Monza in Italy is one of the world's great racetracks. Built in the 1920s as an oval, sections of the old banking still exist today. If you're going to race at Monza, be sure to bring the strongest motor at the shop, and get ready to draft. One benefit of the high-speed course is that it usually provides for great racing. Often it comes down to the last lap at Monza.

For this season, the chicanes at Monza have been replaced. Instead of the flowing "variantes" of the past, they now look to be more like Sugo's painfully slow chicanes. The circuit is now 5.793 meters long. The old lap record holder was Pierfrancesco Chili (1:45.470), and lap times will no doubt be slower this year.

Colin Edwards has won three of the last six races at Monza, including one last season. "Monza has always been good for me and I need it to be good on Sunday," says Edwards. "Two wins would put me right back in the title hunt before we reach the halfway stage of the championship."

Edwards is clawing his way back into the title hunt; teammate Tadayuki Okada is just looking for a good finish for his disappointing year.

Pierfrancesco Chili is also a Monza hotshot -- he has won four times on home territory. Chili is known for tossing his gear into the stands for his home country fans after a victory. If he wins again he might just do the "Full Monty".

This year the new Suzuki GSX-R has been struggling in WSC, but there's no place better to turn it all around for Chili than Monza. "It's always a pleasure to race in front of my home fans and Monza has always been good to me," says the Suzuki pilot. "It's always been a track I've liked -- a real rider's track and it is one that suits my style a bit more then some of the other circuits we go to. However, this year it will be a bit new for me because they have built a new chicane. I will have to learn it just like all the other riders -- but from the photos I've seen, it is very, very tight. Before it's been quite a good place for passing on the brakes, but because of its layout that will not be possible this year. You know my feelings about slow chicanes, so I am going to approach it with some misgivings. But Monza is Monza and I'm looking forward to it and improving on my recent results."

Ducati always does well at Monza, with seven wins over the years. Troy Bayliss is yet to win this year, but lies second in the championship and a win would help close the 22 point gap to the "other" Troy.

Ruben Xaus needs to get his season on track. Xaus won at Monza in Supersport in 1999 in a drafting battle with then-teammate Wilco Zeelenberg.

Ben Bostrom would like to add a second win to go along with his Valencia triumph, and the recent birthday boy has to be considered one of the favorites to take a race win.

Neil Hodgson rides a very nice Ducati privateer machine, but so did Chili when he won his first Monza race. "My confidence is better now than it was at the start of the year and I'm feeling a lot more relaxed about my racing," says the ex-Ducati and Kawasaki factory rider. "While I'll be going all out for a win at Monza, I'm a realist and I'll be happy with a couple of podium positions if I can get the bike set-up to my liking."

Hodgson has been critical of the Ducati factory team and their results at Sugo of late in the British tabloid press, which should endear him to race boss Claudio Domenicali.

Troy Corser is yet to win at Monza. He'll be aided by the improved spec two RSV engine. "Last year we knew that we'd be struggling at the super-fast tracks like Monza and Hockenheim because the bike was down on power. This year the bike is better in every department and I am in the right condition to go for a win in every race."

Kawasaki is glad to get back to Europe. Their season has been less than fruitful, with only Izutsu on the podium so far. But Hito is back in Japan for Monza, leaving the duo of Yanagawa and Lavilla to hold up the colors for the German-based team.