Returning Repsol Honda man Casey Stoner is struggling to keep the front wheel of his RC213V on the ground under hard acceleration at Motegi's MotoGP round as his injured ankle won't bend enough to help him shift his weight forward.
The reigning world champion is having to pull himself forward by the bars which is working his arms harder than usual. Engine and brake issues robbed the Australian of vital track time and he finds himself down in seventh place and nearly a second off the pace.
"Today was a little disappointing, this morning we had our first bike fail on us so we lost valuable time, then in the second session we had a brake issue and spent a lot of time in the garage fixing that also. We spent the two sessions trying to find a nice balance with the bike, of course I'm not feeling 100% as it is, so I wanted to get a reasonable feeling with it before I start pushing.
At the moment the acceleration points are causing me most difficulty as there are many areas at this circuit where the bike wants to wheelie and you need to keep your body and weight over the front of the bike. Unfortunately my foot doesn't want to bend far enough to help me move forward so I'm having to pull myself forward which is giving me issues with my arms as they are working a lot harder than usual. We'll keep working tomorrow and see what we can do.”
