Fourth place for Rossi after dissapointing US Grand Prix Laguna Seca

Valentino Rossi took fourth place in the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca today, after a spirited ride in difficult conditions from fifth on the grid. Team-mate Edwards was unable to fulfil his dream of a home-race success and crossed the line in eleventh after a race led from flag-to-flag by series leader Casey Stoner.

Rossi lost some ground at the start and found himself behind Edwards for the first part of the lap. He quickly moved ahead of his team-mate however and the pair crossed the line for the first time in fourth and fifth respectively. On lap five Marco Melandri took Edwards and set off after Rossi, overtaking the Italian a few laps later and relegating him to fifth. After Melandri had in turn passed Dani Pedrosa, Rossi quickly began to close the gap on the Spaniard until he was able to strike at the end of lap twenty to claim fourth. For several laps he then looked to be closing the gap to Melandri but a lack of grip forced him to slacken off and he eventually crossed the line 30.664 seconds behind Stoner.

Edwards looked comfortable in sixth for much of the race but as his tyres too lost performance in the latter stages he was caught by a collection of riders and relegated to eleventh. Rossi and Edwards hold on to second and seventh respectively in the championship but the gap from Rossi to Stoner is extended to 44 points, with seven rounds remaining. The MotoGP paddock now embarks on a well-deserved summer break before action recommences at Brno in the Czech Republic in late August.

Postmatch
"Today was incredibly disappointing because, with the tyre situation like this, it was like our rivals were in a different race. My team and I worked very hard, especially after yesterday's crash, and we did the maximum we could to have our bike in the best possible condition. However without grip it was impossible to fight with the leaders. I rode the best race I could and I was very happy to pass Pedrosa, but I couldn't catch Melandri; we just didn't have the right rhythm or grip today. I'm very sad for last weekend in Sachsenring because there Michelin was strong and we missed a chance to make up some important points there. After today we can see just how important! It seems that tyres are the deciding factor for this season and this is a pity for the fans and for the show. We are not giving up; there are seven races left and we know that Michelin are going to work as hard as they possibly can in order to make the situation better for the second part of the season, but Stoner is very strong and we know it will be very hard. Anyway, we have some holidays now and we will be back in Brno to fight as hard as we can until the end."

Feeling bad after crash

Valentino Rossi's 2007 title aspirations took a dent on Sunday at the Sachsenring, when the Italian suffered his first non-score of the season after falling from his Fiat Yamaha.

Rossi started from sixth on the grid, slipped to ninth at turn one, then passed Shinya Nakano and Alex Barros to reach the rear of Randy de Puniet's Kawasaki by lap 3 of 30.

The Italian initially struggled to find a way around the ZX-RR rider, before making a creative lunge through a long low-speed right hander on lap five. Whilst Rossi made the pass stick, he fell just seconds later when he lost the front of his M1 as he tried to complete the turn.

"Unfortunately I made a mistake today and I want to say sorry to everyone - my team, Yamaha and of course all my fans," said a downbeat Rossi. "I lost some places at the start and had to wait a lap before I could start to push, but everything was feeling very good.

"Getting past de Puniet was hard because in the part of the track where it's best to overtake he was very fast. Finally I made my move and I made a great pass but I made a mistake and lost the front," he confirmed.

To make matters worse, Casey Stoner's late race tyre problems meant that the Italian could have gained valuable ground on the young Australian. Stoner began the event 21 points ahead of Rossi, but left Germany 32 points clear - despite limping home in fifth position, his joint worse finish of the year.

"I'm so disappointed because today our package was working very well and we missed the chance to make up a lot of points on Stoner," stated former five times MotoGP world champion Rossi. "We know from Pedrosa and Colin [Edwards'] performance that the Michelin tyres worked well until the end and I'm sad that we weren't there to fight.

"Luckily Stoner was only fifth so the points situation is not as bad as it could have been. I'm very glad we only have seven days until the next race because right now I'm feeling quite bad, but very determined for America!" he concluded, referring to next weekend's US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, the last event before the MotoGP summer break.

"It's a great disappointment with Valentino because we lost the chance to recover some points," admitted team director Davide Brivio. "However this is racing and we know that our package is working very well now and we will get the chance to try again in just one week's time. Today gives us double motivation for Laguna."

Incredible come back !

Valentino Rossi, riding a Yamaha, made an incredible comeback to win the Dutch Grand Prix here on Saturday. It was a remarkable victory for Rossi who started 11th on the grid but had already risen to third with a quarter of the race run.

Rossi snatched victory 1.909-seconds ahead of championship leader Casey Stoner of Australia with American reigning champion Nicky Hayden jumping from 13th position to third at 6.077 after 26 laps on the TT track.

"Waouw, amazing! What a great race! Everything worked like a dream," said Rossi.

"The motorcycle was perfectly adapted and the Michelin tyres were perfect. I adopted an aggressive tactic and they were worn at the end of the race but they held up.

"It's a great result and important for the championship. I didn't really expect to have such an achievement," said Rossi.

Stoner quickly passed pole-sitter and countryman Chris Vermeulen and he was soon followed by American John Hopkins.

Hopkins failed to exert much pressure on Stoner but that came soon enough as a storming Rossi passed the American just before the halfway mark in the race.

The battle for victory raged with Rossi hounding Stoner until three laps from the end when he passed the 22-year-old on a long corner and comfortably eased away to reignite his championship bid.

It was the sixth win at Assen for Rossi, having won four times in MotoGP, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2002, once in 250cc in 1998 and once in 125cc in 1997.

Stoner now leads Rossi by just 19 points at the top of the standings.

But Rossi's confidence is building at the half-way stage of the 18-leg world championship series.

"It's not a slim margin by any means against a rider of Casey's calibre. But if we succeed in improving the motorcycle and above all the tyres, everything remains possible."

Rossi has room to work on the improvements he needs as the next round takes place in Sachenring, Germany on July 17.