Valencia MotoGP: Casey Stoner begins plotting 2008 title defence

MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner’s attention has already turned to the defence of his crown in 2008 as he brings the curtain down on a stunning debut season with Ducati in Valencia this weekend.

The Australian, who is bidding for an 11th victory in Sunday’s final round, will begin testing the new GP8 machine in Spain on Tuesday and Stoner said: “Of course after this GP we start testing for next year.

“This weekend is where our season starts now for next year. These two tests at the end of this year that we’re going to do, we’re going to be sort of looking forward to them in the sense that we’ve won the championship and I’m having a lot of fun racing at the moment.

“But it’s time to get our heads down again and come up with hopefully a better package for next season.”

Casey Stoner made his Ducati debut in Valencia 12 months ago and he is itching to start plotting his title defence next season, admitting retaining his crown will be a tough challenge.

The 22-year-old said: “I don’t know what’s going to be possible for next year until we start the season and see where we’re at.

“People can make assumptions wherever they want, but until we get down and start racing then nobody’s going to really understand what’s going to happen.

“Stoner said his world title success is still sinking in, and that he could never have imagined such an incredible year after his first taste of the Ducati GP7 a year ago.

He added: “It took me quite a while during the season to realise that when everything was working right, we were able to win races. It seemed unrealistic and it was like maybe we’d soon wake up from this magnificent dream.

“We never did wake up from it. It just kept coming. I’m just happy to be world champion, even if it’s just once, I’m happy.

“I think it’s everybody’s dream to do that and now that we’ve done it we’ve accomplished a huge part of my life, a huge goal. And I suppose that anything from now is another huge bonus and we’ll just have to see if we can do it again.”

• Check out next week’s MCN (November 7, 2007) for the biggest new motorcycle issue set to feature 23 new bikes