World championship honours are out of his grasp, but Casey Stoner will battle through the pain barrier and ride in the Australian MotoGP meeting at Phillip Island this weekend.
The 2007 champ is nursing a painful wrist injury which requires surgery - but insists he'll still 'put up a good fight' in front of his Australian fans.
"We found it in Misano and it plagued us that weekend," Stoner told News Limited of his wrist injury.
"It plagued us through Indianapolis, especially the fact that I crashed in first practice and injured it again.
"Last weekend in Motegi (Japan) the pain wasn't too bad but physically I was worn out.
"The rest of my body is trying to compensate for my weakness there, and it really wore me out.
"Hopefully it's not too windy and it's a little easier to control the bike.
"We should run reasonably competitively until the end of the race."
Stoner is confident he'll be back at peak fitness for the 2009 season, but has first set his sights on upstaging his successor, Valentino Rossi.
"Personally, we were a little bit stronger in Japan," he said.
"I just physically couldn't keep it up. We felt comfortable, the bike felt good and the races prior to that we've felt stronger so we just need to pull it out again this weekend.
"My confidence was blown after a few crashes so it was good to get back on the podium. I'm quite sure we can at least put up a good fight."
Stoner lit up the circuit to claim honours on Phillip Island in 2007, and the Queenslander hasn't ruled out a repeat.
"A repeat is always possible," he said.
"I think every race this year we've had some sort of chance of winning if some things had gone a little better, but things don't always work out perfectly.
"We're just going to have to do our homework, do our best in the practice sessions and see what happens for the race."
