Qatar MotoGP: Casey Stoner ready to begin title defence

Casey Stoner has declared himself ready to kick off the defence of his MotoGP world crown in Qatar this Sunday.

The Aussie starts the 2008 campaign as red-hot favourite after he dominated in 2007 with 10 victories.

The 22-year-old has been in sparkling form during the long winter testing schedule and said:  “I’m really looking forward to jut getting out there and being in a race.

“We spend so much time just testing and testing that I’m just really ready to race.

“Now the season starts and there are a few races coming quite quickly so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Asked for his assessment of winter testing on the new Ducati GP8, Casey Stoner added: “It went very well.

“The circuits that we had weaknesses at last year we have really improved on them and almost eliminated them.

“We have been very happy that the package so far has worked really well.

“Like I said some of the circuits we really struggled at last year we feel we have eliminated the problems and we are a lot more competitive.

“I think myself and the team did a very good job of covering our weaknesses up. We were lucky in a couple of races I suppose but in a lot we worked very hard to cover up our weak points.

“But in some tracks last year we struggled at and I think this year we will be able to push at the front at those tracks.”

Casey Stoner said he won’t be starting the 2008 campaign under Qatar’s floodlights in a different frame of mind now he is world champion, adding: “I think the only change is every other season I’ve started with a lot of expectation or a lot of bad press about my crashing.

“Now we have done it and achieved our goal we can start the season and have a lot of fun.”