relentless talent who won five world titles. Stoner shares many of the confrontational characteristics. Last week, he won a BMW by recording the fastest lap at a test session in Jerez, Spain. “Not bad for ten minutes’ work,” he quipped. “I expected my time to get blown into the weeds.” Rossi, unable to do anything about it, said he felt “serene”, but was answering no questions about the taxman or his manager.
The bad news for Rossi and Yamaha is that the Ducati is even better this year. “Despite what anyone else thinks, we were struggling for bottom-end acceleration last season,” Stoner said. “We’ve changed the chassis so that the bike’s easier to ride coming out of turns. I’m not expecting to win the title but I’m working hard.”
He has recovered from the damaged shoulder he suffered in testing at the end of last season and is still happily married to the fan who introduced herself by asking if he would sign her midriff. He is also the Young Australian of the Year. “The award usually goes to guys who’ve worked with underprivileged kids or in the community,” he said. “I felt a bit shallow because I’m just a motorcycle racer.”
So he has had some credit? “Yeah, but so many people in press and paddock just want to put us down,” he said. The anger is coming to the boil at just the right time.
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