Rossi says Yamaha can stop Stoner

Stoner has won the last three rounds, at Donington Park, Assen, and Sachsenring, and now lies just 20 points behind Rossi in the standings going into this weekend's event at Laguna Seca, which Stoner won last year.

But Rossi says the season is long and there is still plenty of time for Yamaha to regain their winning form of earlier in the year.

"The championship is very long, at the beginning of the season we saw the Ducati was slower than us and now it is faster, but it's possible for us to work to fight with Stoner and (Dani) Pedrosa to the last race," he said.

"Casey has done a great job in the last races and is very fast, so we have to concentrate. This moment of the season is difficult for us because we're going to three tracks where he had some great races last year, but our situation is a lot more positive than last year. We have quite good speed so we have to continue like this.

"It's always difficult when you have to race without quite enough speed, but it is not as difficult a period for my career as last year. Now I have fun, I like to ride the bike, and in the team we have a good atmostphere to make it better. The fight is long, we might suffer a bit now but we have the potential to come back to the top."