MotoGP – Preview Misano – The pre-race press conference

At the pre-race press conference of the "Cinzano Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera" which officially opened the thirteenth round of the 2009 world championship, 5 riders were present, namely Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Marco Melandri, Alex De Angelis and Nicky Hayden, who just today was confirmed at Ducati for next season too. The Yamaha rider from Pesaro underlined how difficult it will be to stay ahead of Lorenzo and Pedrosa. Misano is indeed his home circuit but it is not among his favourites. The word to the riders with the comments reported by the official MotoGP website.

Valentino Rossi
“It will be very difficult to try to stay ahead of Jorge here – said Rossi – It's already a good objective just to stay ahead of Dani, because with the acceleration here the Honda and his riding style will be good. We aim to reach the podium and get some important points and then after that we'll see the other races.”

Jorge Lorenzo
“We are fast on every track. We will race to gain experience, and hopefully we will be good and lucky.”

Marco Melandri
“I need to get to the finish line since we weren't lucky in Brno and Indy. We can Creed Che do well on this track if we work with the right mentality right from the start. We will compete for seventh/eighth place.”

Alex De Angelis
“We know it won't be easy, but we will fight for the podium like we did last week. The podium in Indy and the fact of racing at home will give me the right motivation to try.”

Nicky Hayden
“We arrive at the home race after a good result. Then, after the news of my confirmation with Ducati, I want to concentrate on doing a good job in these last five GPs of 2009. There are still plenty of races this year!”