Stoner cautious about chances in United States

Although his strong Laguna Seca record and his liking for the American venue give Casey Stoner confidence ahead of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix the young Ducati star is not making any big claims ahead of the eighth round of the year, as he continues to recover from illness.

The 23 year-old has finished in third place at the last two rounds - behind World Championship rivals Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo at Catalunya and Assen – almost collapsing due to exhaustion after both races, and conceding the advantage to Rossi in the title race in the process.

His physical condition could be the key factor for the 2007 World Champion at Laguna, where he won the race in his title triumph season and was second last year, but Stoner seemed on good enough form when he spoke to motogp.com on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

“The last two GP weekends have not gone according to plan,” he admitted. “We thought everything was going to be great in Assen, things started off really well and it just went downhill after that. We really struggled but we still came away with a podium and that was important for not losing too many points in the championship.”

“I’m hoping to have recovered by the time we get out on track for this weekend’s GP. I look forward to this race and I look forward to coming to the US every year so we will just have to see how we go. I enjoy the circuit and I’m sure the weather will be nice, but we just have to wait and see because I expected more from the last two and things didn’t go our way.”

Commenting on the visit to the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, he added, “I was amazed, we did the tour and the things you get to see are great. It brings back so many memories because you think back to all the movies, almost every film you’ve ever seen and some part of it seems like it was filmed here. It’s really quite amazing to see and it was a lot of fun!”