Casey Stoner says MotoGP is going backwards as he announces retirement

After announcing his plans for retirement at the end of this season, Stoner explained that there were a number of factors that had dimmed his passion for the category - one of which included the future direction of the sport.

"It is not starting again from the beginning, it is going backwards," said Stoner, referring to the arrival of the production-based CRTs and consideration given to a more production-based future.

"For me it is not the championship I fell in love in. It is not the championship I always wanted to race in and, except for my competitors around me, they are the only ones who give respect for each other.

"Nobody else has enough respect for the people that do their jobs, working at the teams, working in the trucks, and putting this show on every week. It is not easy.

"There are many, many different reasons but it is basically me losing my patience with the racing and my enjoyment of this sport. For sure I am going to enjoy this year but if I continue [beyond that] it will be a mistake on my half. It would not be correct to Honda and everyone at the team if I did not give 110 per cent."

Stoner also hit out of the way the media had been so critical of the racing recently - and reckons that such a stance will only serve to hurt its chances of recovering.

"My passion has slowly ebbed away from this championship," said the Australian, who also expressed frustration at the cynicism that greeted his lactose intolerance problems that kept him away from some races in 2009.

"You yourselves, the media, have not exactly been friendly to this championship and criticised me many times, especially recently.

"[But] people don't realise that everybody is bringing it down themselves, they are saying the racing is boring, that is boring - but if you go back some years you will find the same number of races that were close or not.

"I think people just need to appreciate what they have in front of them, and I think everybody in this room needs to realise what sort of championship they have, before it is gone.

"I think it will be really nice to see some fantastic racing again at the front. But, with only a few factory bikes out there, it is not going to happen soon.

"There needs to be more high quality bikes out there so people like Randy [de Puniet] can run where he deserves to be and not so far behind 12th position. There is no way for them to get anywhere near the factory bikes."

Speaking about his lactose intolerance situation, Stoner said: "Everyone still to this day says it was a mystery illness - the fact that no one understands that I have a lactose intolerance, that is really critical to me."