Vale Columns

No longer am I for these trots

Hi guys, I write you these lines with a slightly crushed body but contented for how I ended the race in Australia. It was one of the most delectable races of my life, very exciting and I did not stop for a single moment. I had to battle with everybody and some overtaking was very to the limit, like in the fight with Toseland. I don’t know what would have happened if I had started more to the front but I don’t think I could have done it with Stoner, although talking bout these things now that they already have passed…

The weekend of the Grand Prix of Australia in Phillip Island has been a little strange, not alone for the crash but also for the chaos of the tires. The truth is that I hoped that Michelin would continue with some riders… It did not displease me that my rivals were with Michelin. Alright, the truth is that I am very calm now that Michelin has retreated and it will be Bridgestone that will go on.

With respect to the crash you can’t imagine the migraine it has caused me. My head was exploding but in the race it was truthfully fine. The header in the sand was very, very strong and I was lucky that I didn’t do more to myself. But a headache is very annoying in motorbike riding. After the blow I remained stunned, I talked very slow and I almost hadn’t had the power to do so. They quickly gave me some medicine.

That day I didn’t talk to the press. I have to tell the truth and that is that after the blow and with the medicines they gave me in the Clinica Mobile I went to sleep. I was in insufferable pain. So we had to cancel the press conference. Then at dinner my head still hurt but I could be with the rest without problems. The worst was to get up the next day.

When they woke me up (because in Japan I more or less managed on my own but in Australia with the same time difference they had to get me up like formerly) my head was like a bomb. After arriving at the circuit I noticed that everybody was nervous, worried. Thanks to the Clinica Mobile and Doctor Costa I was able to do the Warm Up in condition. Then the rest and painkillers left me well for the race.

This week I am at home in Tavullia to relax. I no longer have the age for these trots and above all with the blow I got, it is still worse. The last two races left me sort if crippled so I returned to my village yesterday where I believe they have prepared a big celebration for me this week. Somebody leaked to me that I will get a big surprise but nobody will tell me what. Be that as it may, it will be funny. Maybe they will finally name me mayor of Tavullia. You remember that in Misano they told me that they will make me mayor for a day…? But it doesn’t matter, because in my village they have shown they are capable of everything.

They have told me during Saturday’s dinenr what Brad Pitt has said about me. I could not believe it! It is normal that many men like to appear like me or that they feel a healthy jealousy for what I do, but Brad Pitt? Ufff…

It is peculiar that he said that he would like to change with me because I would like to do the same with him. I would also love to be Brad Pitt… because I am a big fan of his wife! I was with him at the track in Mugello this year and I greeted him but I would like to see him again and spend a bit of time with him to talk about life or motorbikes…

A few days ago I was asked if I liked to be star in a film about my life but I already answered no, being an actor is not for me. I am not worth it but I would like for Brad to be the one interpreting it. Can you imagine for Brad Pitt to be Valentino Rossi? It would be funny, eh?

Alright guys, I say goodbye to you until the next Grand Prix. Now only two races are left, but they will be at no loss for you. I can still take the record for podiums in one season. At the moment I have 14.

