Rossi hopes to end Laguna Seca hoodoo
Added on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Rossi hopes to end Laguna Seca hoodoo
Valentino Rossi hopes that he can overcome his Laguna Seca hoodoo this weekend as he looks to keep the seemingly unstoppable Casey Stoner at bay.
Stoner has won the last three races on the MotoGP circuit and he returns to California this weekend looking to repeat last season’s US Grand Prix success whilst Rossi, currently leading the title race by 16 points over Dani Pedrosa and 20 points over Stoner, has never won at Laguna Seca.
But Rossi believes that his poor record at the circuit has to change if he is to hold off the challenge from the defending world champion.
“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,” said the Italian.
“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!
“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; 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!”
