“It’s a big thrill to be going back to Laguna for my home race and I’m really looking forward to having some fun there.

There’s actually a lot less pressure this year compared to last season because in 2006 I went to Laguna with a points lead in the championship and I really felt like I had to win that race or it would send out all the wrong signals to my title rivals. I was the favourite really and there was a lot of pressure to win.

There will still be pressure, but I’m less of a favourite this time. I don’t really think the home advantage counts for much now. We’ve been here for two years and these boys can get the hang of the place pretty quickly – we’re not talking club racers here. Plus a lot of the home advantage used to be on the blind approach to the Corkscrew and they’ve changed that part of the track now.

Still, I really like the circuit and I’ll definitely be giving it all I’ve got to get that third straight win in front of my home fans. It’ll be fun racing against my brother for the first time in a while too.

Things have been tough this year and nothing’s gone real silky smooth, but we’ve had a couple of decent results in the last two races so I’m definitely going to fight for this one.

We’ve had some improvements to the machine recently and I’ve got a better feeling on it than I did at the start of the season.

The competition’s really strong in MotoGP and no-one’s here to make up the numbers but I feel like I’ve got nothing to lose now so I’m just going get out there and ride my hardest this weekend.”