How dominant has Ducati’s Casey Stoner been this year in MotoGP? Consider the following. If Stoner wins the final race of the series at Valencia on November 4, he will have won 11 races this year. As far as I can tell, no rider has ever won more than 11 races in the MotoGP or 500GP classification in a single series (not even Valentino Rossi) with a single exception. Mick Doohan won 12 times in 1997.
Other riders have 11 wins in a single series (including Rossi, who did it three times and Giacomo Agostini, who did it once) but only Doohan’s magical 1997 run surpasses what Stoner could possibly establish in 2007 with a win at Valencia. Even if Stoner remains at 10 wins, the kid has had an amazing year, which ranks among the best ever in the premier class by any rider.
