22006 MotoGP Championship - Round 13 - Sepang, Malaysia - September 8/9/10

LCR Honda Preview

Three races in three weeks is the whirlwind schedule facing Casey Stoner and the Honda LCR team as they head into the Malaysian Grand Prix this Sunday. The race at Sepang returns Stoner to the track where he won the 125cc GP in 2004. And following a competitive sixth place in the recent Czech GP at Brno, Stoner is looking to a strong finish to the season with his home race at Phillip Island coming just one week after Sepang.

After the Brno race Stoner completed a rewarding test session where he matched the lap record pace of Czech GP winner Loris Capirossi. Part of Stoner’s end of season strategy is a small change to his riding style, to further adapt to the demands of the Honda RC211V in his so far impressive rookie MotoGP season. Stoner goes into the 13th round of the world championship, typically run in hot and humid conditions on the 5.5 km Sepang track, in sixth place with 101 points.

CASEY : “I am trying to adapt my style to ride a little safer on the front-end and keep the bike a bit more upright. And I’m working with the team on fine-tuning the front-end set-up of the bike -- the settings that I like don’t really suit me when I’m coming off the brakes on corner entry. I’ll have to adapt my style a little, and that’s what I did in Brno, where we also tested some different front suspension parts. But I’m happy how the season has gone so far and I cannot really complain -- even though I’ve haven’t finished some races I’ve usually been racing up front for the podium. At Sepang in the 125 and 250 classes, I thought I had an advantage, but all of the MotoGP riders have done a lot of testing there in the winter, so the competition will be very close this weekend.”