Suppo suspects injury was crash factor

The world champion was leading the Misano race by three seconds from Valentino Rossi when he fell, just as he had when leading at Brno a fortnight ago.

Stoner had aggravated an old wrist injury at the start of the weekend and was racing with a fractured scaphoid - a problem that Suppo suspected could have caused his error.

"He obviously does miracles: to race in that condition is very tough," Suppo told Italia1 television.

"He has stabs of pain, you saw his face during this morning's warm-up, those stabs are very painful. He only needed to suffer a stab at the wrong moment... if you have it in the garage you just clinch your teeth, but if you have it on the track you may fall.

"It's a shame. But nothing changes, it's still him. Hats off to a rider who has done what he has in those conditions this weekend."

The team's technical director Filippo Preziosi also paid tribute to Stoner and suggested that discomfort with the Ducati's front tyre might have led to the crash.

"Unfortunately Casey did not have the right feeling with the front tyre," Preziosi told BBC television. "Yesterday he did a very good lap time with the same tyre. But we are a team and we have to stay together."