"All the riders from 250 are very strong and are already riding the MotoGP bike very well. I was more surprised by James [Toseland] because Superbike is so different" - Valentino Rossi.
The massive expectation ahead of the first European round of the MotoGP season was building rapidly on Thursday at Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain, where nearly a quarter of a million fans are expected over the duration of the grand prix weekend.
Pleasant spring temperatures, a light breeze and spells of Spanish sunshine welcomed the MotoGP fraternity to the Andalusian track, as the teams mounted their hospitality and pit-box fittings and scores of officials, riders teams and media arrived to ready themselves for the weekend - with the MotoGP paddock getting into full swing for the first time in 2008.
Thursday's customary pre-GP press conference saw Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi address a packed press room, where world champion Stoner commented enthusiastically ahead of the weekend's action.
"Well it's seems such a long time that we have been away from the European races and really there is nothing that compares to this!" smiled the Qatar race winner. "There is a special atmosphere here with so many people and at all three grands prix in Spain. It's very good to really start the season here."
"Jerez is a fantastic track, a little bit old style with the long and high speed corners and it's always a pleasure to ride the bike at this circuit," added Rossi, a seven-time race winner at Jerez. "I have great, great memories of good victories here, including last year and I think it will be possible for me to be competitive here. "We know in Qatar we struggled a little bit too much, also in the test. In the test here things were a little better but we have similar issues to Qatar. We've studied the data a lot and we'll wait for tomorrow morning to see our performance, but I think it is possible to have a good weekend.
teks and pict by: crash.net
The massive expectation ahead of the first European round of the MotoGP season was building rapidly on Thursday at Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain, where nearly a quarter of a million fans are expected over the duration of the grand prix weekend.
Pleasant spring temperatures, a light breeze and spells of Spanish sunshine welcomed the MotoGP fraternity to the Andalusian track, as the teams mounted their hospitality and pit-box fittings and scores of officials, riders teams and media arrived to ready themselves for the weekend - with the MotoGP paddock getting into full swing for the first time in 2008.
Thursday's customary pre-GP press conference saw Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi address a packed press room, where world champion Stoner commented enthusiastically ahead of the weekend's action.
"Well it's seems such a long time that we have been away from the European races and really there is nothing that compares to this!" smiled the Qatar race winner. "There is a special atmosphere here with so many people and at all three grands prix in Spain. It's very good to really start the season here."
"Jerez is a fantastic track, a little bit old style with the long and high speed corners and it's always a pleasure to ride the bike at this circuit," added Rossi, a seven-time race winner at Jerez. "I have great, great memories of good victories here, including last year and I think it will be possible for me to be competitive here. "We know in Qatar we struggled a little bit too much, also in the test. In the test here things were a little better but we have similar issues to Qatar. We've studied the data a lot and we'll wait for tomorrow morning to see our performance, but I think it is possible to have a good weekend.
teks and pict by: crash.net