Stoner: Next test crucial for wrist

The former world champion was frustrated by the amount of discomfort in his wrist when he returned to action at Sepang last week, having expected surgery last November to solve the recurrent injury that had plagued the end of his 2008 campaign.

He hopes that his condition will improve before testing resumes at Losail on 1 March, but admitted that it would be an ominous sign if he continued to struggle in Qatar.

"Three months have gone by and my wrist has little mobility and hurts badly," Stoner told Motosprint. "I don't like the way this story is going at all.

"I'll try not to think about it until the test in Qatar, then we'll see. If the situation in Qatar hasn't improved radically, then it means there will be plenty to worry about.

"I just think that three months have gone by and in my opinion the situation isn't good at all. I say that I shouldn't be in this situation, because the bone has healed, yet it hurts me badly. That's what I can't explain.

"It's been really disappointing finding out that after three months the wrist is a lot worse than I expected. I already had a wrist operation before, and after two weeks I was already okay."

Despite the wrist problem, Stoner managed to be quickest on two of the three test days in Malaysia. He said he had surprised himself with his pace, although he had to limit himself to short runs.

"I try to adapt, to change the way I sit on the bike: I make some movements to make up for the fact that the wrist barely moves and most of all it hurts me a lot under braking," said Stoner.

"It feels almost unreal to me that I manage to be so quick. The situation is worse than I expected. I say it's not normal. I didn't expect to feel great, but not this bad either."