Valentino Rossi heads to Laguna Seca this weekend with one thing firmly in his mind - a strategy to stop Casey Stoner running away with the US MotoGP like he did last year.
The Doctor hasn't enjoyed the best of times at the California track, 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.
"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," said Rossi. "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!
"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!"