The teams and riders head to Japan for the next round of the MotoGP at the Montegi circuit and Valentino Rossi is hoping to wrap up the 2008 Championship for the Yamaha team.
Rossi is currently 87 points ahead of Casey Stoner with still 100 points up for grabs over the next four races, which means that if Rossi finished in the top four at Montegi, the title will be his regardless of where Stoner finishes.
The Rizla Suzuki team will be running with a third bike at the Japanese round with Kousuke Akiyoshi on board for his home round.
The team ran three bikes in Indianapolis, the two usual riders Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi, plus Ben Spies and they did the same again at the Leguna Seca round.
Capirossi has won the race at Montegi for the past three years and is hoping to do the same this year but on a Japanese bike.
Nicky Hayden is hoping to be back on the podium after his victory last time out at Indianapolis for the Repsol Honda team.
After confirmation that Hayden will be riding for the Ducati Marlboro team next year as the team-mate of Casey Stoner, he wants to finish in the best possible place for Honda.
Meanwhile, the boss of the Ducati Marlboro team, Livio Suppo, has suggested that if the injury that Stoner is suffering continues to cause a problem, he could miss the end of the season.
Stoner has been having problems with an old fracture which he received in 2003 and the surgery he will need has a recuperating time of about ten weeks.
As it looks likely that Rossi will win this years championship, it would make sense to get the surgery over with earlier so that Stoner and the team can concentrate on winter testing ahead of the 2009 season.
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