It is Casey Stoner’s belief that the Honda RC213V isn’t a bad bike, with the former world champion – who won with Honda and Ducati – to say that in his opinion the current bike that many have criticised… isn’t ‘quite as bad’.
In this last weekend Stoner was very attentive to what happened on his home GP, and spoke of the current brand’s bike, just like he did on Marc Máquez… and Álex Rins: ‘Marc is going to give himself a shot to understand whether it’s him or the bike. We saw Alex Rins win in Austin, he dominated that race. A bike doesn’t go from winning to being massively uncompetitive’.
For Stoner the current model, winner of a GP already this year shouldn’t be bad: ‘I’m of the opinion that these bikes aren’t quite as bad… If they can win a race earlier in the season – he almost destroyed everyone – then it shouldn’t be outside of the top 10 in the rest of the rounds’.
Given his experience, he believes that sometimes all it takes is one to «guide» the rest of riders… recalling Dani Pedrosa:
– Unfortunately in racing, sometimes you get lost and it needs someone to show what it’s capable of. We’ve also seen that with the KTMs, Dani Pedrosa hops on it in Jerez and everyone lifts, then he does it again in Misano. Sometimes you need a guiding star to show what it’s capable of, then it gives everyone else the confidence to do more.
And praised also the Desmosedici: ‘It’s easy to sit there and think the grass is greener. To look at what else is doing. Ducati have beaten most bikes and are doing a good job. It’s easy to lose heart and motivation and confidence. Those things combined drop you down hill’.