Casey Stoner believes that the Honda RC213V is not a bad bike, with the former world champion – who won with Honda and Ducati – saying that, in his opinion, the current bike that many criticized… is not “so bad”.
During this past weekend Stoner was very attentive to what happened in his home GP, and talked about the current bike from the brand, as he did in relation to Marc Marquez… and Alex Rins: ‘Marc will give himself an opportunity to understand if it’s him or the bike. We saw Alex Rins win in Austin, he dominated that race. A bike doesn’t go from being a winner to non-competitive’.
For Stoner, the current model, winner of a GP already this year, shouldn’t be bad: ‘I am of the opinion that these bikes are not so bad… If they can win a race at the beginning of the season – he almost destroyed everyone – then they shouldn’t be outside the top 10 in the remaining rounds’.
Given his experience, he believes that sometimes it only takes one person to “guide” the other riders… recalling Dani Pedrosa: – Unfortunately in races, sometimes we get lost and we need someone to show what we are capable of. We also saw that with the KTM, Dani Pedrosa goes to the bike in Jerez and everyone raises, then does it again in Misano. Sometimes, you need a guiding star to show what you are capable of, which gives everyone else the confidence to do more. And he also praised the Desmosedici: ‘It’s easy to sit down and think the grass is greener. Look at what others are doing. Ducati has surpassed most bikes and is doing a good job. It’s easy to lose morale, motivation, and confidence. These things combined make us go downhill’.