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.

Failure to keep pace with Stoner

Valentino Rossi blamed tyre problems for his failure to keep pace with Casey Stoner during the British Grand Prix. The Italian Yamaha rider finished fourth, 21 seconds behind race-winner Stoner, who increased his points lead over the five-time world champion from 14 to 26 points.

But he looked on course for a podium finish until his wet Michelin tyres began to fall apart as a dry line emerged in the late stages of the race and left him powerless to defend from Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki.

"Unfortunately today the conditions were not good for us at all and we had a lot of problems," said Rossi.

"In the full dry we would have been at our strongest, in full wet we would have been also quite good, but with a drying track like this we struggled a lot.

"I had to go very carefully just to be able to finish and, because we were riding with a wet tyre on a dry track, my tyre was destroyed by the end."

Rossi went off the track at Coppice after passing John Hopkins for third in the middle portion of the race and said that he suffered from an extreme lack of grip afterwards.

"I made a mistake and ran off the track when I was going the best I went during the whole race and then as the track began to dry I had less and less grip," he added.

"It seems that this year, when the conditions aren't perfect, we suffer a lot."

Rossi's performance was made all the more bizarre by virtue of his team-mate Colin Edwards finishing second - ten seconds ahead of him despite professing to hate wet weather races.

Stoner holds off Rossi at Spain

Championship leader Casey Stoner produced an ice-cool performance to hold off a charging Valentino Rossi and claim his fourth race victory of the season in a thrilling Catalan MotoGP on Sunday.

A Spanish party !

After enjoying the raucous backing of over 85,000 fans at his home circuit, Valentino Rossi is looking forward to yet more passionate support in Barcelona this Sunday. Despite the recent success of local rider Dani Pedrosa, Rossi remains a firm favourite with the Spanish fans and always looks forward to performing for them, whether it be at Barcelona, Jerez or Valencia.

"Barcelona is always a great race for me and I've won there the last three years with Yamaha, so hopefully we can do it again," says Rossi. "I am lucky to have lots of fans in Spain, even though I have had some close rivalries with Spanish riders, and it is always a pleasure to ride in front of them. I got a fantastic reception when I won the race at Jerez earlier in the season so hopefully I can start the same kind of party in Barcelona.

"Dani Pedrosa will also have a lot of support this weekend and I expect him to be a difficult rival once again after such a good race at Mugello. Also Stoner will be strong, especially down the long straight, but Yamaha and Michelin have worked really hard to close the gap on our rivals and I think we are ready to battle with them at every track now. After Mugello we have three more races at three of my favourite tracks so hopefully we can continue with the good progress we have made recently and be back on top of the podium again!"

6 in a row at home race

Valentino Rossi set yet another record in his extraordinary racing career today, becoming the first rider in the history of the sport to take six consecutive wins at his home circuit. The 85,480 adoring fans who had braved the threat of rain and turned the green hillsides of the Mugello valley bright yellow were rewarded in style as the Italian scored an emphatic and emotional victory, his fourth here for Yamaha and eighth in total from twelve years of racing.

Under miraculously dry skies, the Fiat Yamaha Team rider got a poor start from third on the grid and found himself down in eighth position at turn one. Once he had built up enough heat in his Michelin tyres however he set out in earnest, picking off riders one-by-one and moving up to second behind Dani Pedrosa by lap seven of 23.

Two laps later Rossi made his move on the Spaniard and from then on the pair were racing just a few tenths of a second apart, with Rossi extending the advantage around the twistier parts of the circuit and Pedrosa closing it slightly down the long home straight.

Little by little however Rossi began to pull away and he eventually crossed the line 3.074 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. A late pass by Alex Barros on series-leader Casey Stoner for third place helped Rossi's points deficit and he now lies just nine points behind Stoner in the standings, with some of his favourite races coming up in the next few weeks.

Rossi's postmatch

Position: 1stTime: 42'42.385

"To win in Mugello once again is an incredible emotion for me and I am very happy at this moment. Racing in front of the fans here is always something unbelievable and they give me an extra motivation.

It's an incredible feeling to see so much yellow around the track, the fans were 'coming crazy' today and it was a wonderful race! As we had hoped it stayed dry, the sun came out and everything went to plan! My team have worked brilliantly, my bike was perfect and I could ride it exactly how I wanted, I need to say a huge thank you to them and also to Michelin.

I didn't get a very good start but once my tyres had warmed up my M1 really flew and I was able to fight back to the front. From the very beginning everyone was pushing at 100% and it was great fun in those first few laps!

