My opinion of his personality doesnt interfere with my ability to judge his success. He has been successful and will continue to be, but the racing itself doesnt bear out the spirit of of a great rider these days. You pretty well build and tune a better mousetrap and then lap at your best pace till the flag falls. The fact that he doesnt have to really duel with anyone each weekend is proof of that pudding.

And as for the vice versa, hells no. You put one of those aforementioned GP 2 stroke riders on todays machines and they would adapt to the outright speed and use the tractability and stability of todays machines to dominate. Unless you gave todays machines to more than one 2 stroker, then you would have a show!

Rossi said as much about the 500s, Schwantz and some of the other "old tymers" that have thrown a leg over will also tell you these are far easier to ride than their flexi framed power banded smokers.

2 championships now, and he's the 5th winningest rider in MotoGP OF ALL TIME!!...All by age 26...

I'd say he deserves being in the group of greatest ever..

What an amazing day for him yesterday. Birthday, a win at Philip Island, clinched the championship... all on home turf. And he gets to celebrate with a not-half-bad looking, pregnant wife when he gets home.

I think this sums it up nicely...

Soup :: The King of the 800s :: 10-18-2011

There can be zero argument: Stoner is the best rider ever on an 800cc World Championship motorcycle. All hail the king.

The numbers are overwhelming. Stoner has 32 victories from 2007-11. Seven-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi is a distant second, with 21 wins during the 800cc era.

Stoner has won two World Championships on an 800cc bike, the same as Rossi. But Stoner's titles came on two different machines, in 2007 aboard a Ducati and this year on a Honda. Rossi won titles in 2007 and 2008 on a Yamaha and has been lost in the premier-class wilderness this season on a Ducati.

The Australian may not be the warmest, fuzziest character in the paddock. He may appear to be the kind of guy who would complain that he wanted $2 million after collecting a $1 million lottery prize.

But there is no mistaking that Stoner is the best. And it's time that he is placed in the pantheon among the giants of the sport. Early testing indicates Honda could remain dominant in the first year of the 1000cc formula in 2012, so the summit of Mighty Casey's numbers might climb higher into the thin air of the legends.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, let's re-cap :D

Stoner is only 26, and.......

--he has 2 premier class championships...In the 62 years of GP racing, there are only 13 other riders who can say the same
--he has won the GP championship on 2 different manufacturers (Rossi and Ago did it, too, but not Doohan, and not Hailwood)
--he has 33 victories, making him the 5th winningest rider EVER!!!...Mike Hailwood has 37, and it should be easy for Stoner to pass him next year, putting him in 4th place on the all time list
--this year, Stoner tied Mick Doohan with the most pole positions in one season with 12...They are the only two in the history of GP that can say that
--this year, he finished on the podium EVERY SINGLE RACE that he didn't get taken out of race or the race was cancelled

If you want to compare him against Rossi, here's the stats...

--Casey joined the big boy ranks of GP in 2006...Since then, he has 33 victories...Rossi isn't even close with only 21 in the same amount of time

Stoner is young, and still has a lot of racing left in him, and it's feasible to think he can catch Doohan...Maybe not Agostini or Rossi, but who knows?...Regardless, he has accomplished more in the last 5 years than the entire GP grid will accomplish in a lifetime...He is easily in the category as one of the best to EVER race GP...

So, like him or hate him, you can't deny him his due :D