hello i saw in your tags that you don't think people on here get casey stoner and as someone relatively new into the sport i would love to hear your thoughts <3
(context here) okay first of all, this post will be framed as ‘things I wish people talked about more with regards to casey stoner’, rather than arguing against what I think people think
I've tried to come up with a concise response to this ask but kept heading into thesis-length territory. so I decided to write a bullet point list and it’s still… yeah… but well it could be worse. if you, dear anon, wish to read thousands of words of casey stoner lore then please let me know. otherwise, here are just a few things I find interesting about this bloke:
casey has a very complex relationship with the concept of confidence, both in other riders and himself, in the sense that he KNOWS how important it is but also believes/wishes that he specifically is kinda above all that
this feeds into how he wishes that racing were Just Racing and not all this other stuff… not his brain not his body not other racers being assholes on/off track not talking to journalists or doing photoshoots not having to deal with politics etc etc - central underlying tension of his career
he has openly spoken about not ever really enjoying race day, saying the only thing he's missed after retiring is qualifying. very perfectionist, the anxiety, the over-thinking, craving control… all key casey traits
(which also ties in with the valentino rivalry, because valentino obviously adores racing (in particular wheel-to-wheel battle) but he’s also great at all that other off-track stuff)
some very rigid ideas of How The Sport Should Look, which you can see in everything from how he talks about racing standards to the introduction of CRT riders (he had it OUT for them, head hot every time aleix espargaro shows up in parc fermé) to valentino’s influence on ducati and the importance of the colour red
let him have his mean streak! the grim satisfaction in discussing jorge’s 2008 injuries after his early-season arrogance towards casey, the dismissiveness towards dani, some of the wilder valentino remarks (this isn’t a criticism to be clear, alien-on-alien violence is part of the natural order of things)
casey is a classic case of ‘just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t after you’. definitely a suspicious guy and perpetual underdog 'me against the world' mindset. not to get too psychoanalytic-y, but I reckon this was partly born out of how he had to leave australia as a teenager (with his family completely dependent on him succeeding) because of how the racing establishment down under fucked him over
they definitely were out to get him a lot of the time, cf yamaha and then ducati drama plus the slander from some of the greats of the sport, fellow riders, the media etc etc (particularly egregious in 2009 when he was dealing with his mystery illness and a lot of people said some pretty unpleasant stuff in his absence - here is just one example)
his struggles were constantly downplayed. the chronic fatigue misdiagnosed as lactose intolerance led to people calling him weak-minded, broken, running away from the sport (part of why he was so allergic to the idea his results might in any way be connected to what was going on in his head). add in the undiagnosed anxiety and you have all this invisible strife people wouldn't even take seriously
that being said, he definitely did have a propensity for jumping to the worst possible conclusions
two specific examples: firstly from his autobiography, where he makes the claim that valentino may have been sabotaged in the 2006 title decider and was deliberately given a rubbish tyre to make him lose the championship - to which casey’s response was: “welcome to my world, mate”. he does have a tendency to believe he’s being sabotaged, and is constantly on the look out for conspiracies even when they are… unlikely
the other example is mat oxley talking about his issues with casey in his stint working for ducati, partly based on a misunderstanding:
something allegedly written about him in 2001!
