09/11/2009 10:12 AM
Casey Stoner was left feeling 'frustrated and disappointed' after failing to finish the final MotoGP race of the season in Valencia on Sunday.
The Australian looked well-placed to make it three wins in a row to end the 2009 season after scorching through practice and clinching pole, but the 2007 world champion would never start the race after crashing in the warm-up lap due to his tyres not being up to the right temperature.
He was unable to line up on the grid because his bike was too damaged and he could not make it back to the pit lane in time to use his back-up machine.
Dani Pedrosa went on to win the race in front of his home fans and the victory took him past Stoner into third position on the standings behind world champion Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
"Obviously this is a frustrating and disappointing way to finish the season. There have been plenty of highs and lows throughout the year and we have ended on a low, but with another lesson learnt for next season," he said.
"We have had this strategy for two years and not had a problem until today so I guess it is better it happened here than in the first race of next season in Qatar."
"The important thing is that after back-to-back wins in Australia and Malaysia we have shown our pace here at Valencia and we know we have everything in place to be competitive next season if we do the job right over the winter."
It has been a tough year for Stoner with a mystery illness keeping him sidelined for three races, but with the season now over the 24-year-old can focus on getting back to full fitness and is confident of challenging for the title in 2010.
"Now I am looking forward to working on the bike over the next three days and then spending a couple of months building up my physical fitness, which I haven't been able to dedicate myself 100 percent to for such a long time," he said.
"We know it will be hard next year but we are confident that we can be back and fighting again."
It was also a disappointing finish for fellow Australian Chris Vermeulen, who crossed the line in 15th place in his last MotoGP race before switching to the Superbikes next year.
"I want thank everyone at Suzuki and in the team for what they have done in the last four years, we've had some good times - sadly today was not one of them unfortunately," he said.
"I hope the guys get a lot of work done in the winter and come out much stronger. I also want to wish good luck to Loris (Capirossi) and Alvaro (Bautista) for 2010. I have enjoyed working with Loris and will miss the friendship and rivalry that we had together."