Capirossi to reach 300 starts
Added on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Capirossi to reach 300 starts
MotoGP veteran Loris Capirossi will start a milestone 300th GP this weekend in Qatar in the opening round of the 2010 MotoGP championship.
The Rizla Suzuki rider, whose MotoGP career has also seen him ride bikes by Ducati, Honda, Yamaha and Aprilia, will reach the landmark figure on Sunday under the floodlights of Losail and has admitted that there will be some emotion as he lines up on the grid this weekend.
But the 36-year-old has admitted that he will have to forget the sentiment as the lights turn green if he is to help Suzuki to drive on and attempt to close the gap between them and the rest of the MotoGP paddock this season.
“The Qatar GP will see a big milestone in my career as I start my 300th race,” he said. “I never thought I would get to this many, but I have been lucky in my career and I have always given 100% and kept myself fit so that I have been able to stay at the top. I never really think about how many races I have been in, but this number is very special and I guess it will probably never happen for another rider.
” Anyway, once the race has started my attitude will be the same as it was in 1990 – full gas and full attack! The race for the team is also important because we have to continue with the improvements and good direction that we found at the Qatar test last month. I know we have some work to do, but we are very close now and all the guys in the team and back in Japan have worked really hard. I hope we can challenge the fast guys more consistently this year.”
