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Casey Stoner will race for Ducati next season, having tired of being behind Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa in the Honda pecking order.

The 21-year-old has signed with Ducati in a deal rumoured to be worth around $2 million, as new contracts for Hayden and Marco Melandri confirmed his status as only Honda's fourth choice rider.

Stoner admitted it was difficult to part ways with Honda, but said he was tired of being limited to riding a satellite bike and that the opportunity to race with a factory model for an improving Ducati set-up was too good to turn down.

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He explained: "Every year Ducati are winning more races, they are becoming more competitive, as are the Bridgestone tyres.

"They won Jerez this year and they did well in Qatar, which was a bad track for them last year. Ducati are looking better and better every year and that's another thing to take into account."

The young Australian is currently seventh in the MotoGP standings, having enjoyed an impressive debut season that included a second-place finish in Turkey, although he has been hindered by his crashing out of several races.

His place at Honda will be taken by 34-year-old Carlos Checa, who has cut his second spell with Yamaha short to return to the manufacturer with which he spent the first eight years of his professional racing career.

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