Happy Birthday Mate...And heres your Ducati HyperM

Monday, October 15th, in Melbourne, Casey Stoner officially inaugurated “Ducati City”, the new Ducati Store in Melbourne, in the presence of 150 passionate Australian Ducatisti. The young World Champion played a part in the splendid double win that granted Ducati, two races in advance, the Constructor and Team titles, at Phillip Island on Sunday, along with Loris Capirossi. On top of that, he turns 22 today, October 16th and received a flaming Hypermotard as a surprise gift - something both appreciated by Casey and something that he has wanted for some time.

“Thanks so much to Ducati; I really appreciate this surprise gift even if you all make me become redder than the bike”, he said, shy but clearly

happy after the traditional “Happy Birthday, Casey” that welcomed the entrance of the cake. “Sunday was an incredible day for me with everyone under the podium singing the Australian national anthem”, he said. “But in retrospect, this season was perfect. After Qatar, I thought, ‘wow, we won a race’, in the middle of the season, I thought, ‘wow, we can win the title’ and yesterday, ‘wow, we won my home GP!’

At the question if, for next year, he would keep number 27 or if he would move to 1, the public is divided over who prefers the first proposal and who prefers the second. “I am very attached to 27,” responded Casey, “because that is the number that I got when I was racing with the team of Alberto Puig, a person that I highly regard and that helped me in the beginning of my career in Europe. However, I also think of all of the people that have worked so hard, just like my team, Ducati and I have done to obtain this result, deserving number 1. I haven’t made a definite decision yet, but I am leaning more towards number 1”.

Casey will spend his birthday on a plane flying to Malaysia where, next Sunday, the 17th race of the season will take place before returning to Europe for the closing of the wonderful 2007 season in Valencia, Spain on November 4th.