Melandri: `I thought about quitting´

Following the conclusion of his troubled 2008 campaign with Ducati and the new chapter in his career with Kawasaki Italian MotoGP rider Marco Melandri has given a frank assessment of his difficulties this season on his website www.marcomelandri.it.

In a blog update entitled `Marco´s confessions´, the 26 year-old wrote, `The 2008 season is over. It has been a year in which I have had to learn from my disappointments and I don´t look back with regret because I reached a big turning point in my life in June.´

`It was a really hard time and to be honest I even considered walking away from it all. Then one day something clicked and I realised that there were still so many people backing me and believing in me, and that made a big difference to me.´

Melandri, whose best performance all year was fifth in China early in May, finished 17th in the general classification – his worst ever championship result in the premier class. However, his move to Kawasaki for the 2009 season gives him new motivation and the opportunity to put things right next year.

`Now I am starting to see things differently and I feel really good,´ he stated. My work is the biggest passion in my life and I am going to keep giving it everything I´ve got because I enjoy riding so much. It is not like I haven´t tried hard this year though, in fact it was the opposite, I did all I could to try and win. But when things are going badly and nothing works like it should there is nothing more you can do.´

`One thing I have learned is that you don´t always need to question yourself so much and say `where am I going wrong?´, because it doesn´t always help with looking forward. It just makes you worry more. Sometimes I think you need to let things be and just remind yourself that you are doing the right thing.´

Melandri thanked his supporters and sponsors, before concluding, `I will have a holiday now - and then at the end of November I´ll stop in Japan before heading to Australia for our last test of the year.´