Casey Stoner to join Honda World MotoGP team from Ducati

Casey Stoner, the winner of the World MotoGP crown on 2007, will leave Ducati at the end of this season to ride for Honda.

The move by the 24-year-old Australian was confirmed by the Honda Racing Corporations Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto who explained: “Casey will bring speed and experience to our team.

“In the factory Honda squad we already have the strong riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso and we hope to retain these two riders for next year – giving us what would be a truly formidable line-up."

The move by Stoner could pave the way for Valentino Rossi, who has won the elite crown seven times, joining Ducati to form the 'Italian dream team' for the 2011 season.

Meanwhile at the Brno, Noriyuki Haga, riding Ducati, claimed provisional pole start for the Sunday’s ninth Czech Republic round although his supremacy was tested in the closing moments of the session by Coventry’s Cal Crutchlow who closed his Yamaha within a third of a second.

Max Biaggi, the leader in the title stakes, running with 37 points clear of Leon Haslam, was fifth fastest but Haslam, still sore from two crashes in testing last week at Imola, struggled, running almost a full second, and a dozen places down on his Italian rival.

Haslam worked hard, taking a third of a second off his best lap times in between the sessions, but he is now seeking a major transformation ahead of Saturday afternoon’s Superpole grid decider in which he desperately needs a front row start in his efforts of playing catch-up on Biaggi.