Stoner battles gastritis and anaemia

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner has been diagnosed with slight gastritis and mild anaemia, but he will fight on as a rapid-fire series of races continues this weekend.

The former World Champion is still well in contention for the 2009 MotoGP title despite recently competing at less than 100 per cent and he will try to fight for the podium again this weekend at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.

Stoner took fourth place last time out at Laguna Seca to keep within touching distance of leader Valentino Rossi in the standings – Rossi is 16 points ahead of him – even though his illness was compounded by a heavy qualifying crash which left the Australian battered and bruised on the night before the race.

Ducati and Stoner have had to put their faith in Clinica Mobile staff and specialists in California as they look to overcome a recent rough patch, while the rider himself also continues to praise his team for the competitiveness of the Desmosedici GP9 – the strength of which Stoner feels has masked his own recent weakness.

Having been diagnosed with slight gastritis and mild anaemia, Stoner stated, “I have been in USA until Saturday to do all the tests. First of all I’d like to thank all the doctors involved in this, Dr. Ting and Dr. Tuan in the Fremont Surgery Center, Dr. Macchiagodena, Dr. Catani, Dr. Ceccarelli and of course my physiotherapist Freddy. Hopefully step by step I will feel better with their indications.

“I still don’t feel like I am 100 per cent but the biggest problem now is that my ribs are very painful after the crash in qualifying in the U.S. It will be probably another hard weekend in Germany, but as always, we will do our best to stay as much as possible close to the lead of the Championship.”