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MELBOURNE - As Australian Casey Stoner plots his final, full-throttle assault on the MotoGP world championship only one man - an increasingly uncertain Valentino Rossi - now stands in the way of success.
Rossi, a five-time world champion, admits he faces a difficult task in overhauling Stoner's commanding lead over the final seven races.
Combat resumes at the Czech Grand Prix in Brno this Sunday after a three-week European summer break, with Stoner leading Rossi by 44 points, 221 to 177.
Stoner's Honda rivals, defending world champion Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa, have already conceded the title chase to the young Australian.
Now it is only Rossi, always at his most dangerous when cornered, with a real chance of stopping Stoner.
Stoner's strategy, built on the momentum of six wins from 11 races, is to strike early for more race victories.
His Ducati teammate Loris Capirossi won this race last year.
"You cannot forget who Valentino is, and what he's achieved, and I expect a great show from him over the second half of the season," Stoner said.
"I want to keep pushing and win more races, that's my plan. I'm not going to ride around just to score points."
A fierce assault from Rossi is a certainty. A year ago, the 28 year-old Italian star produced a stunning late season surge to make up 51 points on Hayden who just hung on to win the title.
"This time it will be very, very hard because Stoner is very strong and is not making mistakes, but I won't give up," Rossi said.
"I will give 100 per cent and fight at every one of the final seven races.
"Brno last year was the start of a turnaround in my fortunes so let's hope its is the same this year."
As Stoner prepares for his battle with Rossi, fellow-Australian racer Chris Vermeulen is preparing to welcome a new teammate.
At Brno, Vermeulen's Suzuki team is expected to confirm that Italian veteran Loris Capirossi will be his teammate for 2008, replacing John Hopkins.
"I've heard the rumours about Loris joining Suzuki and I think he'd be a good choice," Vermeulen said.
"I've got a lot of respect for Loris. He was world 125 champion in 1990 and I was only seven-years-old then. He's fast with a lot of experience."
French GP winner Vermeulen, currently fourth on 113 points, signed an extension to his current contract with Suzuki last month.
Gold Coast rider Anthony West completes the Australian line-up in Brno and is hoping to continue his impressive sequence of top ten results following his mid-season call-up to the Kawasaki team.
- AAP
