An 'incredible' feeling with his Yama💮ha means Maverick Vinales will be looking to continue his march up the world championship standings at this weekend's Japanese MotoGP.

The Monster Yamaha rider was down in eleventh overall aft💙er being taken out for the third time in six races, at Catalunya in June.

But Vinales bounced back with the M1's only victory of the season so far next time at Assen, while three podiums in the last four r𒀰aces have taken him t🉐o fourth in the riders' title (although Petronas rookie Fabio Quartararo has been top Yamaha in three of the last six races).

The Spaniard's next target is countryman Alex Rins( Suzuki) who is just four p♔oints in fr♉ont.

Although Vinales has only taken one premier-class podium at the stop-go Motegi circuit, with Suzuki in 2016, he likes the track and is sure of a much stronger ꧅showing than last season.

“I actually like Motegi a lot as a track. I always like pushing there, so I expect that we will be good this weekend because it‘s a track where I‘m usually fast," said Vinales, who made a visit to Taipei 🧔in-between the Thai and Japanese rounds.

"Last year it was a difficultꦍ race [seventh place], but back then we were at🍬 a point where I didn‘t feel good with the bike.

"At the moment I feel incredible with the bike and🐲 can push so much for good lap times.

"We will see, but in aᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚny case, I will be pushing.”

Vinales still has a math♒ematical chance of sec🅠ond in the world championship but would need to bridge a 52-point gap to Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), with 100 points still available.

Team-mate Valentino Rossi is sixt🐈h in the world championship, with Quartararo in sevent๊h.