Rossi: Qualifying crucial to beat Stoner

Ducati rider Stoner has won the last three races from pole position to put himself right back in the title fight after a slow start to the season.

The Australian is now 20 points behind Rossi in the standings after his dominant performances in the last three events.

Rossi finished second to Stoner in yesterday's German Grand Prix, where the Italian started from seventh place on the grid.

And ahead of the US GP next weekend, Rossi says he must start from the front row if he is to beat his Ducati rival.

"Laguna hasn't been one of my favourite tracks in the three years since we've been going there and it's one of the only ones on the calendar where I haven't won," said Rossi. "We're aiming to win this week, that's for sure.

"It's been a hard track for our bike but it's been a very good track for Bridgestone and I am confident that our package will work very well there.

"The last two years I've had serious disappointments in the race and it's been one of the low points of both seasons, I hope I have had all the bad luck I'm going to have there and that this year I can enjoy myself.

"We are going there with the same package that we had in Germany and so we're going to have to work very hard to close the gap in performance to Stoner; we can't afford to start from anywhere except the front because, with him in this form, it is then very hard to catch him."