Marlboro Ducati's Valentino Rossi took another setup punt this morning and moved the position of his front wheel to try and help get some feeling through the hard-compund Bridgestones for today's Misano MotoGP race and it worked - for 18 laps.

The Italian nine-time world champion was not only able to stay with Spies, Simoncelli and Dovizioso he also set a fastest lap early on. Rossi was able to run a proper race pace until more than half distance laps until the grip ran out but he still finished in seventh from 11th on the grid.

"We are quite happy because it is one of our good races for us this year and also because we don't expect to be so fast from our performance in the practice. This morning we did a modify to the front, we modified the position of the front tyre and this provide me better grip so I could push more," said The Doctor, speaking to bikesportnews.com this evening.

"I did a great start and good first and second lap, and I could stay with Dovizioso, Simoncelli and also with Spies. It is a good target for us at this moment and if we did this modify yesterday maybe I can start also one row in front. I could stay with those guys for 18 laps and then I start to have some problems, some slides so I have to slow down but anyway is a good race and I am happy as I ride well."