Casey Stoner Still Feels Pain In Sepang First Tests

Casey Stoner test at Sepang is good, but still doubt in his heart of 2009 season begins. Now,Freddy is the hope of Stoner.

In Sepang first tests , Thursday (5/2/2009), Stoner actually achieve a good finish, that is in the second with a time 2:02.038. He was only about a second behind the fastest riders Loris Capirossi.

Although the results are not really bad, Stoner still disappointed. Moreover, throughout the test, he still feels pain in the circle due to hand surgery a few months ago.

"This morning was really difficult, I really didn't feel comfortable on the bike," Stoner said. "My wrist is still in a lot of pain and I honestly hoped it would be in better shape than this after three months since the operation. Even though the lap times were good from the start the wrist was still giving me a lot of problems - it is weak and painful under braking, especially in the first left-hand turn. I can't do more than four or five laps at a time and there's nothing I can do about that at the moment, other than hope that it improves over time.

"Sepang is a physically demanding circuit and probably not the best place to be riding for the first time after three months out. I preferred not to ride too much and tire myself out and hopefully it will already be a bit better tomorrow. Freddy, our physiotherapist, has a bit of work to do tonight!

"The GP9 is running well and I have the same positive feeling as the last two tests at Barcelona and Valencia. The chassis is completely different and we'll have to work on improving the set-up but we have a good starting point and we can use the GP8 as a reference. The power delivery has improved and now we have more torque, which helps on the exit of the slower corners. Bridgestone have brought two compounds here that both work well, although I prefer the harder one because even though it is a little more difficult to ride it guarantees a more consistent performance."