Valentino Rossi makes Bridgestone progress

MotoGP world championship leader Valentino Rossi reckons he made small but clear improvements with some new Bridgestone tyres in testing at Brno yesterday.

• Get all the latest MotoGP news

The Italian, who leads Casey Stoner by 50-poiints after notching his fifth win of 2008 in Sunday’s Czech Republic GP, finished second behind the Aussie on the opening day of a two-day test session in Brno.

“I’m quite happy because we find something better with the tyres, “said the Fiat Yamaha rider, who could equal Giacomo Agostini’s record of 68 premier class wins on home soil in Misano later ths month. “It is a small but clear improvement. We tried some harder type of tyres but they are not stuiable for our bike.”

On the benefit of the new tyres, the 29-year-old said: “The stability on the edge was better so it is possible to make a better line and keep a bit more speed during the corner.”

Rossi also tested some revised electronics without finding out any significant step forward.

He added: “We tried something in the electronics to improve the acceleration and make it easier and faster but it looks like we have more work to do because we are not at the maximum. To improve our system and our level we need more kilometres.”