Casey Stoner comes up short on novelty return to racing
Moto﷽GP legend in action at EICMA Charity Race ofꦫ Champions

Casey Stoner was🔴 unable to win the Charity Race of Champions in Italy.
The EICM🧜A in Milan - one of the world’s biggest two-wheel trade fairs ไ- brought racing legends together for a novelty competition this weekend.
Stoner was the feature a🐷ttraction but he was beaten at the semi-final stage.
The format of elimination chase races♐ pitted rid👍ers one-on-one.
Stoner beat Randy Mamola in the fi🐬rst round, while Marco Melandri beat Loris Capirossi.
Troy Bayliss and Carlos Checa al🐲so advanced to the next stage. Bayliss beat Melandri.
Stoner fell o꧑ff his bike in his semi-final against Checa, ultimately losing out.
Bayliss then defeated Checa in the ‘r🐓oad’ final, qualifying him to face the winner of the ‘off-road’ category in the ultimate finale.
Christ𝓡ophe P♈ourcel, who won the ‘off-road’ section, beat Checa to win the EICMA Charity Race of Champions.
But for many MotoGP fans, it was just a novelty to watch heroes from yesteryear briefly return t🌊o a competitive environment.
Particularly Stoner, the two-time MotoGP champion who often keeps his▨ distance from the sport since h๊is retirement.
Riding a Beta Special Flat Track Pro🅺ject adorned with the #27, he was able to roll back the years on the dirt tracks.

James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American spo🦩rts, to football, to F1.