nationality · Australian
born · 16 October 1985
grand prix début · 2001

One of the youthful new breed of Grand Prix front runners, now with wins in all three categories, 21-year-old Casey Stoner’s whole life has been about competing with motorcycles, such that his entire family moved to the United Kingdom when he was just fourteen. It paid off with a full-time GP ride at sixteen, and with his first win a year later. In 2005, Casey raced against Dani Pedrosa for the 250cc title, which went to the Spaniard, and the question about which of them would be crowned first in the biggest class has now been resolved firmly in Casey’s favour

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1989
First 50cc minibike

1990
Made under-9 dirt track racing début

1991 to 1999
First Australian title in junior dirt tracking, 1991; across the decade he would take 70 state titles and 41 national titles in dirt track and long track racing categories

2000
Moved to the UK for road racing début, winning the Aprilia RS125 Challenge; also raced in British 125cc championship, taking equal 12th with second three times at the end of the season, riding a Honda; raced the Honda twice in the Spanish 125cc championship, scoring fifth at Albacete, and being spotted by GP winner Alberto Puig

2001
2nd in British 125cc championship, with number 48 Honda - seven wins, but missed rounds due to his schedule in Spain; 2nd in Spanish 125cc championship, at least two wins, riding for Puig with a Telefónica MoviStar Team Honda; twice a 125cc Grand Prix wildcard with the number 73 Honda - 12th in Australia

2002 Safilo Oxydo Race - LCR, number 27 Aprilia
Casey joined up with Lucio Cecchinello for his first full Grand Prix season, in the 250cc class. Starting from the second row of the grid four times, his best result was fifth at Brno, and there were three sixths and total of 68 points, for twelfth position overall

2003 Safilo Oxydo - LCR, number 27 Aprilia
For 2003, Stoner switched to the 125cc GP series, but with the same team, finishing eighth overall. His first podium finish came with a second in Germany, round nine, and he matched this result twice before winning at Valencia in the last race of the year. He scored one pole position, two fastest laps, and 125 points in total

photo by Elliot L Doering · e_doering@yahoo.com

2004 Red Bull KTM, number 27 KTM
Casey swapped teams to join KTM in the 125 class, as the team went into their second GP year. Top five finishes across the first seven rounds made him a title challenger, but then an injury halted progress. However, he came back to take KTM’s first win in Malaysia, and was fifth overall with five other podiums, and 145 points. As well as a single pole position, he qualified second once and third six times, also taking one fastest race lap

© Getty Images

2005 Carrera Sunglasses - LCR, number 27 Aprilia
It was back to Cecchinello, Aprilia and the 250s for 2005, with Stoner a title challenger to Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. The Australian took five wins and five other podiums, two poles and a fastest lap. A couple of no-scores dropped him 55 points down on Pedrosa, second overall with 254 points

2006 Honda LCR, number 27 Honda
Lucio Cecchinello’s established team made the move up into the MotoGP class for the first time, with 990cc Honda machinery for Casey in a one rider operation. Although he managed to crash a few times, he made a strong impression and his first pole position came as early as round two - next time out he finished second, in the Turkish race. Ten scoring results were mostly in the top six, and 119 points placed him eighth in the table

2007 Ducati Marlboro Team, number 27 Ducati
Stoner has become Ducati’s fifth full-time works rider in the MotoGP series, on the new 800cc machinery, and adapted with a winning start for the Italian constructor. After eight wins and all top six results, Casey was deservedly the top man in the series, in Japan giving Ducati its first Grand Prix title after all those years of Superbike success.