Valentino Rossi hoping to equal all-time winning record

Valentino Rossi said he would be thrilled to equal Giacomo Agostini’s premier class winning tally of 68 victories in front of his home crowd in Misano this weekend.

Not least because Italian legend Agostini will attend this Sunday’s race, a long with thousands of Rossi fans, with the seven-times world champion’s home in Tavullia just ten minutes away the Misano circuit.

The 29-year-old reached 67 wins with his fifth win of 2008 in Brno earlier this month and he said: “It is a great record and a very important number. In my career I never raced for records or numbers, just for the passion and the taste of the victory. But to beat the number of victories by Ago is one of my targets for this year and I have another six races, so I will try.”