Ciao
Valentino Rossi

Rossifumi 46

The CHAMPION's column

I give you the recipe to win a World Championship

Hello friends. Once again sorry for the delay… I know that many of you have hoped during two too long seasons so imagine how they were for me. But in the end it has arrived. I didn’t lie the other day when I said that this title feels better than no other to me. When you are used to winning, to not to is sometimes an agony. But in the end the work that was done behind and the desire to succeed have made it worthwhile to be on top once again.
Surely my way of celebration it surprised you. The truth is that we didn’t spend too much time to planning it. It was the same Monday of the week in which we managed to get the title. Aldo (Drudi) and the friends from the Fan Club were in Italy but we agreed and the idea that a notary would testify my eighth title seemed fantastic to all. Drudi made a helmet with the finish line and left a space for me to sign in front of the notary. It was very funny. Above all because we put a subjective camera on the marker for the signature like when tennis players sign in the television cameras after a game.
The only thing I didn’t like was that they didn’t let me lift my brother Luca, who came to see me in Japan, on the bike and I thought that it would be a good idea that he would do the lap of honour with me. He also races and I believe he will be very good even though I hope I will be retired by then.
Because maybe not all of it was visible on the television, I want to explain to you what it said on the shirt I was wearing to celebrate the title. Aldo’s design was brilliant. To see me dressed as a cook making a soup worked very well. On the front you see my apology, Scusate il ritardo and the clock standing at eight. You have to know that I am a disaster with the time and known to be rather unpunctual, I always arrive late to all places. And like I always arrived late the last two years… what better way to reflect that! But to win a world championship you need good ingredients and this year I had those. This is why I decided to make a World Championship Soup.
That it consists as the soup recommended on the t-shirt of the prestigious, indicated and renowned Bridgestone guide. It is so called, no? And this World Championship Soup used the following ingredients that I will tell you about:
Ingredients: 150 kilos of Yamaha M1, 70 kilos of Valentino Rossi macerated Carlo style, Japanese engineers, 2 fresh Bridgestones, 1 Furusawa, 1 Najajima, 1 Kitakawa, 1 Jarvis, 1 Jeremy Burgess (Reserva), 1 Gary (matured in the barrel), 1 Bernie, 1 Alex, 1 Brant, 1 Matteo, 1 Azeta, 1 Suchan, 2 Brivbi (in oil), 1 Mike, 1 Peter, 1 Max, 1 Marco & Co., 1 Willy (sweet-and-sour) & Co., 1 Uccio (of the garden), 1 Vitalli, 1 Claudio Costa (au natural), 1 Mapo, 1 Valentino, Tribu del Chihuahua (with alcohol and in small doses), a bit of agony, essence, first class adversaries, any archenemy (marinated in salt and laurel) and Fan Club as necessary…
And what to do with those ingredients? Well, the recipe is to be made in this way: take a saucepan (sterilised, model VR/46), take the ingredients that give most confidence (of Albi and Claudio’s recipe); prepare a punch or a mix drinks of adversaries and enemies and add a bit of onion, carrots, celery and a pinch of garlic. Chop all up very fine. Add 46 kitchen spoons of AGONY and CONCENTRATED ESSENCE, plus a little bit of olive oil. Stir-fry all together. Add a jar of CONSERVED DRUDI & Co to give colour. Give all the ingredients of the recipe in the suggested doses into the saucepan. Let the mix simmer. Soon it is necessary to add short pasta of hard grain of the AWARDED ROSSI MILL GRAZIANO and beans of MAMA STEFI’s orchard. Take the soup to the verge of boiling. Before serving a pinch here and there of noble parts and Parmiggiano Reggiano and… Bon apetit!
To drink the expert advises the red and young Corkscrew wine. 46% alcohol. Wine cellar Casa Rossi. Vintage 08. Bottled on July 20th 2008.
And to savour….
With congratulations from your chef:
Valentino Rossi

Rossifumi 46

Right, the newest MARCA colum:

The most dangerous race of my life… I loved it!

