MotoGP news

'Donkey' Rossi well-placed for victory

He may call himself 'stupid' but Valentino Rossi was anything but when achieving pole position on Saturday ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix. The Italian Yamaha rider is clad with a special helmet this weekend although a home crowd helped Rossi to pole ahead of his home race of the season.

A best effort of 1:34.338 places Rossi on pole in Italy, over two tenths quicker than second placed Dani Pedrosa. "We expected it to be a bit cooler today but in the end it wasn't so different from yesterday and it's still very hard work for all the riders," 'The Doctor' explained.

"This afternoon the grip wasn't great, and we found it a bit harder with the race pace, but then we made a second round of modifications and everything felt very good. I am very happy to get the pole position here in Misano; I was able to do a great first lap on my final tyre and that was enough for pole - and the team changed the tyre in the time of an F1 pit stop so thanks to them! We know that it's going to be a very tough race tomorrow but we are in good shape.

"If anyone is wondering about my helmet...I have the donkey on it because in Italy if you make a stupid mistake we say that you are a donkey; I made a mistake in Indy so this is why! I think it's very funny!"

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