Stoner doesn’t really like Rossi and he’s also had his moments with a handful of other riders down the years with either things he’s said or done and Rossi has had his moments with a handful of other guys too.
So what? It’s no big deal, these are all men doing a tough sport – I don’t think it upsets any of them particularly, a lot of them enjoy a bit of attitude and spice to motivate them. Why does it bother the ‘Stoner v Rossi brigade’ so much? Throughout sporting careers many of them have rivals they like and some they don’t, this has gone on since the dawn of time. It happens in tennis, snooker, athletics, football, rugby, BSB, WSB, BTTC, F1 and Motogp.
What I will say as a fairly level headed observer (imo) and is that Casey seems to have a hell of a lot of anger issues against Vale, which won’t be too good for his health. He’s definitely doing the right thing walking away from the sport when it makes him feel this way. He’s gonna be much better enjoying his wife and kid.
I’m also pretty certain (as a sports fan since the 70s) that in a few years time I have no doubts they’ll be sat together at the Goodwood Festival of Speed talking about the old days as friends and chatting about the bitter rivalry they shared while lapping on their old bikes.
Casey will end up as a 2 or 3 times Motogp champion and the record will show he was the only rider who really got real success in a 10 year campaign for the Duke team, so credit him for that. Ducati made a massive mistake how they treat Casey towards the end, with the rumours about his marriage, his health and the general lack of faith they put in him while he was winning on their donkey – yes he did moan a lot while he was there but he had good reason to and still even managed to win some races, even when the bike had become hopeless.
