The Italian race track has been reversed and resurfaced for
MotoGP's first visit since 1993, with Rossi concerned about bumps after an earlier track inspection. However the Italian superstar, seeking to close
Casey Stoner's 60 point title lead this weekend, was much happier after this morning's free practice session - in which he was second fastest behind countryman
Marco Melandri.
"Unfortunately we had very bad weather today but this morning my first impressions of the track were good, better than when I came here to do some laps with the safety commission on a street bike," said the Fiat Yamaha rider. "I think they've done a very good job with the bumps; we asked them to resurface another time and now it's not so bad. Of course in the wet we're not riding at the maximum, but it seems okay and I was quite happy.
"Because of the rain we lost two hours [in the afternoon], which makes things more difficult for everyone, but we have an extra hour tomorrow and the forecast is much better so I hope that we will get some dry time," said Rossi of the revised schedule. "My performance this morning was quite good, we tried a new rain tyre on the rear and it worked well. Melandri was quite far ahead [1.7secs] but anyway I'm quite happy. Of course it's another story tomorrow in the dry, but I think we have some more improvements for the dry setting as well so I am looking forward to it."
Team-mate
Colin Edwards knew the old Misano layout well from his World Superbike days and was happy with his fifth position in FP1.
