Is Casey Stoner trying to re-write history?

[mangocrazy]

I've just read a crash.net article (linked below) in which Casey Stoner states that the main reason he left Honda and quit the sport was because Honda were only listening to Marc Marquez when it came to bike development:

https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/10441 ... rc-marquez

But that doesn't really tally with reality. Casey joined Honda in 2011 and won the championship in his first year with Honda. He stayed with Honda for 2012, but missed 3 races after ankle surgery, which put him out of contention for the championship. On 17 May 2012, during the pre-event press conference at the French Grand Prix, Stoner announced that he would retire from MotoGP at the end of the 2012 season, which he duly did. The reason he gave at the time was that he simply wasn't enjoying the circus, had health issues and wanted to spend more time with his family.

In 2012, Marc Marquez was in his last year in Moto2, winning the championship comfortably and being signed by Honda for the Factory MotoGP team in 2013. He won the 2013 MotoGP World Championship in his rookie year.

So, as Stoner and Marquez were never team-mates, and Marquez was racing in Moto2 in Stoner's last year racing in MotoGP, how on earth can Stoner say that Honda were prioritising MM's developmental input over his? MM wasn't even in MotoGP in 2012 and (to the best of my knowledge) had never even ridden an RC212V MoroGP bike at that point.

Don't get me wrong - I believe that the main reason for Honda's current lack of competitiveness is due to following MM's lead in bike development, and not listening to their other riders. Eventually the bike became one that only MM could ride and when he was out with injury over two years, Honda's engineers were rudderless and went off on the wrong tangent.

But it still seems to me that Casey is re-writing history to suit his own viewpoint.

[Yorick]

Yeah. I was confused when I read this. Maybe lost in translation somewhere.

Maybe why he left as test rider?

[KungFooBob]

I'd completely forgotten that he ended his career at Honda!

[ChrisW]

Maybe lost in translation somewhere.

Yep it's a crash.net article in English scraped from a Gazetta article that doesn't even mention the source of any 'quotes'

[Skub]

The AI bots are rewriting history,more like.

[westers151]

He was a test rider for Honda when Marquez was there, hence his comments. No rewriting history, no AI, no Crash,net being shite.

[Yorick]

He was a test rider for Honda when Marquez was there, hence his comments. No rewriting history, no AI, no Crash,net being shite.

That's what I said above

[mangocrazy]

He was a test rider for Honda when Marquez was there, hence his comments.

Fair cop, I'd forgotten about that. Understandable that Honda would listen more to the guy who was winning everything in sight. Even if ultimately it led them down a blind alley.