pritch
17th December 2013, 15:12
By Casey Stoner with Matthew Roberts
Chapter 1 is entitled “Born to Ride” and that would seem entirely appropriate. Stoner's parents were primarily farm workers, and the family moved to follow the available work. His first experience of bikes came about the same time as he started to walk, at age three he was allowed to ride solo. Living in the country with just his parents and sister for company his contact with other people was minimal and his primary recreation was riding the motor bike.
His competitive career commenced at age four. As his mother started to ready him on the start line he started to cry. Some of the other parents looked at her askance assuming that the boy was being pushed into racing. “The thing was, I knew Casey wasn't crying because he didn't want to ride or because he was scared. He just didn't like the attention of being stared at by all those people.”
Stoner progressed rapidly at age five he was racing nine year olds. Despite the family's limited resources his progress continued at a rapid rate - until jealousy reared its head. His success was so marked that some of the other parents considered he must be cheating. Stoner's dad wasn't impressed and made his views on that and some safety matters known. This culminated in Stoner senior being banned for a year. Mum had to learn to be a mechanic, but sometimes they would park the bike against the fence and dad would work on the bike through the fence.
Stoner had difficulties at school, being small he was subjected to bullying, he hated school. By the time he got to high school his antipathy to schooling was such that physical symptoms were manifesting themselves. His parents withdrew him from school and his mother undertook to home school him.
At age fourteen he applied to join the Australian Junior Road Racing Association, to race on tarmac all competitors had to belong to the AJRRA. With no explanation the Association point blank refused to accept Stoner as a member. He had effectively been banned from any and all road racing in Australia. That is an extreme situation and one can't help but feel there is more to this than is recounted in the book.
The family then headed to Britain. Money was tight, it had been intended to head to Europe at some point but that point had been in the future. The book details who assisted the family and the sometimes basic living conditions they endured.
The book goes on to detail his racing career, some of the detail we already knew, some not. In a chapter entitled “Crash Test Dummy” he recounts his season aboard the satellite Honda. He attributes the fourteen crashes he had that year to Michelin playing political games with the tyres.
It seems extraordinary that a tyre manufacturer would risk injury or worse to a rider. Stoner was capable of telling from an early age if he had improved his lap time by .1 of a second so we have to assume he knows that of which he writes.
I found it surprising that Stoner claimed to be a good judge of people. This from a guy who spent his entire life in the company of the minimum possible number of people. Withdrawn from school, hiding in the back of the pit box etc, I had to wonder where he developed this skill.
Stoner was not alone in that he didn't like the CRT rule. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't like it. He thought it “so called because the teams claim ownership of the bikes instead of leasing them from the factories.” Sorry, not close.
He also felt that the top CRT finisher should not be in parc ferme. Probably a lot of us share that view but since the banning of tobacco advertising the sport has been struggling for sponsorship. Sponsors want to see their name on TV or they won't bother. Generally there isn't much TV coverage of the field down where the CRT bikes circulate, or even the Ducati team for that matter. Any opportunity for a sponsor to get their name on TV has to be considered, and I guess that's a large part of the reason for the CRT bikes being there.
Hopefully it isn't too obvious, but I wasn't particularly a Stoner fan. I had the utmost respect for his ability as a rider having watched him wrestle a writhing, bucking Ducati to victory around Philip Island. Even so, I don't think many of us understood just how good he was until it transpired that Rossi could not master the Ducati. Some accomplished riders had tried and failed, but Stoner alone was a winner aboard the “frameless” Borgo Panigale bike. It just seemed to me that he should have looked a bit happier to be earning good money riding a motorbike.
“People in the know” have told BIKE magazine that Stoner will return to GPs in 2014. Stoner concludes his author's note with the words, “This is my story. I hope you enjoy the ride. I have. Just for the record, it isn't over yet.” Now that would certainly add spice to proceedings.
You don't need to be a Stoner fan to enjoy this book. There is information about the internal team politics and the treatment of riders that we don't normally get to see. There's even some pics of Adriana for those of you for whom such things are important.
