Casey Stoner was the "big step forward" so devastating effective at Donington Park, a flash in the pan or the beginning of a sustained fightback title?Casey Stoner untouchable expected to form Donington Park was a sign of things to come, after cruising to his first victory since the season opener in Qatar on Sunday, the eighth round of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship.
After Qatar, Stoner was repeatedly frustrated by bad luck, incidents and handling problems - but was back on track with podiums in Mugello and Catalonia, and then was given a new electronic system for dealing in the post-test of Catalan.
It is this system of credits that Stoner as "a great step forward" and there was no doubt that the # 1 seemed to have found something extra in Donington Park.
After being more than half a second clear of his rivals in both wet and dry, the young Australian then led to the 30 lap race from start to finish - to cross the finish line 5.8secs clear of world championship leader Valentino Rossi.
"This has been a great weekend for us and it's great to know that we are able to fight that bit harder. The last three races han ido quite well for us in general but we have taken a big step forward with the new electronic system, which worked so well in the test of Catalunya and then here, "said Casey on Sunday night.
"After a disappointing season start since the opening round in Qatar is nice to feel as if we are back on track and this weekend ha ido well from the start. Initiated in free practice with some good lap times and had just received better since then, wet and dry.
"Today the bike is perfect, even at the end of the race we had very good traction and I want to thank all my team - Filippo [designer], Vitto [test rider] and all the people at Ducati - for the hard work that we are doing. "
As a result of his victory Donington, the current MotoGP world champion has been moved up one place to third in the 2008 classification, while closing the gap to five points leader Rossi title and to second place by nine Dani Pedrosa.
But Rossi with 45 points still lie ahead, Stoner hopes of defending their crown might depend largely on the degree of effectiveness of the new electronic system has proved in other ways - starting next Saturday in Assen.
"We only hope that this new electronic system will work as well in the rest of the tracks as it has in Catalunya and Donington Park," admitted Stoner.
Meanwhile, team-mate Marco Melandri found no such progress with his Desmosedici and finished the British Grand Prix in 16th position, one place lower than what had started, having been overtaken by even novice Alex de Angelis - which fell in the second round . One way or another, suffering from Melandri, surely can not continue indefinitely…
"I'm very, very disappointed with this and I'm sorry for the team," said the former MotoGP World Championship runner-up. "Probably the only thing we can do now is put this Grand Prix behind us and try to think about the next race. In such a difficult situation like this, not even to have two consecutive days with the same weather conditions is a great obstacle only because there is no time to find the right path. Today not even get the feeling back that I had on Friday in dry, which is not surprising, but definitely better than today. Now we have to reboot and start again from scratch on Thursday. "
"We realize that this is a very difficult moment for Marco," said Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. "I think we need to be near him and try to help in any way we can, so you can find more faith in the package you have."
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