World champion Casey Stoner admits he has a mountain to climb to retain his title but vowed he won't give up ahead of this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.
Twelve months is a long time in sport and things have gone full circle for the Australian and his main championship rival Valentino Rossi, who heads the standings.
Stoner left Misano last year with an 85-point championship lead, but he arrives here this time around trailing Yamaha rider Rossi by 50 points.
With just six races left, the Ducati rider has his work cut out to peg back seven-time world champion Rossi.
"We'll see what happens but we're in good shape - the gap in the championship is big but we'll keep fighting until it's over," said Stoner, who claimed victory in San Marino from pole last year.
"We had a great result at Misano last year and that, added to the fact that we're in good shape with the set-up and the tyres, means we can be reasonably confident of another good result here."
Stoner already had his work cut out in trying to catch Rossi before the last GP in Brno but he crashed out when leading comfortably to gift Rossi victory and allow the Italian to double his world championship lead.
Rossi arrives here in high spirits, a year after a mechanical problem forced him to retire from the race located just 10km from his home town of Tavullia.
"I'm really excited to be going to Misano in such good shape and leading the championship," he said.
"Last year the race was a huge disappointment for us, a very low point of the season and especially sad because it happened in front of my home fans.
"But this time things are very different, we've had two fantastic races in a row and we are feeling very strong and very confident. We are out to make up for 2007.
"Misano is so close to my home town of Tavullia that I know there will be an army of Italian fans there, and I hope it's going to be a great party for all of them.
"Last year there was some terrible weather before the race as well so I really hope that this year we have sunshine and we can enjoy a fantastic race by the sea."
Three races ago Rossi had been second in the standings behind Spain's Dani Pedrosa but the Honda Repsol rider crashed badly while leading in Germany.
He then missed the USA GP through injury and came back short of race fitness in Brno to finish a lowly 15th.
He has scored just one point in the last three races compared to 70 for Rossi and trails the Italian by 65 points now.
"I am hoping that we can have a better weekend at Misano, though I had bad luck there last year, another rider knocked me off at the very first corner," said Pedrosa.
