Faultless finish required for Rossi
Added on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Faultless finish required for Rossi
Valentino Rossi admits that cannot afford to make any more mistakes as the MotoGP championship passes the halfway point this weekend.
The Italian crashed on the opening lap of the Dutch TT in Assen two weeks ago, handing the championship lead back to Honda rider Dani Pedrosa and allowing Ducati’s Casey Stoner to pull himself back into title contention with a second successive victory.
The Italian, who admitted fault in the crash which took out Randy de Puniet, managed to finish in 11th but admitted that he cannot afford another slip up if he is to regain the crown that he last won in 2005.
“We are going there having lost our championship lead but we’re only four points behind so the situation is certainly much better than it was at this point last season,” said the five-time World Champion.
“I was disappointed with myself in Assen because I missed a great chance but I have put that behind me and I am completely focused on the next race now. We need to be at 100% from the first practice and hopefully we can have a good weekend with no more mistakes!
Rossi also crashed out in Germany last year – the first of three race retirements in 2007 and he hopes that history won’t repeat itself this weekend.
“Last year in Sachsenring I made a mistake and crashed, and at the last race in Assen I also made a mistake,” he added, “So I hope that I’ve now had my bad moment for this year!
“Sachsenring has been a great track for me in the past and it’s a great place to race at; it’s very tight and twisty but it generally suits the Yamaha very well and in 2006 I had a fantastic race there, winning from 11th.”
