Jorge Lorenzo has had a dramatic year so far. Second in the championship race, the Spaniard suffered a crash and broke both his wrists. After making a comeback, he is faced with an entirely new set of problems. Although he is still on his debut season, Lorenzo has had the benefit of a considerable amount of exposure to almost all the tracks on the circuits of the world Championship calendar during his time in the 125cc and the 250cc. Up until he came to Laguna Seca.

The track returned as the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in 2005 and since then, it has not featured on the calendars of the lower cc segments. Thus, for Lorenzo, it will be the first time that he will be riding on the track. Although Lorenzo was here last year as a guest commentator, his experience would have been extremely limited.

"Going to a track I never raced at shouldn't be a big hurdle, but it's true it might harder in the early sessions," he said at the San Francisco Hard Rock Café autograph session on Tuesday.

"However, you have to go over it, you know that you have just as much time as the others to do your work. We know that we have a competitive bike and competitive tyres."

Lorenzo has had a crash riddled season but his riding ability has still caught the eye of the critics. He has ridden fearlessly and has delivered some stunning performances. Numerous pole positions including a race win already stacked up, Lorenzo can take heart that despite everything, he is still having a good year.

"I've had some ups and downs in this season. The first races proved quite positive and then lately things haven't gone that well, but you have to look back on it as a whole, building up experience throughout the season," he reviewed philosophically.

"Of course you can enjoy the good results and good experience on the spot, but even the bad experiences can prove good later as you learn from it, and it may help you progress."