Tokyo, Apr 01: World champion Valentino Rossi believes the 2003 MotoGP championship will be the most competitive in the history of the sport. As well as all four Japanese manufacturers - Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki - this year's championships will also feature Ducati and Aprilia teams along with a host of smaller outfits. "This year everybody is ready to fight from the beginning of the season and this championship will be thrilling," said Rossi.
The Italian, who begins the defence of his crown in Japan on Sunday, believes the switch from two-strokes to four-strokes has enabled more manufacturers to produce competitive machines.
"The four-stroke machines are easier to ride than the two-strokes," Rossi said.
"In this sense the show is much better, and in the old 500cc class only three or four riders were able to win, now we have at least 10 riders as potential winners. "This year everybody is ready from the first race and I have many Honda rivals."
And, despite dominating the 2002 championship and winning 11 of the 16 races, Rossi does not expect to repeat the achievement. "I think it will be impossible to win the same number of races as last year," admitted Rossi.

But the Honda rider once again expects Maz Biaggi to be his closes challenger, particularly after Biaggi's move from Yamaha to the Camel Pramac Honda Pons team.

"Max Biaggi will be my first and strongest rival and it will be fantastic to fight with the same bike," he said.

"This year will be very hard to win. The last year we, Honda and myself, were the fastest to develop the bike and my bike let me attack from the beginning.

"My bike has been developed following my directions in order to have more traction and a more smooth power delivery."

Bureau Report