It'd make a nice Christmas present. Even if you have to buy it yourself.
Chapter 1 is entitled “Born to Ride” and that would seem entirely appropriate. Stoner's parents were primarily farm workers, and the family moved to follow the available work. His first experience of bikes came about the same time as he started to walk, at age three he was allowed to ride solo. Living in the country with just his parents and sister for company his contact with other people was minimal and his primary recreation was riding the motor bike.
His competitive career commenced at age four. As his mother started to ready him on the start line he started to cry. Some of the other parents looked at her askance assuming that the boy was being pushed into racing. “The thing was, I knew Casey wasn't crying because he didn't want to ride or because he was scared. He just didn't like the attention of being stared at by all those people.”
Stoner progressed rapidly at age five he was racing nine year olds. Despite the family's limited resources his progress continued at a rapid rate - until jealousy reared its head. His success was so marked that some of the other parents considered he must be cheating. Stoner's dad wasn't impressed and made his views on that and some safety matters known. This culminated in Stoner senior being banned for a year. Mum had to learn to be a mechanic, but sometimes they would park the bike against the fence and dad would work on the bike through the fence.
Stoner had difficulties at school, being small he was subjected to bullying, he hated school. By the time he got to high school his antipathy to schooling was such that physical symptoms were manifesting themselves. His parents withdrew him from school and his mother undertook to home school him.
At age fourteen he applied to join the Australian Junior Road Racing Association, to race on tarmac all competitors had to belong to the AJRRA. With no explanation the Association point blank refused to accept Stoner as a member. He had effectively been banned from any and all road racing in Australia. That is an extreme situation and one can't help but feel there is more to this than is recounted in the book.
The family then headed to Britain. Money was tight, it had been intended to head to Europe at some point but that point had been in the future. The book details who assisted the family and the sometimes basic living conditions they endured.
The book goes on to detail his racing career, some of the detail we already knew, some not. In a chapter entitled “Crash Test Dummy” he recounts his season aboard the satellite Honda. He attributes the fourteen crashes he had that year to Michelin playing political games with the tyres.
It seems extraordinary that a tyre manufacturer would risk injury or worse to a rider. Stoner was capable of telling from an early age if he had improved his lap time by .1 of a second so we have to assume he knows that of which he writes.
I found it surprising that Stoner claimed to be a good judge of people. This from a guy who spent his entire life in the company of the minimum possible number of people. Withdrawn from school, hiding in the back of the pit box etc, I had to wonder where he developed this skill.
Stoner was not alone in that he didn't like the CRT rule. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't like it. He thought it “so called because the teams claim ownership of the bikes instead of leasing them from the factories.” Sorry, not close.
He also felt that the top CRT finisher should not be in parc ferme. Probably a lot of us share that view but since the banning of tobacco advertising the sport has been struggling for sponsorship. Sponsors want to see their name on TV or they won't bother. Generally there isn't much TV coverage of the field down where the CRT bikes circulate, or even the Ducati team for that matter. Any opportunity for a sponsor to get their name on TV has to be considered, and I guess that's a large part of the reason for the CRT bikes being there.
Hopefully it isn't too obvious, but I wasn't particularly a Stoner fan. I had the utmost respect for his ability as a rider having watched him wrestle a writhing, bucking Ducati to victory around Philip Island. Even so, I don't think many of us understood just how good he was until it transpired that Rossi could not master the Ducati. Some accomplished riders had tried and failed, but Stoner alone was a winner aboard the “frameless” Borgo Panigale bike. It just seemed to me that he should have looked a bit happier to be earning good money riding a motorbike.
“People in the know” have told BIKE magazine that Stoner will return to GPs in 2014. Stoner concludes his author's note with the words, “This is my story. I hope you enjoy the ride. I have. Just for the record, it isn't over yet.” Now that would certainly add spice to proceedings.
You don't need to be a Stoner fan to enjoy this book. There is information about the internal team politics and the treatment of riders that we don't normally get to see. There's even some pics of Adriana for those of you for whom such things are important.
It'd make a nice Christmas present. Even if you have to buy it yourself.