let’s just say he can definitely hold a grudge
the moaner stoner stuff was definitely nasty, calling him mopey and whiny and all of that, but he also has never shied away from some good old-fashioned complaining (some of this was a bit of a spiral - complaining for good reason worsening public perception of him leading to more reasons to complain)
see also the lingering marc grudge, who probably did play a significant part in getting casey kicked out of honda (as casey has accused him of). whether marquez prevented stoner from racing in 2015 is more of an open question. casey still speaks about how honda made a mistake by only listening to marc (which, again, does have some truth to it)
casey was always very quick to shut down the idea that momentum, motivation, confidence etc could affect his results (unlike that of his competitors) because he argues he was always very rational & clear-sighted about when things were his fault & when things could be blamed on the bike + extraneous factors. he really goes into detail about this when discussing 2008 laguna seca in his autobiography, which he argues had no effect on him psychologically (but was followed by him crashing out of the lead of the next two races)
has definitely spoken more about his rivalry with valentino than valentino has, which probably has also helped shape perception of it over time
on ‘ambition outweighed talent’ - I feel like people almost understate just what a (hilariously) out of pocket remark it was in context. it was rossi’s second ever race at ducati (and the start of his season was impacted by his shoulder issues) - and the rain meant he had a ~win it or bin it~ approach because he knew it was as good a chance as he might get for some time (despite starting from 12th). the move on stoner for second place was at best optimistic, most definitely impatient and at worst foolish - but sort of understandable in that situation, rossi was definitely rapid, and this stuff can happen in the wet. in that sense, it was obviously more a reaction to the manner of the apology (and his frustration with the stewards) than to what casey himself described as a racing incident
stoner made a remark in his autobiography about how rossi had stolen 25 points in a title battle he was never going to be a part of (oof). whether you're obligated to race title contenders differently is already a bit sketch but certainly should not be a consideration for anybody in round TWO
he was forced to publicly retract the remarks, though he doubled down on them to a deeply funny extent in his autobiography by suggesting they were true of valentino’s entire career and that he’d just benefited from a weak era. rossi mostly took it on the chin especially when interviewed about it for documentaries, probably because with something like that you do just need to take the L
it's understandable how it’s become such a defining image of their rivalry (along with laguna seca), not least because of how evocative the whole thing is - rossi showing up still wearing his helmet, trying to make a PR apology stick while he’s been eating nauseating amounts of humble pie at ducati; stoner casual as you like, pissed off about the points loss while still indulging in schadenfreude about how the Great Big Ducati Adventure is working out for rossi
but again, I think it’s funnier because of just HOW over the top an insult it was in that situation (and more broadly how it does have a different vibe to their interactions when they were meaningfully competing, aka 2007-2008)
in conclusion: casey has his doubts and his insecurities and his obsessions and his foibles… a complicated guy in his own right
and a big thing I’d like to stress here is that the rivalry with valentino does benefit from treating them both as somewhat unreliable narrators
I just think he's neat
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Ride 757: A small tremor
Pag 1
2: Raging waves!!
3: Swirling ocean currents!!
Pag 2
1: Danchiku!!
2: We're now in the land of the decisive battle, Kyushu!! In Shimonoseki!!
Calm down, Issa, this is Moji. Shimonoseki is on the opposite shore, it's in Yamaguchi Prefecture
3: 1000 years ago, the final battle between Genji and Heike happened here
Pag 3
2: You know that because we did it recently in Japanese History? So you were awake....
3: The master fencer Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kotaro had their duel in the close Ganryu Island!!
Ah... almost, but not really. It's Sasaki Kojiro; Kotaro is a friend of yours
5: Here!!
6: Here it's the starting point of the Inter High!!
8: Us!!
Pag 4
1: Let's become the best in Japan
Danchiku!!
Pag 5
2: Uh......!!
I came here just to chaperone you.... and I was wondering what you were you even talking about until now....
3: But this guy's simple words and feelings-
(Let's go see the sea, Danchiku! It's the sea!
Let's go renew our determination!!)
4: -can always shake my heart!!
Yeah, Issa!!
Pag 6
1: The towel is cast!!*
2: It's “the die is cast”!!*
Die is dice and it means “it's already started so you have to move forward”!! To “throw the towel” means to “give up”!!
(*NdT.: here Issa uses two very similar words: he says “saji” while it's actually “sai”)
3: Ahhh, dammit, I'm really so fired up!!
4: Let's go show this excitement to him!!
Him!?
To Doubashi!! Hahaha
Hm... wait, you want to go to Hakogaku's tent!? You want to march inside? Stop, Issa!!
Pag 7
3: We're here
4: Why are you here- during Doubashi-san's massage
See, look, Issa
Sohoku second years!? Don't come into the enemy's tent without even a greeting!
