Rossi targets maiden Istanbul win

Valentino Rossi hopes to win for the first time at Istanbul as he bids to strengthen his place at the top of the MotoGP standings.

The Fiat Yamaha team rider has never won at the Turkish venue but aims to put

that right on Sunday as he bids to pull further away from Ducati Marlboro's

Casey Stoner in the championship standings.

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Rossi does not favour Istanbul or the following venue in the championship,

Shanghai in China, but has set his sights on a first win in Turkey.

"The next two races, Turkey and China, are ones that I don't like so much and

I have never won at Istanbul, but it's a great circuit with some very fast

corners," said Rossi.

"If the bike works well then it will be great fun I think. Last year I made

an error early in the race and it cost me the chance for a podium, but I won't

be making the same mistake this year.

"We are leading the championship but it's a long season and we have to aim to

get on the podium at every race."

Rossi knows Stoner's Ducati will have the edge in the next two GPs as the

layout favours his bike's superior top speed.

"The difficult thing over the next two races is going to be horsepower,

because both Istanbul and Shanghai have very long straights," said Rossi.

"We tried some new things at the Jerez test to improve this and I know that

Yamaha have been working very hard in Japan so hopefully we will have a little

bit of improvement in this area when we get to Turkey."

Ireland's Eugene Lavery goes into the third round of the 250cc series looking

to build on his 20th place in the standings on the LCR Honda.

"It's been a steady start to my grand prix career and I was pleased to get my

first points with that 14th place at Jerez which was just my second grand

prix," said Laverty.

"I'm beginning to understand the 250cc machine and getting to know the team.

I'm relishing the challenge of riding at circuits where I've never been

before."

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo leads the 250cc series after two race wins so far on

the Fortuna Aprilia.

Bradley Smith has ground to make up in the 125cc class after crashing out of

the last race in Spain which has left the Repsol Honda rider lying 18th.

Smith said: "It's been a long wait since the last race and I can't wait to

get racing again. It's just a case of keeping fit and preparing for the very

busy schedule ahead."

Fellow Britain Danny Webb is still searching for his first point of the season

on the De Graaf Honda as Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi heads the standings on the

Bancaja Aprilia.

Webb said: "I've had a good look at the circuit and so I know where it goes.

The circuit looks great and the break has given my injured fingers time to

heal."

Scottish teenager Kev Coghlan also gets a grand prix chance with a ride in the

125cc race in Turkey in place of Frenchman Mike Di Meglio on a Honda.

Coghlan, joint leader of the British 125cc championship, said: "I'm

absolutely thrilled to be given a grand prix chance."