Stoner: 'Win or bin' one turn early, slams marshals

MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner fell while fighting with Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa for victory at the penultimate turn of Sunday's German Grand Prix.

The factory RCV riders had been in a class of their own throughout the race, exchanging the lead several times, with Pedrosa ahead for the final eleven laps.

However title leader Stoner remained in his wheeltracks throughout and was planning to try and snatch his fourth victory of the season at the final turn.

But he never made it that far.

As the Australian pushed a little harder into the penultimate left hander at the base of the hill, his front wheel folded and he slid off at high speed.

"I'm pretty disappointed, I had planned to go for my 'win or bin' effort in the last corner, not that one!" said Stoner with a wry smile.

"I was comfortable for the whole race and felt we had a few tenths a lap over Dani.

"Then on the final lap I made a small mistake going into the first turn and knew I couldn't pass at the bottom of the hill [where he went on to crash].

"I basically just wanted to turn the bike underneath and get a good run going into the final turn, where I was confident I could make the pass.

"But as soon as I went to turn the bike in a little bit harder, the front just went away from me and it was 'game over'."

Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo was 15 seconds behind the Repsol riders at that point and Stoner slammed the trackside marshals for not helping him rejoin.

"[The fall is] disappointing for sure, but for me the most disappointing thing about it was the marshals," he said.

"I've seen them pick up loads of different riders and get going and there was nothing wrong with my bike, but there was no way they were going to help me.

"Yet again, German marshals have kept me from getting a decent result."

Stoner has now dropped from joint equal with Lorenzo for the title lead to 20-points down in third.

The DNF also marked Stoner's first non-finish since he was taken down by Valentino Rossi at the 2011 Spanish MotoGP.

"We didn't deserve to take so many points back [from Lorenzo] at Assen, but then the same thing happened to me at Jerez last year," said Stoner.

"We just have to keep going forward. Myself and Dani showed we had a huge pace advantage here. Dani's always been fast here and we managed to... to be honest I was confident I had the edge over him today.

"I just made a slight mistake and got caught out."

Round eight of 18 takes place at Mugello in Italy next weekend.

"Fast corners, high speeds and a lot of wheelspin. That's what I enjoy about Mugello," said Stoner. "It's not a small dinky track.

"This track, this afternoon, I wouldn't have been on full throttle for more than a second at any one time due to the grip levels.

"It's frustrating to ride round at 20-30% throttle. It's nice to open it up."

Stoner finished third at Mugello last year, behind Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso.