ROSSI GEARS UP FOR BATTLE WITH MARQUEZ

Milan: Italian Valentino Rossi chases his first win of the season and renews his rivalry with world champion Marc Marquez at home in the San Marino MotoGP as the motorcycling world championship series revs up again this weekend after the British Grand Prix washout. Torrential rain forced officials to cancel the Silverstone race two weeks ago given the high risk on the rain- flooded surface. And Yamaha ace Rossi wants to make the most of his home advantage to post his first win of the season, at Misano, in Italy, a venue where he has won three times — most recently in 2014. The nine- time MotoGP winner sits second in the world championship standings behind Honda’s Marquez. “It’s always special when you arrive at your home GP,” said Rossi. “There will be many friends and fans at the circuit and we’ll give it our all to make it a nice weekend. We were in Misano for a test a few weeks ago and we will have to pick up our work again from where we left off. We’ll give our maximum to start the weekend in the best way possible and do a good race, fighting for the podium. I hope the weather will be good, so everybody can enjoy this weekend.” In recent years, Spaniards have dominated at the track on Italy’s Adriatic coast, not far from the tiny republic from which the race takes its name. Marquez has won twice in the past three years for Honda. He has suffered a two- race blip, but so dominant is the Spanish world champion that he still increased his lead in the standings without winning.