Chilly morning ahead of Californian contest

As has been the case over the last few days at Laguna Seca grey, misty and cool morning conditions are expected to give way to some typical California sunshine as the paddock gears up for today´s MotoGP race at 2pm local time.

Due to his unfortunate Sachsenring injuries – and despite his brave efforts to ride on Friday - Dani Pedrosa will not participate in Sunday´s race having missed qualifying and returned to Spain on Saturday. Alex de Angelis, meanwhile, is due to test his race fitness in the morning warm-up, having sustained hand injuries yesterday.

One man with no such worries, a clean bill of health and some phenomenal recent form boosting his confidence, is pole man and World Champion Casey Stoner. Getting away from pole for the fifth successive race and in search of a fourth consecutive victory, the Australian is the man to beat.

That is the task that standings leader Valentino Rossi will be setting himself as he gets away from second on the grid and attempts to maintain his title advantage, while fellow front row starter Nicky Hayden will try to put himself in the mix and entertain the home crowd.

In addition to the MotoGP action, the fans at Laguna also have Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookie Cup and AMA Superbike races to look forward to at 12.45pm and 3.45pm respectively.