MotoGP: Jerry Burgess confident for China clash

Valentino Rossi’s crew chief Jerry Burgess is confident the Italian will be able to register a third successive Bridgestone podium finish when the MotoGP season resumes in China this weekend.

Rossi has yet to win on Bridgestone tyres but a second and third place in his last two outings in Jerez and Estoril has raised hopes that he can bid to end his worst losing streak since 2000.

The 29-year-old goes into this weekend’s Shanghai showdown without a win in seven races, but Aussie Burgess believes Yamaha and Bridgestone is close to ending the drought.

Looking at Rossi’s prospects for this Sunday’s fourth round in the Far East, Burgess said: “The Yamaha is a good bike. We saw the Bridgestone tyres work there last year with Ducati and clearly we have adapted our bike around the Bridgestone tyre.

“What we have been doing is giving an indication of what we require on the Yamaha and all we have to do is find another couple of tenths a lap through the race.”

Rossi slipped out of leading contention in Portugal earlier this month to finish a distant third behind dominant Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

But Burgess denied Rossi and Yamaha were experiencing any endurance issues with Bridgestone’s race rubber.

“It is not the issue it was in Qatar and we have made massive steps so we now have to work on getting the last part of the performance. That is always the hardest part. We will get there.

“Bridgestone are doing a fantastic job and they are learning to work with us and develop tyres around us. Last year they had a lot of things fall together with the rider, bike and tyres they had, it’s not like they developed them from the top end of the grid.

“So now if we can stay at the front all the time then Bridgestone can learn a lot more and if Yamaha stay super-competitive then we can gain on what the others are doing.”