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The Repsol Honda Team rider has his first chance to secure the World Championship at his home race, the Australian Grand Prix. Stoner needs to gather 10 points more than Lorenzo.
Next Sunday can be a special day for Casey Stoner, not only because he will turn 26 and will compete at his home race. That weekend, the Australian rider of the Repsol Honda Team has his first chance to secure the MotoGP World Championship. He needs 10 points more than his main rival, Jorge Lorenzo, to achieve for the second time in his career the title of World Champion of the Premiere category —he achieved his first title in 2007—.
After his third place in Japan, the Aussie arrives to the sixteenth round of the season with an advantage of 40 points with only 75 more up for grabs. That means that to become the new king of the class, Casey Stoner only has one rival, which is the current World Champion, the Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo. The numbers of the Repsol rider show that the feat is possible.
Though history never repeats itself, the result of the current leader of the overall standings at the Phillip Island circuit during the last five years cannot be overlooked. Five races in MotoGP and four victories. Casey Stoner has got to the highest step of the podium in Australian in the last four editions. Only in 2006, his debut year in the category, he had to settle for the sixth place.
If that was not enough, the Australian is having an amazing season. In his first year with the Repsol Honda Team colours he has achieved 14 podiums —the last 13 consecutive— in the 15 rounds already held and this way he equals his 2007 record. He has 8 victories, 1 second position and 5 thirds. With 3 races to go and 300 points, Casey Stoner could make history. He might be able to improve his best result in MotoGP —367 points in 2007— and become, if he wins the last three races, in the second rider of the premiere category that gathers the most points in one year.
The chances that the Australian can be champion this Sunday depend on whether he can take 10 more points than Lorenzo. To achieve that, Stoner must be among the first six. With a victory in Phillip Island, a fourth position for Lorenzo will allow him to claim the title; if he finishes 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th, the Aussie will need that the Spanish rider was not better than 6th, 10th, 13th or 15th, respectively; the 6th position will only serve if Lorenzo did not score any points.
In 2007, Casey Stoner became in Japan the first World Champion of the MotoGP 800cc era, three rounds before the end of the Championship; now, in 2011, the Repsol Honda Team rider can close another fantastic season in Australia and become the next king of the class.
