Casey Stoner (#27 Marlboro Ducati, winner):

Q I heard your television interview, Casey. I think it's an Australian expression, but you said you were "stoked." I think that was about right, wasn't it? Surely one of your greatest ever racing weekends.

A We had a really good run at Sachsenring as well, leading up to the race. Everything was working great. We had pole position, fastest in every session. Then we get to the race, and we didn't have the right stuff. But we came here and really wanted to make sure we had the best possible setting we could. We've been making improvements. We haven't just sort of been happy with the setting. We've always tried to make those small improvements. We made another one again this morning warmup. And from there, we were just able to, sitting on the grid, I was comfortable with what setting I had, I was comfortable with the tires working until race distance, and we just had to go on and do the job. I started off, didn't get the best start, but it was good enough to be close to Dani and ultimately to pass him into Turn 3. From there, I just tried to see how fast everybody else would go behind me. I was starting to pull away from Dani just going sort of high :22s, and then I think Chris got past Dani and started to chase me down, so I really had to up my pace a bit. It was difficult pulling away from Chris for a while there, very difficult. I had to really stay focused, stay concentrated. After I started to pull a small gap, I just sort of kept my head down a little bit and made sure I rode off a few more laps, just to seal the victory. The team, tires, everything's just been awesome this weekend.

Q You said this weekend, but you almost said "this year." Because we're coming up to the summer break, you lead the World Championship by 44 points. I know you never say it's perfect, but near perfect for you. A fantastic opening to the season.

A It's hard to me to explain the feelings and emotions that we've gone through this year, and to be in the position where I am now in my second year, I never dreamed of it. If anybody asked me what was possible at the beginning of the season, which a lot of people did, I was hoping to be inside the top five of the Championship, which is looking pretty good now. I guess we've sort of had to set our goals a little bit higher. We've been slowly increasing our points in the Championship since, I suppose, the last seven races, I think, and we've lost some and we've won some. The last couple of races have been really good for us. I think we just need to stay focused and keep going the way we have been to try and secure this.

Q Summer break coming up. Home to Australia. A bit of a rest?

A No, actually. I just want to go home and train. I haven't been able to do a heck of a lot for the last few months, really, since I was in Australia last. So I really want to go back there and get with my trainer and try and do a few hours on the bicycle before I start the last half of the season, and make sure I'm fit and strong enough for it.

Q I imagine, when you arrive home in Australia, there's going to be a fair amount of interest in what you've been doing while you've been away.

A I've already got a media day set up, so I guess we'll find out how much interest there is. Where I go, there's not a lot of people around. I can sort of stay nice and quiet and just concentrate on the training, I think.

Chris Vermeulen (#71 Rizla Suzuki, second place):

Q We look at your win in France in the rain, and we look at your performance today. This is right up with that, and perhaps in your mind even better.

A It was great. We've been quick here most of the weekend - not quite as quick as Casey, and that showed today. But the team, the bike, the Rizla Suzuki, the Bridgestone tires, everybody's been working very, very hard. To me, it was comfortable to ride. A great race, and I'm very happy to be on the podium.

Q Once you got past Dani, you must have had thoughts of trying to catch Casey, but he just seemed to pick up the pace when it mattered, didn't he?

A It wasn't really a thought, it was a plan. But it didn't quite turn out. He was too quick. But I had my head down, and I was trying 100% for those few laps. At one point I actually thought I was catching him, but I must've been kidding myself, I think. I was trying my hardest to hang on, and I didn't even look at my pit board. It was probably five or six laps after I passed Dani, and Casey started to go a little bit. I looked at the board, how many laps there was to go, and my gap was already seven or eight seconds to the guy behind me. I thought, "Geez, we've pulled away." I just kept my head down in case he made a mistake or any little bit. He had too much speed for us today. But we'll work on that next time.

Q It's been a great first half of the year for you, as well, hasn't it, and the team.

A Definitely. The team have done a great job. I keep saying it, from when I joined Suzuki, when I first rode the GSV-R until now, they've made huge steps. And as well, working with Bridgestone. The progress there with the tires. It's been amazing. It's all heading in the right direction, and I'm really enjoying it.

Q Do you have some news for us about where you will be next year?

A I've agreed to stay with Suzuki, and I'm very happy about that. The team have been great. I really enjoy working with the crew. My chief mechanic, Tom O'Kane, has a lot of experience there, and I'm delighted to stay. So I'm very happy. This silly season, it started real early to me, or I thought so, anyway. I'm glad to be done and sorted and on the bike I want to be on.

