HRC admit fault for Stoner Suzuka crash

Honda Racing Corporation have admitted in the aftermath of last week’s Suzuka 8 Hour that Casey Stoner’s high-speed crash was the fault of a mechanical failure on the MuSASHi RT Fireblade and not the fault of the double world champion.

Falling heavily at Degner only minutes into his return to racing, Stoner limped away from the crash with a broken bone in his ankle and shoulder, but was lucky to escape after the throttle on the HRC-prepared bike jammed open.

Speaking in a statement released after the bike was taken back to HRC for analysis, the racing legends confirmed that the crash was caused by a throttle cable.

“This kind of problem hasn’t arisen before; however, HRC will cease using this throttle specification and will design a new one to be used for Endurance races. HRC would like to apologise to Casey Stoner and thank him for the effort he made in attending the Suzuka 8 Hour event.”