Casey Stoner made a lot of Italians very happy in 2007 when he clinched his and Ducati’s first Grand Prix World Championship at the Twin-Ring Motegi circuit in Japan, with three races still to go.
Casey won ten of the eighteen races, soundly beating Dani Pedrosa in to second place. It was the first time a non-Japanese manufacturer had taken the title since 1974, when Phil Read rode his MV Agusta to victory.
MotoGP had changed its rules reducing the four-stroke engine size to 800cc and Ducati proved to be the fastest with a bike that was markedly quicker than its rivals, as was especially evident on tracks with long straights.