Valentino Rossi Leads Heading to Italy

The MotoGP circus will be coming back to Misano this Sunday and the Spanish pair of Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo will be trying to take one more step toward dethroning the current MotoGP Premier Class World Champion, Valentino Rossi, from his perch at the top. Valentino Rossi has had a few tough races lately, including a DNF, and he’ll be doing his best to keep his 25 point lead in the standings. He has been pressured a lot by his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa this season. Despite being pressured, he has been smiling brightly and showing confidence no matter the circumstances and events that surround him on the track.

Valentino Rossi will be feeling the heat in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix

Rossi will once again be on the pole of this Sunday’s Grand Prix Cinzano di San Marino e Riviera di Rimini, after posting the top qualifying time of 1’34.338 seconds during qualifying. He’ll be beside Dani Pedrosa for the start, while Jorge Lorenzo and Toni Elias will be in the second row. This is the fourth GP in a row that Dani Pedrosa has qualified in the front row. His confidence and racing ability has been shining lately and he’ll be looking to spoil Valentino Rossi’s planned hometown party at Misano on Sunday. It actually looked like Dani was going to steal the pole away from Rossi during Saturday’s qualifying laps. Valentino got back on his bike however and ran a lap that was two-tenths of a second faster in response to Dani Pedrosa’s challenge to Rossi’s first pole grabbing time.

Come Sunday, expect Dani Pedrosa to really increase the pace of the race and try to get out in front and stay there. This is the best way to beat Valentino, since he’s a front runner who likes to be in the lead. Jorge Lorenzo will be in the front as well and I expect him to challenge for the win at Milano as well. Lorenzo currently sits in second place in the premier class standings and with a good result and another eventful race for Rossi, he could move into position to pass his teammate in the standings in future races. Casey Stoner is still out and sits in third place in the MotoGP premier class standings. Just ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who I expect to pass him in the overall standings during the competition at Milano.

“Image: Zuma Press”