Casey Stoner: from penniless racer to overnight world champion. It's just that the overnight part took ten hard years. image by dean adams

Casey Stoner's World Championship was won by Australian pluck, hard work, sacrifice and the technical might of Ducati Corse, Ducati Italy's racing arm. To get Stoner to comment on the sacrifice and pluck parts of his championship I interviewed him at Laguna Seca Raceway after qualifying on Saturday for the USGP.

Q I don't think a lot of people are familiar with the hardscrabble existence that you had the last few years before you signed with Ducati and won the championship. Can you talk about it a little bit? There are stories that your family mortgaged everything to get you here.

A They didn't mortgage everything. They sold everything. I've actually read a few times that people think it's all just a big thing to get attention, and all this kind of stuff. It frustrates me that the efforts that Mum and Dad went to, to get me to where I am, go almost unheard of, because people think they're lies. Certainly it's disappointing. My mum and dad had a lot of faith in my talent, what we could do, and in Australia we just weren't going anywhere. You couldn't race a real bike in Australia until you're 16. There was a class that I could race when I was 14, but the people that were running the class didn't let me have the license. We had the license, actually, they wouldn't let me race, basically, because the kids who I would be racing against, their fathers were the one organizing the races, and they just didn't want me racing against them. So it was really a hard decision to come over to Europe and start our career, but my dad did a lot of research and found the best way to go. It's just been a hard slog since then, until pretty much last year.

Q There was no money until last year.

A None. Enough to get by and to pay for the motor home bills, traveling costs, tolls and getting your motor home registered, all that kind of thing. But it was just hard work. We all put in as much effort as we could, and we knew one day it would pay off, and it finally has. It's a big relief to all of us, for all the effort that we've put in and everything we've sacrificed to try and get to where we are.

Q I think people who maybe haven't been poor would say that that's motivation, but really, you're just trying to claw your way out, and you have to be completely focused on it. It's not really motivation, it's the only way it can be, right?

A Exactly. My parents had to do that, because when I was younger, I didn't understand what the pressures were, and all this sort of thing, of having to make it. I just wanted to race bikes, and I did as best as I could. It's not until these later years when I've started to understand how much rides on what you do and how you perform, depends on how far you go in your career. It definitely adds to - puts more things in the equation to make mistakes and do other things, but I've been brought up well enough to learn how to deal with pressure and how to not make mistakes.

Q Can you talk a little bit about your dirt-track background? You raced dirt-track in Australia, right?

A There's not a lot to say. I raced dirt-track from when I was four til when I was 14, pretty much. Thirteen. That's about it. We always had the intention of going roadracing. There was never a time that we thought we're going to go to motocross or any other direction. We just used dirt-track because it was the only thing we could ride, at the time, for my age. There was no mini-motos, things like this, going round. So it was the best solution we could do. I suppose it's a very good breeding ground to come to the MotoGP class.

Q I ask because I noticed last year when you were running it in really hard on left-handers, your left foot would go light on the peg once in a while.

A Yeah, but Valentino does the same thing, and so does Dani, and they've got almost no dirt-track background or experience.

Q Is it a comfort thing?

A No, all it is is leverage, really. As you go on the brakes, before - you go back your gears, and then just before you put your foot back on the footpeg, it's sort of a leverage, to sort of help it tip in, I suppose. But there's nothing you can really explain of why we do it. It's just it's a natural thing, the way we ride. But it's not any particular reason. It's definitely not coming from dirt- track.

Q The team that you were with before Ducati, would you say it's night and day in terms of the support that they gave you, and the support you're getting now? The story is you had kind of a prickly relationship with them, and a lot of people maybe second- guessing you.

A I didn't have a prickly relationship with the team that I was with before. I had a prickly relationship with the tire brand that I was with before, and I think it's obvious once I got on another brand of tire, that were there to support me, not to push me down. I haven't crashed in one race since, and I think it's kind of obvious that we weren't getting the right equipment. I think it's kind of disappointing when - it's so good now being with Bridgestone, that really work with you, and work with riders, rather than against them.

Q I think a lot of people are giving the bike a lot of credit for your success, but I think if you watch the on-board footage, you're just riding the (hell) out of that bike. It's got to be kind of frustrating.

A It is in some ways, but now it's just - last year it was frustrating. This year I just laugh at it. People ... before we started winning races again, everybody was saying it was a pile of crap. And as soon as we start winning again, "Oh, it's the bike. It's everything." I have a lot of respect for what Ducati have done and how they've brought it on, and I'm very proud to be with their machine. You can't win races and championships without a package, but unfortunately there's a lot of competitive packages out there. I'm very proud to be with the smallest factory of all of them, and obviously the one that puts the most effort and the most heart in.

Q You've got to push it to make it work.

A Yeah, well, we're trying to come up with three words to describe this bike, not long ago, for a questionnaire, and basically we came up with "aggressive, challenging, and rewarding." Which it is. It's a very aggressive bike. It moves, it bucks. It's very challenging to ride. It's not the easiest. But when you ride it well, then it really is rewarding, and it gives you a lot of gifts back. It was pretty much the perfect way to describe it.

Q You're very, very physical on the bike, just watching you. I wonder, how long do the soles of your boots last? Because you're just leveraging the bike around so hard and working it so hard.

A It doesn't actually take long. I've actually had to reinforce my boots, because I was just going through them. The footpegs were wearing through the soles. They were only lasting a meeting, really, or maybe two. Now we've had to reinforce them, and they're working a bit better. We go through it a little bit. Definitely after two years, a lot more body with this bike, but like I said, it's part of the challenging part, but again, it's rewarding when you do put in that effort.

Q You've taken the young American rider J.D. Beach under your wing. Can you talk about that?

A J.D. and Cameron Beaubier, really. We watched them last year. They had spark. We met them at the beginning of the season, and they seemed like good kids, so we had dinner with them a couple of times in hospitality, and we were very impressed. Little did we know they'd turn out to be cheeky little bleeps. But they're really good kids. Their hearts are in the right place. They want to go the same places where I have. If we can be there just so they can have friends while they're over in Europe by themselves, then that's great. If we've contributed to anything, then that's perfect, but if not, I think it's nice for them to have someone.

Q With J.D. especially, really a hardscrabble existence for his family life and what he came from. So you've got to see a little bit of yourself there, and what a little bit of help can do.

A He's had a tougher existence in some ways, and in other ways maybe slightly easier. But we're all there to - no matter what background you come from, we're all there to strive for the same thing. I think it's really good, this whole Rookies' Cup, to help people out that maybe haven't got the time and the effort, parents especially, to try and push their kids through. So I think, like I told you, that they've got their heart in the right place, and their head in the right place, and trying to grow into the same thing as myself. So I see the resemblance in that.

Q Have you spent much time in America? What do you think of it over here?

A I'd love to spend more time over here, but unfortunately, it doesn't permit, with our time schedule. But every time we come over here - and now we're coming twice a year, which is really nice. I wish we had pre-season testing over here instead of Europe or Malaysia. But I think everybody really enjoys it when we come over.