Australian MotoGP: Casey Stoner happy despite crash in Phillip Island

Casey Stoner declared himself happy and satisfied as his homecoming as new MotoGP world champion got off to a perfect start today in Phillip Island.

The factory Ducati rider dominated a weather disrupted opening day at his home GP as he topped the timesheets in both free practice sessions.

His best of 1.31.132 set this morning was good enough to secure the overall best time at the end of a first day badly interrupted by heavy rain showers and gusting winds.

Stoner though was boosted by the performance of a new smaller fairing on his factory Ducati GP7, which he used for the first time on a race weekend today.

Not even a crash late in this afternoon’s second session could take the gloss off Stoner’s performance as he edged out Marco Melandri to the delight of a large home Friday crowd.

Stoner crashed at the Honda hairpin just moments after British rider Chaz Davies had gone down in exactly the same place.

The 21-year-old said: “It was my second lap out on new tyres so I was just taking it easy because I wasn’t too confident on the right side.

“I saw the yellow flags and didn’t know who had crashed and just as I entered the corner I saw the scrape marks.

“As soon as I saw them my rear completely round on me. It was exactly the same as Chaz. I’m not sure what happened.

“There has to have been something on the track because water doesn’t do that to you. There was no way I could get it back. It was a small crash, just dropping from about a foot.”

Stoner admitted he was delighted at the performance of a new aerodynamics package that he used for the first time.

Today’s blustery conditions gave him the perfect chance to assess the new effectiveness of the new bodywork, which he requested way back in winter testing.

Ducati’s GP7 has a tendency to be buffeted around in windy conditions but Stoner told MCN: “The smaller fairing has definitely helped out. We compared them in the wind and it was black and white.

“It was so much easier and obviously it’s not slowing us down too much now. We were roughly doing the same times as everybody else at the beginning and when we put the smaller fairing in we went immediately faster with the same tyres.

“We have a small problem with the heating sometimes so we don’t really want to run it in areas where it is going to be hot.

“We are working on that so I think with the fairing we have, if they just increase the air intake a little bit we should be able to run it all year because its not taking our top speed away.

“We are a bit better in the corners and more able to change direction easier. The whole bike becomes easier to ride. It was a huge difference today. I thought the wind had died off when I tried it.”

Without the pressure of the world championship to contend with, Stoner was a lot more relaxed today and admitted it made a big difference, as he was able to ride without any worry.

He added: “Everything is a little bit more fun. We don’t have to stress so much. During the season we have been getting faster and faster since Donington anyway and more confident with the bike.

“I didn’t feel different to ride as champion but different because I get to enjoy it a lot more.

“We always enjoy racing but we have no pressure now and there is no reason to get a result. It is a lot of fun just to go and ride the bike like I remember in the past.”