Casey Stoner, Australian motorcycle racer
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 factory teams of Ducati and Honda, winning a title for each team.
Born in Southport, Queensland, Stoner raced from a young age and moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a racing career. After first competing internationally in 2002, Stoner became MotoGP World Champion in 2007 for Ducati. One of Stoner's greatest talents was his ability to ride any motorcycle beyond its perceived limits, even winning races on the inferior Ducati after both Honda and Yamaha had forged ahead in development during his later racing years. Stoner's 2007 title remains Ducati's only rider's championship. During 2008 and 2009 Stoner remained a strong contender, winning multiple races, but not being able to consistently challenge Valentino Rossi and Yamaha for the title during those seasons. Stoner had a strong start to the 2009 season but had to miss three races due to chronic fatigue. In 2010, Ducati failed to challenge Yamaha and Honda until very late in the season, when Stoner went out on a winning note winning three races.
After his departure from Ducati to Honda following the 2010 season, Stoner won a second world championship title in 2011 for Repsol Honda. The championship was won in a dominant fashion with ten Grand Prix wins and sealed by winning his home race with two races remaining. Prior to the 2012 French Grand Prix, Stoner announced that he would retire from Grand Prix racing at the conclusion of the 2012 season. Stoner was also the winner of his home Grand Prix of Australia on six consecutive occasions between 2007 and 2012. Due to a crash during practice at Indianapolis, Stoner missed several races due to injury, curtailing his championship challenge for his last season. He rounded off his MotoGP career with a remarkable sixth consecutive win in his home Grand Prix at Phillip Island and with a podium in his final race.
On 27 March 2015, HRC announced that Casey Stoner would return to competition in a one-off ride in the 2015 Suzuka 8 Hours. Stoner crashed out of the race due to a stuck throttle, and Honda apologised to Stoner over the technical failure that caused him to injure his ankle and shoulder. Stoner served as a test and development rider for former team Ducati from 2016 to 2018.