MotoGP: Rossi eyes seventh straight Mugello win

[Rory Phoulorie]

By Pablo Elizalde Monday, May 26th 2008, 12:13 GMT

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, 2008Valentino Rossi is looking to score his seventh consecutive victory at his home grand prix this weekend at Mugello.

The Yamaha rider has returned to winning ways after a difficult period, taking victory in the last two races to move into the lead of the championship for the first time since the start of last season.

Rossi will arrive in Italy as hot favourite for a third consecutive win, having dominated the Mugello race since the 2002 season.

The seven-time champion admitted he is eager to score yet another home victory.

"Le Mans was fantastic and I am still feeling very happy when I think about it," said Rossi. "We had a good test afterwards and did a lot of hard work with Bridgestone and on the general setting of our bike, so hopefully we have been able to improve our package even further.

"Everyone knows that Mugello is one of my favourite tracks; I've won there six times in a row and now I want to make it seven.

"It's my home race and also the home race for a lot of our team and to race there is always something very special. It's fast and technical and we know it suits our bike so we will be aiming to be quick right from Friday morning. I hope the weather is good - for us and for all the fans - and then hopefully we can have a big Italian party."

Teammate Jorge Lorenzo is also traveling to Italy with high hopes despite his injuries, which the Spaniard said are not still completely healed.

"I have to be really grateful for the fact that I have recovered so quickly from my injuries and to have had such great professionals making sure that was the case," he said. "Obviously we're still not going to be at 100% for Mugello but with every race that passes I'm able to put more weight on the footrests.

"I'm going to Italy with high hopes because it is one of my favourite circuits, with lots of fast and flowing corners. We have some favourable tracks coming up but we can't rely too much on that because in sport, and especially in motorcycle racing, you never know what can happen.

"This is a special race for me because it will be my hundredth appearance in the World Championship. It has all gone really fast and if I ever make it to 200 then I hope it goes just as fast - that would mean I'm having just as much fun as I have up to now and hopefully I'll have helped the fans enjoy it too."

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