Casey Stoner and Honda - An Unbeatable combination?

When a young Casey Stoner was first signed by Ducati, many were wondering how the young Australian would deliver the goods. He replied by winning the Moto GP title, and he did it and spectacular fashion, winning by a margin of 125 points from 2nd-placed man, Dani Pedrosa. That 125-point margin is actually equivalent to 5 victories. The power of the Ducati allowed him to power past his rivals on long straights, and Casey just seemed to gel really well with the 2007 bike. In the whole year, he scored 10 race wins and 6 pole positions. Such was his dominance, that his worst placed finish that season was a 6th place finish in Motegi, the result which actually allowed him to take the title several races early.
In 2008, the defense of his crown, he was partnered by Marco Melandri. Whilst Casey was fighting for the wins and the championship, in which he eventually lost out to Valentino Rossi, Melandri was bogged down at the back of the grid constantly. Critics began to say that Casey was the only one who could ride the Ducati to it's full potential. These stories were backed up y the fact that in 2007, Loris Capirossi didn't really fair much better when Stoner was dominating the season. In fact, Melandri scored a mediocre score of 51 points, compared to 280 by Stoner.

2009, and former world champion Nicky Hayden was signed from Repsol Honda. This year was much much harder and it appeared that Casey was constantly pushing the bike, riding it like crazy to keep in with the front runners. He had to adapt to the Ducati, and his signs of frustration showed when he crashed out of GP's. The season wasn't helped by the fact he was struck down by anemia, so also missed 3 races. Next season he come back healthy, and finished 4th in the standings, behind the dominant Yamahas of Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

We are currently in April 2011, two races into the season and already Stoner has laid his mark down. After storming to pole position on his new ride, the factory works Repsol Honda, he then completed the feat by winning, start to finish without even being challenged. All he had to do was pass team-mate Dani Pedrosa in the first few corners and off he went into the distance. He seemed so comfortable when riding, not having to push hard to get anywhere like he did with the Ducati. To prove that he was so comfortable, he was actually fastest in all of the practice sessions before qualifying and race day. Completing a perfect weekend, in the following race he took pole again and lead the race, only to be knocked of his bike by Ducati replacement Valentino Rossi. 

After this, critics called the Stoner/Honda unstoppable after only two races, and described it to that of Rossi's reign with Yamaha. Whether Casey continues this speed and form remains to be seen, but he really does look like a force once again. Teamed with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovisioso, this 3-man team will surely at one point be fighting each other for wins. Stoner seems to have excelled even more as a rider, faced with the challenge of a new, but extremely welcoming team, he seems to be more comfortable than his days at Ducati. Unlike his Ducati days, he also now has team-mates who are more than capable of challenging him, and most probably will do constantly thrughout the season, especially Pedrosa. But for now, he will be concentrating on the forthcoming aces, and developing the Honda bike even further.