Mike Nicks: Where Stoner got the steel.

by Mike Nicks

Colin Stoner, the father of the MotoGP phenomenon Casey, has shed light (during a European tour to watch his son race) on how the youngster honed the skills and the coolness of mind that allow him to consistently beat Valentino Rossi at the age of only 21.

by Mike Nicks

Colin Stoner, the father of the MotoGP phenomenon Casey, has shed light (during a European tour to watch his son race) on how the youngster honed the skills and the coolness of mind that allow him to consistently beat Valentino Rossi at the age of only 21.

Colin, who now lives in his New South Wales home after bringing his son to England to race in 2000 as a 14 year-old, attributes much of Casey's grit and versatility to an apprenticeship forged on 400-metre dirt tracks in Australia.

"Competition in dirt-track racing there is very strong," Colin told Crash.net. "They're very short races, but very hard-fought. It was just a matter of race after race when he was young. They're five-lap races, and sometimes the lap is only 30 seconds, so the whole thing is over and done within a couple of minutes.

"You have to be focussed and positive to win. It also helps you with your starts, because he's used to starting very quickly. Arriving at a new track, after driving 2,500km, you get five laps of practice and then race locals who have ridden it all their lives. Casey would do that and beat them all."

Colin and his wife Bronwyn took the risk of selling their farm in Australia to finance the trip to England. But at what age did they identify the genius that Casey has displayed this season in winning five out of eight MotoGP rounds and placing Marlboro Ducati at the head of the points table?

"Three!" Colin replied. And he added: "I've been involved in racing all my life. I've seen kids of three and four on motorcycles, but I've never seen anyone with the talent of Casey. When he was four a Japanese magazine, Goggle, asked him what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to be like Mick Doohan and Wayne Gardner [former Australian 500cc world champions]."

On the dirt tracks Casey started on automatic 50cc bikes, and then progressed through 60s, 80s, 100s and 125s. "He once raced in five different classes on five different bikes and won every event, when he had just turned 12.

"The 125s were doing 120-130kph on some of the bigger tracks, but he also raced on 1km trotting tracks where the speeds would have reached 160kph."

Casey's ability to shrug off criticism - of which there has been plenty during his brief grand prix career from paddock doom-merchants - has clearly been aided by the Stoner family attitude. "We always had a motto: 'Never, ever, give up,'" Colin said.

"I also think it comes from being an Australian and moving to Europe. Australia is the best country in the world, so you don't want to live here, and you're always suffering to some degree by living in Europe. So when come here, you want it to be worthwhile. That's where some of the determination comes from."

When the family first got to England they lived in a caravan in Southport with heat and water but no shower during their first winter. Casey got experience in Aprilia Superteen racing and the British 125cc championship. Then, when they realised that Spain was the crucible of tomorrow's grand prix riders, they rented a very average 125cc Honda for the last two races there in 2000, caught the attention of racing mentor Alberto Puig, and Casey was on his way.

And now the next potential Casey is already heading out of Australia. Colin and Casey run Team 27, a junior development programme designed to aid young Aussie riders. They're now helping Glenn Scott, 15, who will arrive in Spain in July for his first European races.

"It's to try and bring young riders along and put something back into the sport," Colin said. "When we came here it was incredibly hard, and now we know about the pitfalls and how to avoid them."

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