Q & A with Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner: No, not a lot of rest. As usual we have had a pretty hectic pre-season testing schedule so I am looking forward to just getting out there and having our first race.

We have spent so much time just testing and testing and other commitments that I am really looking forward to getting back into racing again. Now the season starts and we have got few races coming up quite quickly so I am really looking forward to it.

Q. You ended last season with a shoulder injury, but now you have had some time to give it a rest. But even so it can't have been easy because it was nasty.

CS: The injury took quite a bit of time [to heal], and we stretched the ligaments so far that my collarbone is poking up a little bit now. The first couple of tests it wasn't really hurting so much, it was just getting very tired and saw. We worked really hard on it going into these last two tests so it is pretty much 100% now and I have been really happy with the performance of it.

Q. Has testing gone well for you?

CS: Yeah testing has gone really well. The weaknesses that we had last year we feel we have really improved upon. I think we have almost eliminated them. We have been very happy with the package so far.

The Bridgestones are working really well and like I said some of the circuits that we struggled at last year, we have eliminated those problems, and now I feel we are a lot more competitive. I hope going into this season, we should be a little bit more confident than last year.

Q. Is it different approaching the season as world champion?

CS: I think the only thing that's changed is that every other season I've gone into there has been a lot of expectation on me or a lot of bad press and media talking about me crashing and things like that. Now I have done it and we have achieved our goal, we can really go into this season and have a lot of fun.

Q. Rossi and Pedrosa are expected to be your main challengers but there could be a few more this year couldn't there?

CS: The rookies are going unbelievably well. James Toseland has surprised and impressed me a lot. Of course, all the 250 riders we expected to be fast, but we will see in the next few races how the season is going to pan out. But I think the people alongside me [Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa] are always going to be the hardest to beat and we just have to do the best job we can.

Q. How did the night-race test go?

CS: The test went quite well. I tried running a dark visor and that didn't work but once we went one step lighter, the surroundings seemed pretty much normal. I think there are a few shadows but that didn't seem to be a problem. It was quite normal to ride with.

I think the only danger is that when the temperatures get too cold the tyres don't work at their best and then is a little bit difficult to understand what is going to happen with the bike. It's not that the conditions are any slower, but it is more difficult to know what the bike is doing. Maybe that will cause a few problems but, if the temperatures stay up around a certain level, then I think it should be a lot of fun.

Q. It strikes me that you want to just get out there and start racing now, and put all the testing behind you.

CS: Like I said, there has been a lot of it. I think basically there is too much testing. There is only so much you can do and only so many things you can really improve on a bike.

And there is only a certain amount of time anyway, but we just seem to be doing a lot of laps on a similar package, even if you are bringing a new bike in. We were lucky enough that we didn't have to do the second Sepang test and everything is going quite well for us.