It was since November 11, 2012 at Valencia, that former two-time World champion Casey Stoner hasn’t ridden a Honda MotoGP bike, and now the Australian is currently at Motegi for private test with HRC (the first of four in Japan) to help develop next year’s factory bike and the production racer.
Unfortunately for Stoner, who was to ride 2013 machine in the morning session and then test the new 2014 prototype in the afternoon, however rain hit the Japanese circuit and halted the testing schedule.
“It was good to get back on the bike, if only for a few laps!” said Stoner.
“We only managed to get one run in before the rain arrived which was a little disappointing.
It was really nice to get that first run, it’s been nine months since I’ve been on a bike and it’s going to take me some time to get used to everything again! The bike and the track felt good and I hope that we can get some better testing in tomorrow with some dry track time and run some more laps.
”Testing will continue tomorrow and also present at the track are Yamaha’s two test riders Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Wataru Yoshikawa.
