Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi has vowed to keep his home fans cheering at the Misano MotoGP round next weekend and make up for the disappointment of his breakdown at his home GP in 2007.

The Doctor lives a stone's throw away from the Italian track and is going to the Adriatic coast with a 50-point lead in the championship.

“I’m really excited to be going to Misano in such good shape and leading the championship," said Rossi.

"Last year the race was a huge disappointment for us, a very low point of the season and especially sad because it happened in front of my home fans. But this time things are very different; we’ve had two fantastic races in a row and we are feeling very strong and very confident.

"We are out to make up for 2007! Misano is so close to my home town of Tavullia that I know there will be an army of Italian fans there, and I hope it’s going to be a great party for all of them. Last year there was some terrible weather before the race as well so I really hope that this year we have sunshine and we can enjoy a fantastic race by the sea!”