Current World Champion announces retirement

Just when speculations about HRC being faster than Yamaha in the upcoming race were at their peak, reigning World Champion and Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner announced his retirement at the end of this season. The rider made this official statement at the start of Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, saying that the sport has reached a point where he’s not enjoying it and neither is he passionate about it anymore.

Fans are shocked about this sudden announcement, especially here in India with the news of MotoGP coming to the country next year being confirmed. After winning a title and then struggling with the Ducati in later years, Stoner adapted to Honda as soon as he returned to the team and then there was no looking back. This season has been very favorable to him so far, with the #1 Honda flying away from the pack, to claim the win in almost every race. But then, there have been comments reflecting his disapproval over several aspects of the sport from time to time too. His dislike for electronics in racing, his views on CRTs, etc showed that he wasn’t really pleased with the ongoing scenario in MotoGP. Nevertheless, all we can say is that we knew such a thing was coming, but not so soon!