Ducati bank on speed for Monza miracle.

World Superbikes head to the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza circuit this coming weekend for the fourth round of this year's championship battle, where a slipstream thriller is guaranteed around the legendary Formula 1 circuit as a multitude of powerful Superbikes hit top speeds of close to 200 mph (320 km/h) down the long Monza straights.

And, while defending champion's Ducati Xerox may have experienced something of a nightmare start to the 2005 season, top speed is a quality the factory 999s of James Toseland and R?gis Laconi are not lacking; both riders having set outright WSBK speed records - 316 km/h for Toseland and then 318 km/h for Laconi - at Phillip Island one month ago.

But Laconi was then knocked out in an incident with another rider during Sunday warm-up at Valencia, an incident that caused him to miss both races. However, the Frenchman has now fully recovered and has set his sights on breaking the Suzuki stranglehold on the championship.

"Last week was very tough for me as I was still feeling the effects of the crash and was very tired, but I went for a check at the start of this week and I am now 100% fit for Monza," declared Laconi. "I've even managed to do some training on the bicycle so now I am looking forward to getting back on my Ducati on Friday.

"I really love the Monza track" he continued, "it's very fast and it involves a lot of hard riding. I had a double win last year, and the Ducati always seems to go well there.

"The 999 is a very fast bike so we're OK for top speed, now all we need to do in qualifying is find a good solution for rear grip for the fast curves, of which there are a lot at Monza, especially as you exit the Parabolica, but we were going well at Valencia until Sunday morning and I'm sure we will be in a good position for this weekend's race," reassured the Frenchman.

Defending world champion Toseland has had an appalling time since the start of the season on the #1 machine, but is convinced that at Monza everything will be in place to help him re-emerge as a front-runner.

"At Monza we've just got to get things sorted out. We're not a million miles away, the circumstances that have happened in qualifying have been bad but I'm not making any excuses," declared Toseland.

"Monza is not very technical as a circuit - it's just long straights and braking at the limit. We've got a few things to try there, so with a track that's not very complicated, with the speed of the Ducati and everything else, hopefully it will be a weekend in which we have two solid results to get everything back on track.

"My confidence and the team morale have suffered a few knocks recently but I can assure you that there's nothing wrong with us or the bike and we want to find the form again. I've got a good team behind me and we're going to work hard this weekend to be back up front", concluded James.

Laconi and Toseland are currently fourth and tenth in the riders' championship, while Ducati are just fourth in the manufacturers' standings.