Jerez MotoGP: Frustrated Casey Stoner escapes injury in crash

Reigning MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner admitted his bid to claim a career first Jerez podium had started in ‘frustrating’ fashion as a big crash left him only sixth fastest on day one.

The factory Ducati rider walked away unhurt from a crash at the fast left-hand corner after the Curva Dry Sack hairpin during this afternoon’s second free practice session.

Stoner was at a loss to explain his high-speed spill, which saw his Ducati GP8 Desmosedici suffer extensive damage.

The Aussie, who kicked off the defence of his world crown in dominant fashion in Qatar earlier this month, said: “You know as much as I do.

“Whatever you saw is what happened, we have no reason for it. There is nothing on the data; there is nothing I can explain.

“I tipped into the corner like I did any other lap and I lost it.
Absolutely no reason, just frustrating and aggravating.

“I wasn’t pushing harder than the lap before and it’s not a corner where you push the front in too hard, it’s a smooth corner.”

Casey Stoner said that despite his crash he was not happy with his opening day performance that left him with the sixth best time overall.

His best time of 1:40.828 was set this morning as he failed to go any quicker in the second session. His time was 0.507secs adrift of fastest rider Jorge Lorenzo.

Stoner said: “This morning I was struggling under brakes and running wide. We improved that for first part of the afternoon session but then I lost the front so maybe we have gone in the wrong direction a little.

“The problem is once we improved the front, the rear started to buck and move a lot more.

“We gained one thing and lost another and we need to figure out a sweet balance.”