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Valentino Rossi (middle) took the runner-up spot in the German Grand
Prix at the Sachsenring last Sunday and the Fiat Yamaha Team
rider moved back to the top of the championship after Dani
Pedrosa crashed out of the lead on lap six. |
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The Fiat Yamaha Team leave behind a two-month road trip
across Europe this week as they take flight for America
for their final appointment before the midseason break,
with Valentino Rossi in fine form and on top of the
MotoGP World Championship. After a rain-hit run of six
races in eight weeks, culminating in Sunday’s
Sachsenring splashdown, a trip to the sunshine state of
California for the US Grand Prix could not have come at
a better time and it represents an opportunity for Rossi
to consolidate his series lead before a well-earned
holiday.
Second place in Germany, combined with a zero-point
score for his closest title rival Dani Pedrosa, has
given the Italian a sixteen-point advantage in the chase
for the title with eight races remaining, although
Sunday’s race winner Casey Stoner lurks just four points
further back in third place. Having been absent from the
US podium since taking third when MotoGP returned to
Laguna Seca in 2005, Rossi’s target is to recreate
Yamaha’s success during the track’s first spell on the
Grand Prix calendar between 1988 and 1994, when the
factory won five of the six premier-class races.
After struggling for confidence over the past four
rounds following a run of crashes, Jorge Lorenzo is
hoping to bounce back from his latest setback, a third
lap spill at the Sachsenring, on his first visit to
Laguna Seca as a MotoGP rider. The Mallorcan did attend
the USGP last season, however, as an expert for Spanish
television, having already fallen in love with
California during the previous winter when he went to
ride dirt-track under the tutelage of Yamaha legend
‘King’ Kenny Roberts at his Modesto ranch.
That experience could come in handy this weekend at the
notoriously capricious circuit, where the intense dry
heat, unpredictable asphalt and anti-clockwise layout
reward the loose and aggressive riding style perfected
in the dust bowls of the west coast. As the rear slides
around, the front wheel is often left spinning in thin
air through the dramatic elevation changes and fast,
sweeping corners – none of them more spectacular than
the world-famous ‘Corkscrew’. Machine set-up is
relatively straightforward, with throttle connection a
much more important factor than top-end power and a well
balanced chassis the key to those elevation changes and
diverse corners.
Valentino Rossi
“Laguna hasn’t been one of my favourite tracks in the three
years since we’ve been going there and it’s one of the only
ones on the calendar where I haven’t won. We’re aiming to
win this week, that’s for sure! It’s been a hard track for
our bike but it’s been a very good track for Bridgestone and
I am confident that our package will work very well there.
The last two years I’ve had serious disappointments in the
race and it’s been one of the low points of both seasons, I
hope I have had all the bad luck I’m going to have there and
that this year I can enjoy myself! We are going there with
the same package that we had in Germany and so we’re going
to have to work very hard to close the gap in performance to
Stoner; we can’t afford to start from anywhere except the
front because, with him in this form, it is then very hard
to catch him. California is a great place and this year we
will be doing all we can to leave it with good memories, not
bad ones!”
Jorge Lorenzo
“I’ve never raced at Laguna but last year I went there to
commentate for Spanish TV and I had a great time, California
is an amazing place! I am so excited to finally get the
chance to race there because it’s a very special track which
everyone always talks about and I am looking forward to
riding at a place with such famous corners as the corkscrew.
I know it’s a difficult place but I am feeling stronger and
I will be doing my best to get to know the circuit as
quickly as possible and find a good feeling with the bike
there. We need to work hard from that start, together with
Michelin, to improve the grip issues we’ve been having. I am
still disappointed about Sachsenring but luckily I wasn’t
hurt and it’s good to have the chance to move on quickly and
focus on the next race. Now my target is to have a good
weekend so that I can enjoy the summer break.”
Davide Brivio
“We’re very happy to go to Laguna leading the championship
and feeling quite strong. It’s never been a very successful
track for us so we have to try and improve on our third
place from 2005, which is our best result. It’s always
fantastic to race there because the atmosphere is incredible
and it’s a pleasure to race in California. Hopefully we will
have some Californian sunshine! We need to go there on the
attack and our target is to remain on the podium and
maintain our championship lead.”
Daniele Romagnoli
“Jorge is still very disappointed with the race in Germany
but thankfully he escaped unhurt from the crash. Now we have
to focus on working hard at Laguna Seca on the problems he
had at the Sachsenring. The issue is a lack of rear grip,
which was obviously exacerbated in the wet on Sunday, and at
Laguna it will be important again because we’ve seen over
the past two seasons how hard this circuit is on the tyres.
We won’t be trying anything new with the electronics – our
focus is on working with the geometry of the bike and the
suspension to find a more comfortable base setting for
Jorge. This is a new track for him so he doesn’t have any
experience to fall back on, which will make it an
interesting weekend for sure!”
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