Doesn't matter
5: Let them through
Pag 8
1: It's been a while. I'm so worked up now, Doubashi!!
“san”, na!!
2: He's huge.....!! Hakogaku's third year, Doubashi Masakiyo!!
He sitting down, and yet he looks like Issa that's standing up!!
3: Is it your ring name!? Sanna Doubashi!?
I told you to use the honorific “san, idiot!! Buah!!
4: Was he this huge last year!? ….. no
He got even bigger during this past year!!
5: There are so many injuries in his knees
6: And even on his elbows there are traces of fights...!!
Pag 9
1: I came to tell you how much stronger I got in this past year
Oi, stop, if you say something like this now, you'll definitely regret it later
Nah, I'll say it
3: There's another person
4: Ah....
5: Is he also..... a regular?
6: Ah, Yes, I'm Sohoku's... second year...
Hahaha I'll introduce you!!
7: Is he your partner, Orange?
Hahaha, that's right!!
8: Our team's name is SS!! His name is Danchiku!!
I'm telling you this for your own good
9: Stop
Pag 10
1: This guy's a “chicken*”
(*NdT.: here the literal translation of the kanji used is "weak-hearted", while the reading says "chicken")
Pag 11
2: He'll run away right away
3: Buah!!
4: Road racing half a mental sport!! The distance is long and there'll be a lot of difficult moments. I don't know what kind of runner this guy is, but he's mentally weak and he'll be crushed by the pressure, especially at the Inter High!!
5: He got my weak point with one shot....!!
6: Nah, Orange!! Let's have a serious race, the two of us
Ah!?
And bring a better guy than this!!
Ah!?
7: This one's no good, he can't run!!
That's what the sensor in my polished body are telling me
8: Doesn't Sohoku have a reserve!? You should.....
Pag 12
1: Replace him right now
4: Yuuto lost to a guy like this?
Ah!?
Well, I guess you had quite an advantage since it was a rcae in your hometown
Danchiku won!!
5: Would it be better if I was replaced...? No
He's not a bad guy, but.... sometimes he says bad stuff. Last year, too-
6: No, that's not true!!
What am I saying!! I'll run!! I'll be the one running!!
Pag 13
1: In the Inter High!! Together with Issa!!
2: Ehi, welcome back. Did you have fun on your walk?
… yeah
I've done the oiling and the gear check
Did you see the sea?
It was fired up!!
3: Fired up?
The sea was fired up!!
4: “My heart is small”
“Yours is much bigger”
5: Sugimoto-san.....
Once you get dressed could you try ride it?
Pag 14
1: Uhm, Sugimoto-san
3: Hm?
4: Hy.... hypothetically
5: If right now
6: I said I couldn't run, what would you do?
Pag 15
4: Since the day I was chosen as a reserve
5: I haven't taken even one day off practice
7: The members may seem to be in perfect condition, but they could accidentally fall and get injured, or get ill
Be ready to run the moment you know someone can't run, that's what a reserve is
I
8: I spent my time wishing that all my efforts would be in vain
Pag 16
1: I would run for all three days!!
Now I'll put this toolbox down, put on the my cleats and prepare my own bike!!
Can be done in fifteen minutes!!
Pag 17
2: Be prepared!!
4: I-I'm sorry!!
I'm sorry for saying stupid things
5: In road racing a reserve can only be subbed in until the start of the first day
The rules say that you can't change during the race
6: Is that so!?
You didn't know that!?
7: Once the race starts, if someone can't run, he can't be substituted
He retires and the number of people in the tea decreases... that's road racing
8: If your condition isn't good, tell us now
It's more advantageous is all six people run
9: It's alright, if you made that decision
Pag 18
1: No one will blame you
Pag 19
1: This trial run on the course is terrific, Danchiku
The sea is in full view!!
2: That tanker is huugee!!
“No one will blame you”
3: Don't hang your head, don't look down
What a I thinking!!
Raise your head!!
4: Issa is here
5: The Inter High I've longed for
6: “Stop”
“Chicken”
7: The die is cast!!
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