Stoner announces retirement at end of 2012

Holy shit. I wondered how long he'd last...but I didn't think this would be the last year for him


http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2012/Casey+retirement


EDIT:

Let me be the first to say that Vale is going back to Honda. BLAMMO!

Yeah I read that a week ago. Stoner was quick to say it wasn't true though, and he wanted to keep racing.

I think the problem is all the top riders have their contracts to renew at the end of the season, and so the rumours will be running wild.

Honda have been very clear that Vale is not coming back to HRC, but they did say that the satelite teams can do what they want. Expect him at Gresini on Simoncelli's bike perhaps.

Very surprised to see Casey pull the plug so early in his career.

Henrik wrote:I think the problem is all the top riders have their contracts to renew at the end of the season, and so the rumours will be running wild.

So - the "Silly Season" exists outside of 4-wheeled tiot....

Why is he really quitting? Nobody leaves like this unless there is a major reason.

TopContender wrote:Why is he really quitting? Nobody leaves like this unless there is a major reason.

Apparently due to the path MotoGP seems to be heading on with the CRT bikes, moving away from the protos. But yeh to me doesn't seem like that is the full story either (based on my instinct rather than any fact!).

I don't know either.

It seems to me like he has never really enjoyed it. He is a brilliant racer, incredibly fast, and he does some shit on a bike that I really don't understand sometimes. I will never forget seeing him at Valencia in 2008, and I don't think I have ever seen somebody ride a bike that hard. Then he crashed on the warm up lap...

Probably the fact that he had a kid earlier in the year, together with Simoncelli's death last year has had an impact as well.

There is talk in Australia that he will start racing V8 Supercars down there...

Stoner loves to race, but hates the media and sniping fans. In some ways he's a throwback to old style racers.

Today it seems that riders want the bike to go faster so they go faster. If Stoner needs to go faster he just rides harder like Henrik referenced.

I can see it. He's been in the limelight for half a decade. I believe he will notch another title this year. He has no chance on catching Rossi...besides it doesn't seem like he would care about those records anyway.

Still, it does seem surprising when you have Stoner at 25 retiring, and Faubel at 28 still racing in Moto3!

Only 25? I think he needs to go drive rally cars (or Aussie V8 supercars) for a few years like Raikonnen, then come back.

Recharge the batteries.

.

I wouldn't be surprise if that is just what he will do. But I think if he comes back to bike racing again it might be instead with superbikes.