http://motomatters.com/news/2010/07/09/official_casey_stoner_joins_three_man_fa.htmlAfter months of secrecy, the announcement is finally out in the open. Ducati and Honda today officially announced the news that Casey Stoner is to leave Ducati and is heading to Honda. The move has been expected for a long time, ever since news leaked out after the Jerez round of MotoGP. Stoner's father and manager Colin accompanied his son to the Jerez race, and has not been seen at a race since.
The news is no real surprise: Stoner is known to have a very strong relationship with Livio Suppo, and when the former Ducati team boss left Borgo Panigale to join HRC,
he reportedly told Ducati's management that his first target would be the young Australian, and that he intended to bring Stoner to Honda. 
Since winning the championship for Ducati at his first attempt, in 2007 on the brand new 800cc Desmosedici GP7, Stoner's success - though still phenomenal - has waned. His 2008 championship defense faltered at Laguna Seca and was scuppered by consecutive falls at Brno and Misano, and his 2009 challenge was halted by a mystery illness that was later diagnosed as lactose intolerance. Problems with a different set of forks being used in the 2010 bike caused Stoner to crash out unexpectedly early this season, though reverting to the forks from last year appear to have resolved the issue. Despite the problems, Casey Stoner still has 20 victories in MotoGP, putting him level with the legendary Freddie Spencer.
For Stoner, a switch to Honda would be a return, rather than a new adventure. The Australian rode a 990cc satellite RC211V for Lucio Cecchinello's LCR Honda team in his debut year in 2006, where he made an instant impact, taking pole in his second ever MotoGP race and gaining a reputation for being incredibly fast, but prone to crashing. That the crashes were down to the nature of the front Michelin tires became clear when Stoner's crashing ceased overnight after switching to the Bridgestone-shod Ducati.
Press releases were issued simultaneously by Honda and Ducati announcing Stoner's move to HRC, but the Honda announcement contained perhaps the most interesting nugget of information. In an almost casual comment, HRC vice president Shuhei Nakamoto confirmed Honda's intention to run a three-man factory effort in 2011, hoping to retain both Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso for HRC. Current expectations are that two riders will figure in the Repsol team, while a separate team will be created under Red Bull sponsorship, with full factory support. Casey Stoner's name has been most often linked to the one-man Red Bull team, but given Andrea Dovizioso's long association with Red Bull, it could make more sense for Dovizioso to take that spot.
Speculation will now intensify over who is to take Casey Stoner's spot at Ducati, but the results are almost a foregone conclusion.
Apart from some last minute wrangling over alternatives, Valentino Rossi seems almost certain to join the Marlboro Ducati team for 2011. That announcement is likely to come by Brno.
Below are the official press releases announcing Casey Stoner's switch from Ducati to Honda.
