Jerry Burgess: Consistency key for Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner will have to make fewer mistakes in 2011 if he is to have any chance of ending Honda’s barren run in the MotoGP world championship.

That’s the view of Valentino Rossi’s experienced crew chief Jerry Burgess, who is trying to mastermind an eighth premier class title for the Italian this year.

Honda hasn’t won a title in the 800cc era but the Japanese factory has strengthened its ranks by capturing Aussie Stoner, who is chasing his first world title since he dominated the 2007 series with Ducati.

The 24-year-old has already impressed on board the factory RC212V in Valencia and Sepang, but Burgess reckons Stoner must rediscover consistent form to have a chance of winning Honda’s first crown since 2006.

Even though Rossi missed four races of the 2010 season following a broken leg suffered in practice for his home race in Mugello, the 31-year-old still scored eight points more than Stoner to finish third in the overall rankings.

Stoner crashed out in five races and Burgess said: “Casey can go embarrassingly fast on pretty much anything and we have seen that through his career. His problem has been going fast week in week out without making a mistake.

“Casey contested all races last year and still finished behind Valentino in the championship. He won more races than Valentino but he made mistakes and that proved costly, so consistency is what he’ll need.”

See how Rossi and Stoner got on during last week’s Sepang test in Malaysia in today’s issue of MCN (February 9.)