After taking the pole position, fastest lap time, and the MotoGP (FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix) trophy in the last three races (2007 U.S., Czech, and San Marino Grand Prix), Ducati Marlboro rider and my personal fave Casey Stoner is now ready for the final step to conquer the MotoGP World Championship aboard his No. 27 Ducati Desmosedici GP7. Stoner needs to score not less than 15 points in the upcoming 2007 Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril race track to bag the championship. If he doesn’t achieve this score, his closest rival and 7-time MotoGP champ Valentino Rossi can still take the lead as the 2007 season has four other remaining races that will end up in the Spanish city of Valencia.

Check out what Casey Stoner has to say about the upcoming race in Portugal.

"We’ve got five races left now and if we are able to win the championship it doesn’t matter at which race we win it, anywhere will do. Everything’s working really well with our package at the moment. The team and the technicians are great, we work very well together, we are like a family. That helps a lot, you can do the same job if you don’t have that relationship, but having a good relationship makes things more relaxed. I know the team believes in me and in my ability, which takes the pressure off, I felt this from the very first race. I’ve always gone quite well at Estoril, I won the 250 race there in 2005. Some of the track flows, some of it doesn’t. The fast right onto the back straight was almost flat out on the 990s, so it should be flat out this year, but it’s nothing like turn 11 in Turkey. The chicane is a bit too slow, really. There’s a couple of parts I really enjoy, like turn two, which is a very, very difficult off-camber downhill corner that catches out a lot of riders. There seems to be a lot of passing opportunities at Estoril, so you get a lot of overtaking, so it should be a reasonably good race."

Meanwhile, Stoner’s teammate Loris Capirossi is currently on the 8th spot in the world championship standings. He also commented about the upcoming race in Estoril circuit:

"I like riding at Estoril. Last year we had a difficult time there with the tyres but everything is different now, Bridgestone has made an amazing step forward this year. I think we have a good opportunity to have a good race in Portugal. We had quite a difficult weekend at Misano but we were able to recover really well for the race, and maybe what we learned there will help us at Estoril, which also features quite a few tricky corners. Estoril isn’t a bad racetrack, it’s not that interesting or that boring either, but it’s tight and bumpy, so it’s very physically demanding. A lot of the layout is fun, though the first corner is a bit of a joke and I’m not so keen on the tiny chicane which really, really tight and therefore a bit awkward, but I guess it’s the same for all the riders. For me, the best corner is turn five - for sure this is one of the best corners that we find throughout the whole MotoGP championship. It’s a big test of rider, machine and tyres, and it is very enjoyable, when you make a good job of it."

[source: Motorsport.com]

Watch out for the 2007 Portuguese Grand Prix and see if Stoner can secure his MotoGP crown during the race.  While waiting for that, why not try to upgrade your auto and motorcycle parts like Nissan parts?