Stoner has wrist injury ahead of home GP

The Associated Press , Phillip Island, Australia | Thu, 10/02/2008 4:01 PM | Sports

Australian Casey Stoner is carrying a worrisome wrist injury into his home MotoGP race at Phillip Island this weekend.

The Australian rider, who lost his title to Valentino Rossi when the Italian won last Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, said Thursday he will not wear any strapping on the wrist, as it could hamper movement.

"I'm a little bit worried about this weekend to see how many laps we can do of the race before we start getting tired," Stoner said of Sunday's 27-lap race on the 4.445-kilometer Phillip Island layout.

"But if we feel comfortable and the bike's working well then that should make things easier. We're going to have to work really hard this weekend just to try and set the bike up the best we can. Pain-wise it's fine, it's just a weakness from changing direction."

The Ducati rider said he would need an operation before the end of the year or his career could be jeopardized.

"It's disappointing that after five years of getting an operation, it starts to flare up now," Stoner said. "But in some ways we're lucky it did show us what the real problem was and that we weren't just ignoring it, and finding a bigger problem later on."

Stoner said he would likely be fit for the start of the 2009 season although he may miss some preseason testing.

"It's better for us to get it fixed at the end of this season - it's going to take three months to come good," he said.

Yamaha's Rossi, who won his sixth MotoGP title at Motegi on Sunday, remains motivated for the closing three races in Australia, Malaysia and Valencia, Spain.

"Now it is important to concentrate and focus because we have three races and I want to close my season with three good results," Rossi said Thursday.

"This year we had a lot of hard racing, a lot of tough battles so I hope to stay (competitive) for the last three races. It (Phillip Island) is a good track for me."

MotoGP riders will have two practice sessions Friday and qualifying on Saturday. Riders in 125cc and 250cc classes have a qualifying session each on Friday and Saturday before Sunday's races.

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