Perhaps it’s the cold and snow that has gripped northern England for the past week, or maybe it’s the fact that I commiserated yet another candle being added to the birthday cake. It could even be that there hasn’t been any MotoGP action since November and I’m starting to get itchy feet, but I always find this time of year slightly depressing.

My laments have been heightened this year, however, by the fact that the first hint of any track action was discovering that Casey Stoner had signed up to be HRC’s test rider for yet another season. Having fulfilled some test dates towards the end of 2014 which had been carried over from his previous testing contract, it was unclear whether the Australian would continue to play a role for the Japanese factory with whom he enjoyed such great success in 2011.

After confirmation came of the new partnership in mid-January, he quickly took to the Sepang circuit towards the end of the month, running in settings for the factory riders Marquez and Pedrosa ready for this week’s opening test session. He is also pencilled in for another test later in the year, but it is clear that Stoner still has a passion for riding motorcycles at breakneck speeds… If only it was enough to tempt him back into the sport in which he fired himself into the Hall of Fame.

I’ve never been shy of admitting that I’m a huge fan of Stoner (despite some fans in Australia seeming to think my commentary was somehow that of a whingeing Pom with an anti-Aussie bias), and his bustle and bravery on the track was a sight to behold, with a unique style and will to win which has helped influence the upcoming generation, including Marc Marquez.

There is no way I’m going to argue that Marc hasn’t been a worthy replacement for Casey. In fact for MotoGP as a whole, the Spaniard is much more fan-friendly and media-savvy, as well as an extremely fast racer, who will push the sport to new levels of success in the coming years. MotoGP may be a technological battle of skill and endeavour but it is undeniably also a showcase of characters and you can’t have your ying, without your yang.

If we could have seen the Australian and the sport’s new darling cooped up inside the HRC pit garage, I reckon we would have witnessed both riders being pushed to new extremes of performance. Marquez has inherited Stoner’s ability to ride a bike fast straight out of the box, and deal with his settings not being one hundred per cent perfect – several qualifying sessions last year are good examples, where he rode as quick on his second bike as he did on the first.

Both riders however also have the tendency to get rattled if things aren’t quite going their way; they have regularly made the odd mistake and given their rivals a chance. Lorenzo and Rossi took those chances on occasion in 2014, but on the same bike Pedrosa hasn’t really been able to capitalize on these moments often enough. I believe if it were Stoner taking advantage of Marquez’s errors and vice versa, then it would open the championship up as a whole – giving the consistency of the Yamaha riders credit when it came down to the final reckoning at Valencia.

Alas, it seems that nothing will tempt Stoner back into racing motorcycles instead of testing them, with other ventures in the pipeline back in his home country. I have no doubt that there would still be a chance for him to be a winner again if he made the comeback now, especially with 2015 being a transition season before the playing field is levelled next year. I just think that the stubbornness that characterised his time in MotoGP would not allow him to go back on the promises he made to himself and his family. Testing this week will have to make do without him, but his influence is still evident.

Photo by HRC