Reigning MotoGP champion Casey Stoner, who finished third in the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, revealed on Monday that he had considered not racing on the wet Sepang circuit on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Australian rider, recovering from an ankle injury, was concerned over fresh injuries if he suffered a spill on the wet track as pouring rain made visibility poor.
“I was considering not racing as I was afraid to fall and injure my ankle again — the result of which could be catastrophic, so I was cautious in the first few laps until I found my rhythm,” he said in a posting on his blog while en route to Australia for this weekend’s race at Phillip Island.
The 2007 and 2011 world champion crashed in qualifying for the Indianapolis MotoGP on August 19 but still raced there to finish fourth. Afterwards he underwent surgery on torn ligaments and fractures to his ankle, tibia and fibula.
Stoner is lying third in the world MotoGP championship standings but is out of the race for the world title which is being fought between his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha ace Jorge Lorenzo.
Spain’s Lorenzo, on 330 points, has a 23-point lead over his fellow countryman Pedrosa.
Organisers put out the red flag on lap 13 of Sunday’s 20-lap race, halting proceedings due to the torrential rain and giving Pedrosa his third successive victory. Lorenzo was in second place.
