Seven times World Champion
Valentino Rossi and Championship leader
Casey Stoner commence round eight of their titanic
MotoGP battle at the eagerly anticipated Donington Park event this coming Sunday.
At the last round in Barcelona the sparring pair were separated by less than seven hundredths of a second after constantly swapping the lead in a superb high-speed battle that will hopefully be repeated in the 30-lap race round the 2.50 mile Derbyshire circuit.
Both riders are familiar with the twists and turns of Donington but for very different reasons. Australian Stoner, riding the Marlboro Ducati, leads Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha by 14 points in the Championship after winning four of the opening seven races, rode his first ever road racing machine at Donington and made his grand prix debut at the circuit six years ago.
Rossi loves the place and has been adopted by the British fans. He has won seven times at
Donington, including five premier class victories and his first ever premier class victory seven years ago. It promises to be another classic encounter between ‘the master of Donington’ and the young pretender who has shown no respect for Rossi’s formidable reputation and in the opening seven rounds.
Donington is a track of two halves - the first part fast and flowing, including the awesome fast downhill Craner Curves. The second part, described as the car park by World Champion Eddie Lawson, was added to make the track long enough for grand prix homologation and is slow and tight but often contributes to close finishes. There is a great variety of fast and slow corners and no real long straights which always mixes up the racing.
Rossi and Stoner, will not have it all their own way this coming weekend. Last year Spaniard
Dani Pedrosa dominated the Donington weekend on the Repsol Honda. The former 125 and 250cc World Champion won his first MotoGP race and set both pole and lap record times. He’s finished on the podium at the last two races and lies third in the Championship.
