After a fantastic Grand Prix of Turkey, the MotoGP tour has landed in China for the fourth race of an amazingly unpredictable 2006 season. The Shanghai International Circuit hosts MotoGP for only the second time, following on from a rain-soaked 2005 Grand Prix, but has already established itself as one of the world’s top motorsport venues. Nicky Hayden arrives in China as the current championship leader with 52 points. The Repsol Honda rider’s amazing consistency has given him seven consecutive podium finishes, his most recent being a third place at Istanbul Park in Turkey. The American rider will have to be looking over his shoulder in China, with no room for error in Shanghai if he wishes to hold onto the top spot. Ducati Marlboro’s Loris Capirossi, the series leader up until the Grand Prix of Turkey, trails Hayden by only one point, whilst Marco Melandri, winner in Turkey, will start the race third in the championship. The top seven riders in the championship are only separated by 20 points, so mathematically any one of them has a chance to lead the series by the end of Sunday’s event. Rookie sensation Casey Stoner lies in fourth place after a superb first MotoGP podium finish in Turkey, and with reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi just behind him in fifth, the duo can both look back on wet weather victories here last year; Rossi’s in MotoGP and Stoner in 250cc. Stoner was actually one of a selection of riders who headed into the city for a pre-event visit to the famous Bund area today. Alongside the majestic river Yangtze, Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Makoto Tamada took part in a few traditional Chinese activities in front of a small gathering of fans and masses of local media. After a short introduction and interview session translated into Mandarin for the fans, a Kung Fu expert took to the stage. Guiding the riders through “tiger stance” into “feathered crane,” the game subjects soon picked up the basics. This was followed by a lesson in Chinese drumming, playing along with the popular song “Strong men strive for victory.” Catering for some of MotoGP’s newest fans, an autograph session took place by the river, with the stunning towers and buildings as a backdrop. Meanwhile in the pre-event press conference MotoGP’s new championship leader Hayden was joined by Melandri, Rossi, Shinya Nakano and Chris Vermeulen, with the Australian fresh from a positive weekend in Turkey where he took a gutsy seventh place after starting from a hard-fought pole-position. Despite the sunny conditions in Shanghai today, weather forecasts are for rain on Friday and Saturday, with the track drying by Sunday’s race-day, which could make for another race equally as exciting as the Turkish event, which lit up an already thrilling season. Nicky Hayden (Honda) : “Of course, I’m happy to be leading the championship, it’s a good feeling but I know that there’s a long way to go. The next few races are very important, but having already had a good start to the season allows us to put the heat on the others. We’ve got two races back-to-back, then heading into Europe is always hectic. We’re at the business end of the season now. For me, having been consistent is a good sign, I just want to take it up another level and get the W. It’s not an easy circuit, and it was tricky last year. In the dry the surface has a good grip though, which makes it a lot better. There are 3 first gear corners, which in my opinion is 3 too many. The only thing that I really care about is that it is safe, which where I come from isn’t always the case. We had problems in winter testing, but I set my goals high in any case.” Marco Melandri (Honda) : “It is a good moment right now, we have a better feeling with the bike. After the Qatar Grand Prix we found a good setting, and now after a win I hope to be in the fight for podiums from now on. It was quite a surprise to find myself third in the championship, because obviously my start to the season hasn’t been great. The season starts here I suppose. In MotoGP no race is ever easy. The dry or wet conditions hopefully won’t make too much difference.” Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) : “The championship situation isn’t so bad. If we had earned more points in Jerez then it would have been even better. We know that it’s a long season. We looked at the chattering problem after Turkey, and I think that we have found a few solutions. It will be difficult here, you need to get to know the settings in practice. The feeling changes a lot from track to track, this time it is a big question mark. Last year Shanghai was a bit of a turning point for us, from the race onwards we were very competitive. This year, we need to understand very early on if we are going to have problems or not. This season has been great. There are young and old riders, and it’s fun for spectators”¦.maybe a little less for us!” Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) : “I don’t know why the races have gone differently to the winter testing. Traction problems mean that I can’t open the throttle at the moment. It’s nearly my home Grand Prix, and it’s certainly easier to get to from my house than Motegi! I’m confident with my rain tyre, but I would prefer the dry. We have a year of experience here, so have a better tyre. I need to push hard, but it’ll be fun.” Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) : “Turkey was definitely my best race. I battled at the front, led a race for the first time and fought with Capirossi to be the fastest Bridgestone. The track here is good. The facilities are great, the circuit has a lot of straights and hairpins. We’ll see what happens. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect from MotoGP. I love working with the team here, the bike is getting better and I hope we can continue on this upwards trajectory, although there may be harder work to come. I would prefer it to be dry here, but if it rains it won’t be so bad. Just look what happened in Turkey.”