It was really a perfect race for me today and I felt like I had everyone on my side; Mugello is a magical track for me and this victory gives us a lot of power and confidence for the next races. I had a special helmet for this race with a big heart on it and today I think we showed that we really have a lot of heart at Yamaha. This is a great, great moment for me."

Gunning for six in a row at Mugello

Valentino Rossi has been imperious at the Italian Grand Prix since 2002 and the Italian goes for a sixth successive victory at Mugello on Sunday.

The seven-times world champion lies second in the MotoGP standings, 21 points behind Australian Casey Stoner after five races, but is the undisputed master of the twisting Tuscan circuit in the hills north of Florence.

Rossi has finished top of the podium at Mugello every year since the MotoGP class was introduced in 2002.“I’ve got a special relationship with Mugello. I’ve won many races there, in particular the last three years with Yamaha,” he told the official MotoGP site (www.motogp.com).

“It’s a track on which I’ve disputed the greatest races of my career. And even though this year there is another race in Italy, at Misano (in the San Marino Grand Prix in September), Mugello stands out because of the big crowds and the atmosphere.”

Rossi made a good start to the season, riding his Yamaha to second place behind Stoner in the opening race in Qatar before winning in Spain.

Since then, however, he has gone off the boil. Second place in the Chinese grand prix in early May was sandwiched between a tenth-place finish in Turkey and sixth place at a wet Le Mans circuit two weeks ago. Stoner, meanwhile, notched up two more wins and a third place to take control of the championship.

Rossi’s struggle to control his Yamaha on the slippery circuit at the French Grand Prix underlined the disadvantages of the Michelin tyres he uses compared to the Bridgestones used by Stoner.

“We stayed in France an extra two days and we’ve made some good steps forward, in particular on the tyres,” Rossi said.

“I’m expecting a good battle this weekend. This time the weather should be on our side.” Rossi’s Yamaha will have to be perfectly set-up at Mugello, where the 1.14km straight - one of the longest in MotoGP racing - should favour the raw speed of the Ducati ridden by Stoner. Stoner will be keen to erase the memory of his race in Italy last year, when he was flipped roughly off his bike at the fast Arrabbiata bend on the ninth lap.

“Mugello is one of my favourite tracks. It’s where I got my first pole in 125cc,” he said.

I don't settle for second

Valentino Rossi was making no apologies for his minor mistake late in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, which handed victory to championship leader Casey Stoner.

As at round one in Qatar, where the pair had also battled, Rossi's Yamaha was blown away by the Ducati along the straights - with Shanghai's enormous 1200m back stretch suiting Stoner's Desmosedici perfectly.

However, in terms of overall lap time the pair were all but equal; Rossi closing the gap through the twisty sections, where he frequently passed Stoner, but then losing any ground gained down the straight.

The pressure of battling so closely with Rossi has caused many an opponent to crack in the past. But Stoner was rock solid and a thrilling showdown looked in store until the Italian missed his braking point into the hairpin on lap 16 of 22. That let Suzuki's John Hopkins into second and by the time Rossi retook the runner-up position Stoner was out of reach.

"I enjoyed today a lot, it was a great race, a really exciting battle and my Yamaha was fantastic to the end," claimed Rossi, now 15 points behind Stoner. "We knew that this track would be difficult for us so to be able to fight with Stoner at 100% for the entire race was a great feeling. Of course it's not a win, but I think second place is a very good result for us here.

"I didn't want to give up and just ride for second, I wanted to try to pass him and I made some good overtaking manoeuvres but wasn't able to stay in front down the straight. Then I made a mistake when I hit a bump when braking, had to release the brake and ran off track. It was a pity, but when you're riding on the limit lap after lap then things like this can happen; that's racing!

"Anyway I knew I couldn't give up, I had a nice battle with John and then was able to take second. I think these 20 points are really important and we're still second in the championship. I'm really more sad for what happened in Turkey because if we hadn't had the%

Rossi clinches pole in Shanghai

Five-time world champion Valentino Rossi claimed pole position for the China Grand Prix in Shanghai.
The Italian swept round the 5.281-km circuit in one minute 58.424 seconds on his 20th lap to claim his third pole position in four races this year. Suzuki's John Hopkins was second 0.891 seconds back while his fellow American and Rossi's Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards completed the front row. Ducati's championship leader Casey Stoner was fourth

1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1:58.424
2. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 1:59.315
3. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1:59.406
4. Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda 1:59.516
5. Dani Pedrosa (ESP) Honda 1:59.602
6. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1:59.863
7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1:59.985
8. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 2:00.052
9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 2:00.087
10. Shinyan Nakano (JPN) 2:00.157