Stoner set to tighten the screws

Australia’s Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) holds a 44pt lead at the top of the 2011 MotoGP world championship standings heading into round 13 of 18 this weekend at Misano in San Marino.

“I'm looking forward to going to San Marino and seeing how competitive we can be,” said Stoner. “In 2007 and 2008 we were fast there, then I missed 2009 and last year we struggled a little so we've had a mixed bag of results.

“It's a nice track. I like the two corners off the end of the back straight; they’re a lot of fun and very fast. I know Dani and Jorge will be very fast there, but I'm coming off the back of three wins and in a strong position in the championship so we'll see what we can do and I’m confident we can get a good result.”

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo’s task in retaining his title now seems to be an even tougher one, but he will head to Misano determined to stop the run of three successive victories that has led Stoner to his improved current position. In doing so Lorenzo will need a return to the podium having been off it for the past two rounds, but will garner confidence from his record at Misano where he has placed second for the last three years.

At close quarters in third place is Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), a rider who will be counting on a strong support from the Misano crowd as he looks to improve on fifth from Indianapolis at a track he is yet to score a premier class podium at. His team-mate and last year’s Misano race winner Dani Pedrosa comes into round 13 off the back of a second place finish at Indianapolis, as he homes in on a strong final third of the campaign.

With his third podium of the year at his home race Ben Spies heads to Misano in fine form. The Yamaha factory rider currently lies fifth in the championship, with just 5pts separating Pedrosa ahead of him and Valentino Rossi behind in sixth.

For the seven-time premier class world champion, Indianapolis proved to be one of his most difficult races to date in his first season on the Desmosedici. Gearbox issues during the race and an all-round difficult weekend contributed to 10th place, his worst result to date in 2011, although it did stretch his run of points-scoring finishes to 23 races which started in Germany last year on his return from injury.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) will both be grateful for the back-to-back races as they aim to immediately put the memory of 14th and 12th placed finishes, respectively, behind them, while Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will eye an improvement on seventh from the last round.

Hiroshi Aoyama will tackle the track fully fit for the first time on a MotoGP bike after riding last year’s race whilst still recovering from injury – he scored a top 10 result at Indy – and Héctor Barberá’s (Mapfre Aspar) sole focus will be on erasing the memory of his final-corner crash at Indianapolis when trying to go through on the Japanese rider.

Rizla Suzuki rider Álvaro Bautista converted his recent form into a top six finish at Indianapolis and will be confident of building on that at Misano, and Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will be another rider hoping to carry momentum gained in America through to the next round.

Toni Elías (LCR Honda) stepped on the podium in the premier class at Misano in 2008 and will hope for a boost, whilst Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) and Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) both failed to finish the Indianapolis race so will be intent on strong results, Capirossi in front of a solid fan base. The Italian’s team-mate Randy de Puniet scored his best result of the season so far with eighth at Indy.

Meanwhile, three-time 500cc world champion Wayne Rainey will be present at Misano this weekend, his first visit to the circuit since his career-ending crash on September 5, 1993.

At the time, Rainey was well on his way to a fourth-consecutive world title. He was leading the championship and the race when he crashed and slid into a rutted gravel trap designed as a safety feature for car racing. The high-speed tumble against the raked surface fractured the sixth thoracic vertebra in his spine, resulting in paralysis from the chest down.

Rainey’s return will be honoured in the paddock on Friday, September 2 from 6:30-8:30pm, with Yamaha organising a special event for the unforgettable rider.

Queenslander Anthony West (MZ) will be in Moto2 action at Misano, and South Aussie Arthur Sissis in still in the hunt to win the Red Bull Rookies crown.