Ducati News Today

Ducati has announced that their star MotoGP racer and 2009 championship contender, Casey Stoner, will miss the next 3 round of the 2009 MotoGP Championship as he battles to get on top of a mystery illness that has been affecting his racing this season.

Ducati Team Director, Livio Suppo has just dropped the bombshell today without revealing any more details of the illness that has plagued Stoner this season.

“He isn’t well and the best thing for him is to stop, mainly to prevent the problem getting any worse,” Suppo told Spanish state television, without giving any details of the 23-year-old’s condition. “It has been a very difficult decision that we took with the whole team. We are very disappointed, but it is the best for him,” Suppo added.

link: Reuters

Stoner has barely been able to stand after finishing some races, visibly looking exhausting and excusing himself from the post race press conferences on one occasion.

Pramac Ducati satellite racer, Mika Kallio, will stand in for Stoner on the factory Marlboro bike which will provide a great opportunity for the promising rookie MotoGP racer. It will also put additional pressure on Nicky Hayden to beat his new, but far less experienced teammate in an environment where he will be the team’s number 1 rider.

Stoner won the world championship in 2007 in the first season of 800cc racing and is currently third in the points standings behind Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

Stoner will miss this weekend’s Czech race and also the Indianapolis and San Marino GP’s.

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