A trying afternoon resulted in sixth place for Valentino Rossi at Laguna Seca on Sunday. Having set off from the seventh grid spot, the Italian lost significant time after coming close to an accident, then defending from team-mate Nicky Hayden until the chequered flag.
“We worked well this weekend,” Ducati’s Rossi comments. “We started from a better position than we have in recent races and I got a good launch on the start and tried to stay with the leaders. I did a lap in the mid-’22s, but then I closed the front twice in a row on the bumps in Turn 5 and nearly crashed.
“I still had a tough race after that because Nicky stayed glued to me and didn’t give me a chance to breathe. We obviously don’t want to be fighting for sixth place, but we’re having some problems at the moment and we have to try and do our best with what we have.”
He adds that the Italian squad must improve its turn-in speeds:
“We’re losing too much on corner entry, where I’m very slow because I don’t have enough feeling, but Ducati is working and we must stay focused and positive, making progress step by step.
“In the short-term, we have to make up those missing tenths in order to stay with the group with of Spies, Sic and Dovizioso. Then we’ll think about the others.”
Series
MotoGP
Personalities
Valentino Rossi
Teams
Ducati Team
Other
Get your official MotoGP tickets at Sportstadium.com
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  C. Stoner | Repsol Honda | 43:52.145 |
| 2. | J. Lorenzo | Fiat Yamaha | +5.634 |
| 3. | D. Pedrosa | Repsol Honda | +9.467 |
| 4. | B. Spies | Fiat Yamaha | +20.562 |
| 5. | A. Dovizioso | Repsol Honda | +20.885 |
| 6. | V. Rossi | Ducati | +30.351 |
| 7. | N. Hayden | Ducati | +31.031 |
| 8. | C. Edwards | Tech 3 | +45.502 |
| 9. | H. Barbera | Aspar Team | +51.549 |
| 10. | H. Aoyama | Gresini | +1:08.850 |
| Full results | |||
| Valentino Rossi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Valentino Rossi photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
