After doing his best to essentially get through the last three MotoGP events and keep his MotoGP Championship hopes alive while dealing with his lingering right shoulder injury and still-healing broken right leg, Valentino Rossi says he is looking to move forward and regain his winning form at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. Reporters who attended a scheduled briefing with Rossi Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) initially wanted to talk about his recently-announced plan to move to Ducati in 2011, but the savvy Italian quickly redirected the conversation. “The important [thing] is tomorrow and not in 10 months,” said the nine-time World Champion, “because under my point of view I have a lot of work to do on myself and together with Yamaha because we have eight races that are very important, especially for me because I am not at 100% physical condition but also about [my] feeling with the bike. “I have to work. I have to recover for comeback at the top and ride the bike like I want. Because in these last races we concentrate to set the bike for help me because I have pain, but in the end we are not fast enough. We have to come back at the normal work. “I am able to train a lot this period [the two weeks between the races at Brno and IMS]. I feel some pain, but I feel a lot more power than in the past. Also the leg is coming better. So now the important things is come back to the top and make some good races, because I’m not happy about my races this year, because I’m never fast enough except at the first victory in Qatar.” When asked to explain what he is missing with his Fiat Yamaha YZR-M1, Rossi said, “Simply speaking, we try to adapt the bike to my condition to have easier bike [to ride], but I lose confidence with bike, especially with the front, especially in the first laps. In Brno was very bad, but also in Laguna [Seca] I am not fast like I want. In Brno, [I] was very upset [with the] race. So we need to work in another way. We need to have our normal setting.” What may be surprising to some, Rossi said the soft-tissue injury he suffered to his shoulder in April continues to be more of a problem on the bike than the compound bone fractures he suffered in his right leg in June. But the shoulder is getting a little better, he said. “The shoulder for riding the bike is very bad,” Rossi told reporters. “Now I feel pain, but I have a lot more force, a lot more power to push the braking so I am quite OK.” Asked how frustrating it has been to ride at less than his proven potential, Rossi said, “It’s not very frustrating because I expect. When you have a big injury together with another injury, small but gives you a lot of problems, is normal. You need to be quiet and stay concentrate and not be too frustrated and try to work at the maximum and wait, because is the only way. Anyway I have to ride carefully. I need to be more concentrated than normal because I am fragile, you know? But I’m sure about my potential, of me, my team and my bike. Now especially [Jorge] Lorenzo make a great job and ride very well. So we are in the position to have to work a lot to recover. That is a good motivation.”
Rossi Changing Plan Of Attack At Red Bull Indianapolis GP
Rossi Changing Plan Of Attack At Red Bull Indianapolis GP
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