Q It just focuses you for that final part of the season, doesn't it? You haven't got anything else to think about.

A I've got nothing else to worry about except trying to beat him, which is not easy. But we're working on it. If we can continue to be quick like we have been here at Laguna Seca and other racetracks, and continue to improve the bike, the tires, everything, that's what we're here to do, and I enjoy that.

Marco Melandri (#33 Gresini Honda, third place):

Q Marco, of course, suffered a dislocated ankle in yesterday's crash, couldn't go out in the morning warmup he was in so much pain. Marco, a staggering performance by you.

A It's unbelievable for me to be here. I just tried to go out this morning to make a start, but I couldn't actually change the gear without any injection for the pain. So I just tried to take a rest til the race. Dr. Costa and all the Clinica Mobile guys make such a good job in making some injection to me, very good, in the best place they could find for to stop the pain. To ride actually wasn't too bad. I just was very stiff in the beginning. But after a few laps, I felt a little bit more comfortable on the bike, and I started to take the movement in the ankle, so I started to be a bit faster, and I took my rhythm. When I saw I was a bit faster than some guys in front of me, I just tried to pass them, but it wasn't so easy for me, because I wasn't 100% in the hard braking, so it wasn't easy to make a pass. But when I got third, I just tried to control Valentino behind me. When I saw he tried to push me more, I did the same as also. My lap time was like :23 low, so it wasn't so bad. Just with seven laps to go, something, eight laps to go, I couldn't actually downshift so good, so I have to use all my leg because I couldn't move the ankle. But I still didn't feel so much pain. Just now that the injection goes, so for me it's so difficult now.

Q Yesterday, you would have never believed, one, you would perhaps race, and two, you'd be sitting up here on the podium.

A No, for sure. I was in very good shape this weekend. The bike was working so good, the team did likewise a very good job, and after Sachsenring I had a very big [inaudible]. The tire went so good. And I was looking to get a podium, but after the crash, for me it wasn't my main target. My main target was just to finish the race. When I saw the rhythm was not too bad anyway and I start to be a slight more comfortable on the track, I thought maybe I can make a good race today. The last lap for me, when I saw the checkered flag, feel like I think one of the best days of my life, because after six or seven months terrible, now I start to just growing up. I'm so happy also for my team, because they've been working hard when everything was bad.

Q Celebrate? Rest? Or perhaps you want to carry on racing the way you are?

A No, for sure now I would like ten days' rest. Just lie on the beach. Sleep. I will stay in California for one week, just to relax, and after I go back to Italy to see the family, come back, train - I hope be able to train - and just try to do my best every day til the end of the season.

Q Marco, it was announced just after the race that you'll be with Ducati the next two years. Can you say anything about that?

A I just can say today is one of the best days of my life after a very bad moment.

Q With the addition of Indianapolis next year, are any of you excited for another stop in the US?

VERMEULEN: I think it's great. I'm really excited. It's another racetrack, a new one for everybody to learn, and to come to the States again, it's such a big market, and obviously here we've got a packed house. If we can get that down there, another race in America, it's exciting for me, and I think everyone feels the same.

Q What if they added a third race in America?

VERMEULEN: [Laughing] Bring it on. Whatever. I'll race anywhere.

Q Casey, extending your deal with Ducati, has that just taken an element of pressure off you as you extend your run for the title?

STONER: Well, they had the option on me anyway. But this is going to be the first year that I've stayed in a team for more than one year. Because I've always tried to better our team each year, to better the machinery that we're on. I'm really happy with the team I'm in now. We've all worked together really well since the beginning of the season. It doesn't take off any pressure, because we've still been doing similar results since the beginning of the year. It's nice to know where I'm going to be seated next year, and I'm very happy to be staying.

Q Casey, you said around Mugello or Catalunya that you'd figured out something with the bike that made everything better. What was it that you figured out?

STONER: Hard to explain. Just in the geometry of the bike, and the way it works in the front end. We were losing quite a lot of ground in the long turns. If you watched any of the races previous to that, we were losing a lot of ground in any of the turns we had to stay on the side of the tire for a long time. We basically changed the geometry, and we improved the front tuning, I suppose, when we're on the gas in long turns, and since then, we've pretty much taken away the weaknesses in those kinds of corners, and we've also made a little bit of strength in the other ones.