Capirossi plans to reach 300 starts

The veteran Italian is in the final year of his Suzuki contract, and should his career come to a halt at the end of this season he would have done 299 races in the top three motorcycling classes.

Capirossi fully intends to continue with Suzuki beyond 2009, but he said he already had a plan in place to reach 300 starts whatever happened.

"Should I retire, I would in any case do a race as a wild card next year," he was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We have already agreed to that with Suzuki. I'd do a bit of testing for them during the winter, also to keep myself in shape, and then I'd enter a race, perhaps at Motegi in order to reach this milestone.

"It would be nice to have a sponsor-free livery but just with number 300 on it."

He emphasised that if Suzuki kept up its excellent winter testing form in the races, he intended to stay on full-time beyond 2009.

"If things go the way they seem to, with a really competitive bike and me carrying on enjoying myself, then it's 90 per cent certain I'll race in 2010 too," said Capirossi.