ROSSI FOURTH IN TOUGH RACE FOR MICHELIN Fourth-placed Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) was Michelin’s top finisher at Laguna Seca today. The Italian finished five seconds off the podium and five seconds ahead of fellow Michelin man Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin), winner of last Sunday’s German Grand Prix. The result maintains the pair’s second and third positions in the World Championship point standings. The race was won by Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP7), the Australian setting a new race record at the newly resurfaced Californian track. “That was a very tough race for us, much harder than last weekend,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “The race was more than 40 seconds faster than last year’s US GP because of the new surface, which was very aggressive on our compounds, so our riders couldn’t get the performance they wanted out of our tires. Last weekend’s race at the Sachsenring put more stress and temperature into the tires but it seems the new asphalt here quickly caused our compounds to wear, so we needed some harder compounds. The wear was mostly on the edge of the tires, with the front pushing first and then our riders having some difficulty with the rear later in the race. “We will keep working during the break. I’m sure it’s the same for all the tire manufacturers–because we must do our best for our partners. Obviously we want better results at the upcoming races, so we will be working very hard in other to bring the best tires to Brno.” The next MotoGP race takes place in the Czech Republic on August 19.