Sunshine on Rimini coast for MotoGP arrival

As the MotoGP World Championship roadshow rolled into the Misano circuit on Thursday for this weekend´s thirteenth GP of the 2008 season there was some typical Italian summer weather welcoming the riders and their teams to town.

The Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini was a highly popular addition to the calendar last season as racing returned to Misano, though the MotoGP fraternity will be hoping that there is no repeat of the 2007 Friday practice day floods this time around.

Thursday´s preliminary activities will commence with Colin Edwards, Alex de Angelis, Randy de Puniet, Bradley Smith, Nico Terol and Lucio Cecchinello visiting the Cava dei Balestrieri in San Marino to practice some traditional local arts, including flag waving and crossbow shooting.

Later, at the pre-event press conference in the circuit media centre, at 4pm, local rider De Angelis will be in attendance again, alongside World Champion Casey Stoner representing Italian manufacturers Ducati - and Italian trio Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi, and Andrea Dovizioso.