British MotoGP: Chatter fear for Casey Stoner

The severe chatter issue that has plagued the defence of Casey Stoner’s MotoGP title defence in 2012 is almost certain to play a major factor in the Australian’s bid to claim victory in his final British Grand Prix appearance at Silverstone this weekend.

The Repsol Honda rider missed the podium for the first time he has finished a race in his Honda career at the previous round at Catalunya and he said the vibration problem that has hindered his RC213V machine was again a factor in him finishing fourth.

HRC technical staff have so far failed to come up with a solution to the chatter issue since Bridgestone rolled out new softer construction tyres for the new 1000cc class.

And the 26-year-old is worried that if this weekend’s Silverstone race is run in dry conditions, chatter will hinder him again.

The fast and flowing nature of the Northamptonshire track could see the issue strike again and heading to Silverstone trailing Jorge Lorenzo by 20-points, Stoner told MCN: “It is pretty much guaranteed. It is the slower tracks where we have less of a problem with chatter but in Catalunya in the slower corners the chatter started as soon as I picked up the throttle.

“I wasn’t able to sink the rear in and pick the bike up. With the low grip conditions it made things worse, with the chatter I couldn’t stand the bike up to the fat part of the tyre but I’ll almost guarantee the same issues in Silverstone.”