Highlights

Injured Rossi desperate for podium return

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-06-29 20:33

"It would be better to have a month now to recover... Anyway I hope we can improve it as much as possible so that I can ride well at Donington."

While Rossi hopes for the best, his American team mate Colin Edwards is out for revenge after seeing a first MotoGp win slip away when he fell while leading Hayden into the final chicane just metres from the finish.

"I can't deny that I'm still disappointed after what happened at Assen, but now I have to put that behind me and focus on Donington, which is one of my best tracks and a place I have always gone well," the Texan said.

"I have to forget about what happened at the end of the race in Assen and focus on the fact that my bike worked perfectly all weekend, I was consistently fast and I was able to do a really great race up to the last chicane."

Spain's Sete Gibernau remains absent after breaking his collarbone in the big first corner crash in Barcelona earlier this month. Germany's Alex Hofmann again stands-in on the Ducati.

In the lower categories, Aprilia's Spanish teenager Jorge Lorenzo is on a charge -- just 16 points behind Italian Andrea Dovizioso in the 250cc standings after his fourth win of the season at Assen.

Honda's Dovizioso, the former 125cc champion, is the only rider in all three categories to have finished on the podium in every one of the eight races this year.

Spaniard Alvaro Bautista is a comfortable 47 points ahead of Finland's Mika Kallio in the 125cc class.