Even though Casey Stoner has a strong record thus far at Laguna Seca, the young Australian is not prepared to make any big claims heading into the eighth round of the year, as he continues to recover from a recent illness.

Casey Stoner the 23 year-old Australian has placed third in the last two rounds, behind his World Championship rivals Jorge Lorenzo and current points leader Valentino Rossi at Catalunya and Assen, Stoner almost collapsed due to exhaustion after both races on the podium, due to the illness Stoner has lost the advantage to Rossi in the title race so far.

Casey Stoner and his physical condition could prove to be a deciding factor for the 2007 World Champion at Laguna, Stoner  has won the race in his title triumph season and was second last year.

“The last two GP weekends have not gone according to plan,” said Stoner. “We thought everything was going to be great in Assen, things started off really well and it just went downhill after that. We really struggled but we still came away with a podium and that was important for not losing too many points in the championship.”

“I’m hoping to have recovered by the time we get out on track for this weekend’s GP. I look forward to this race and I look forward to coming to the US every year so we will just have to see how we go. I enjoy the circuit and I’m sure the weather will be nice, but we just have to wait and see because I expected more from the last two and things didn’t go our way.” added Casey Stoner.

The Australian also commented on his visit to the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, he said, “I was amazed, we did the tour and the things you get to see are great. It brings back so many memories because you think back to all the movies, almost every film you’ve ever seen and some part of it seems like it was filmed here. It’s really quite amazing to see and it was a lot of fun!”.

We look forward to this weekends race and watching Casey Stoner mount a title challenge.