Stoner's mystery illness is...

[The Don]

Apologise for what? being make the beast with two backsing sick, if he took out Vale during a race because of his illness he would be the worse C#%t in the world.

[gm2]

http://www.motomatters.com/news/2009/09/28/stoner_s_return_the_media_feeding_frenzy.html

[gm2]

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Sep/09092927.htm

[pennyrobber]

He just needed a little salt.

[zooom]

He just needed a little salt.

he shoulda been hangin with Jimmy Buffet's lost shaker of salt then!

[derby]

hmmm... still no apology?

[Spidey]

Ok, I lost track of who is miffed at Casey and who isn't.

Miffed:  derby, gm2, ducpainter
Not Miffed:  Jester, Raux and the angry, ranting new guy with the crazy stick

What exactly did Stoner do wrong or handle badly (I honestly don't know what it is that bugging you guys)?  He told Ducati the docs told him to take time off and he issued a statement to that effect.  What should he apologize for?

[ducpainter]

hmmm... still no apology?

CASEY STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team (4th in the championship on 150 points)

"I'm definitely looking forward to the race weekend. Having three races off is the biggest period away from racing in my life. It was very difficult to accept the advice of the doctors to stop racing. In the past I have raced even when injured, like in the last few races of the 2008 season when my wrist was broken, but this time it was really not possible and of course I felt very sorry for the team.

apology?

[swampduc]

Ok, I lost track of who is miffed at Casey and who isn't.

Miffed:  derby, gm2, ducpainter
Not Miffed:  Jester, Raux and the angry, ranting new guy with the crazy stick

Hey!   

What exactly did Stoner do wrong or handle badly (I honestly don't know what it is that bugging you guys)?  He told Ducati the docs told him to take time off and he issued a statement to that effect.  What should he apologize for?

+1. I'm not going to criticize him for doing what his docs told him to do.

[Spidey]

Hey!    

I wasn't talking about you.  I was talking about the angry guy from a page or two page ago that got into it with Nate and told us we weren't allowed to oggle Casey's wife.

I can see how people are upset with him for leaving for three races, but I'm just not sure what they wanted him to do differently.  I'm not stirring the pot here.  I honestly don't know, and am interested to hear what it is that he *should* have done.  

[gm2]

i'm not miffed at him.  i only think that this was just barely enough communication throughout the whole ordeal.

[ducpainter]

Ok, I lost track of who is miffed at Casey and who isn't.

Miffed:  derby, gm2, ducpainter
Not Miffed:  Jester, Raux and the angry, ranting new guy with the crazy stick

What exactly did Stoner do wrong or handle badly (I honestly don't know what it is that bugging you guys)?  He told Ducati the docs told him to take time off and he issued a statement to that effect.  What should he apologize for?

The way I read things is he told them in the same press release everyone else found out.

That's my problem with it...not that he obviously has a medical problem that required some sort of treatment.

If I'm wrong about his dealings with Ducati on the subject I'll change my position.

[Spidey]

i'm not miffed at him.  i only think that this was just barely enough communication throughout the whole ordeal.

I can see that.  Then again, I've figured throughout that if he needs to be stress-free to get better, the less communication the better.  <shrug>  Then again, since he's paid millions of dollars, he should probably have some way of communicating--even minimally--to Ducati and Marlboro while he was absent.  Or tell them that he's definitely going to be incommunicado and that he'll check back in at some appointed time.  Does anyone know whether or not he was talking to Ducati or Marlboro at all?

The way I read things is he told them in the same press release everyone else found out.

Yeah, if true, that's not cool at all.  

[derby]

I can see how people are upset with him for leaving for three races, but I'm just not sure what they wanted him to do differently.  I'm not stirring the pot here.  I honestly don't know, and am interested to hear what it is that he *should* have done. 

it's really more than that... if you read about the whole situation, it appears that casey really shuns all of the "duties" that come with being a factory racer (press, promos, junkets, etc). some stories even report that they have to use a body double for casey and superimpose his head for photo shoots because he just can't be bothered. it sounds like both marlboro and ducati have some beef with him for that.

now, add to that casey (reportedly, but believably, if you read between the lines of what suppo has been saying) not consulting with the team prior (or even during)  to his self-imposed three-month hiatus, i'd be a pretty pissed factory and/or sponsor.

the fact that marlboro was throwing around offers of ~10M euros in search of an a-team racer for next year (while casey is still under contract for 2010) should be an indication of both the level of frustration and lack of communication going on between the various parties.

realize also that this put ducati in a very precarious position in that casey effectively upset the entity that covers the operational budget for the entire team.

[gm2]

i don't think he needed to do anything, other than tell -- or hire, then tell -- his PR person to make sure all the people paying him money to race while he was not racing were kept happy and informed.  that would have taken very minimal effort on his part.  instead it seemed that the whole universe was out here wondering what the hell was going on... even bad enough that marlboro was trying to hire someone else.