Sunday, July 5, 2009

Stoner to undergo medical tests

Casey Stoner
Stoner finished second in the MotoGP championship last year

Australian MotoGP rider Casey Stoner is to undergo medical tests in the United States to find the cause of a mystery illness that has left him fatigued.

Stoner has been suffering from the problem for the last month and complained of dizziness at the end of Sunday's US MotoGP in California.

Stoner - currently third in the championship - came fourth in the race.

"I didn't feel as bad as I have done in the last two races, but I'm still not right," Stoner told www.motogp.com.

"I found it really difficult to keep my concentration over the last few laps and I was in a bit of a daze by the end."

Ducati rider Stoner, 23, is also suffering from a recurring problem with his left wrist, which he broke in 2003 and which required further surgery last year after it failed to heal properly.

"My left arm was feeling really tired by the end because of the fact there are so many left-handers here and my left wrist still doesn't have the full range of movement after my operation in the winter," he said.

"Now we'll focus on trying to find out the root of the problem because racing in this condition is not much fun."

Despite his fitness problems, 2007 champion Stoner produced an impressive performance in California despite having to ride his number two bike after he has crashed out of qualifying on Saturday - a fall that left him suffering severe pain in his shoulder, arm and ribs.

But he was far from happy with the outcome, describing it as a "weekend to forget".

He added: "I can't be happy with fourth place, even though I know that we have performed some damage limitation in terms of the overall standings."

Stoner is now 16 points behind championship leader Valentino Rossi of Italy, who finished second on Sunday behind Spaniard Dani Pedrosa.

о 11:23 PM

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