This time I went very early to the United States. First I was in Las Vegas to attend an event of the licensed Yamaha dealers of America with Jorge, Toseland and Edwards to present the new M1. People were bedazzled and everybody asked my opinion on the motorbike. The truth is it is spectacular. The city also seemed to me at least particular.
Then we went from Las Vegas to New York. When I left for the United States on Tuesday I already had decided to do some touristy bits in New York. It was the 9th of September but when we went to visit Ground Zero the preparations for the Commemoration of September 11th were already on the way. It was a moving moment because they were preparing this fest and I was a little sad to remember all those who passed away here those years ago.
Then we went to the Statue of Liberty and ate in an Italian restaurant with Davide, William, Uccio and Laura. I have been to New York once but I didn’t have too much time to get to know it. I was in a bar with Eddie Irvine and have visited the seat of ESPN where I had an extensive interview. I also visited Soho and I was charmed by that quarter. Everything is very cool!
Before we left we didn’t go all the way to Indianapolis where I met with Albertino, a famous Italian DJ, a good friend of mine. Between the two we thought about taking my bike in a trailer with a Fiat 500 from 1963. He left on Wednesday and arrived on Saturday so that we saw each other again at the circuit. It was funny.
I have to say with respect to Indianapolis that I didn’t know the circuit and in principle I liked nothing more than to see it. Then in agreement the weekend came nearer and I discovered that it was even more beautiful than I had thought. And since I liked it including those falls and despite the hurricane, I could win an incredible race. How could I not like this track, ending up with the pole, the fastest lap and the race victory?
The conditions of the race were very difficult. I think it was the most dangerous race in which I have taken part. With all I have to congratulate the people of the track because they have done an impressive job. It is not necessary to say that a hurricane has passes, it was only necessary to see how it left everything. But the water was not the most dangerous thing. The wind was the main problem. In front of me passed glasses, plastic bags, tree leaves… everything.
In these circumstances I didn’t know where to go. When I went in the straight, I sometimes went to the right and others to the left. It was all a whim. It was to avoid all that was coming my way. There was a time I went over a white line and lost control of the bike for an instant. I have to admit that I had some luck because I could have easily fallen. I believe I should have lifted the hand earlier but I only thought of the advantage over Hayden and that I could not stop. I did indeed think that then when they showed the red flag I thought it was the best decision they could have made. I have to congratulate Nicky because he gave me a lot of difficulties, especially in the beginning.
When they stopped the race I already knew I had won. It was impossible to restart the race. To go back to the track to do only eight laps was like a Russian roulette. It was way too dangerous and everybody saw it this way. Yes, it is a shame not finishing a race, but it was really impossible. I hope that next year we can race in the dry because in these conditions the track was good. Indianapolis is a good site and I am the first to say that I had my doubts.
After the race we ate with Jorge in the Brazilian restaurant that is in the city and after we went to a party that Red Bull usually have in the Grand Prix, sharing a laugh with the greater part of the people in the paddock. We had to celebrate what was deserved.
The triumph surely was also that I have beaten Agostini in achieving 69 victories in the big class. A few months ago I thought that it would be very difficult to pass this mark but with the year I am having, little by little, I started to think that it was possible. I already equalled it at home, in Misano. There he was saying it directly and we joked a lot about the question. I only want to say, Ago, that I am sorry. Your record lasted 30 year. Now I only hope that mine will last another 30.
Motegi will be my first match point and I hope I can win there because it is a Japanese track and we are in the home of Yamaha and there will be a tide of tifosi. Also last year I definitely lost the title to Stoner there and I would really like to get rid of that little sting. Surely it will be a very special Grand Prix and I already want to go there.
Of course I have to relax a bit before. Since I am already in the United States I will go to Chicago for a few days. I want to get to know the city well and I will move away from the world for a few days. Then before the test in Japan, I will go to Tokyo for some sightseeing. There are always things to see so even though I was there already a few times, it doesn’t matter to me. Then on Wednesday I have to do some bits with Yamaha and the Japanese fans. There almost everybody knows me and they deal with me in wonder. They also fall to me very well. I am intending on winning on their track that also is Honda’s, haha, so that the celebration is complete. Despite the time I know that in Italy and in Spain you are relying on me in Motegi. I will try so that it is worth for you to rise so early. Yes, it costs me also and I only do it if the pain has merits. I promise that it will be worth it.

Rossifumi 46

and here is the Misano column:

Maradona kissed my hand… and I his feet

Hi guys. The perfect weekend! I could finish the article here but I have things that I have tot ell you. Guys, what a spectacle! What more could I want? In Misano I wanted to do well at all costs for different reasons. Think that about a year ago everything went pear shaped and it seemed that a curse of bad luck had been thrown at me. Remember my dog Guido in 2006, freezing because of the ice on the back of my Yamaha’s seat while we were slowly descending to -51…
If I had used the same argument at the last race it would have had to show beloved Guido holding a parasol with a cocktail on the beach at +25 degrees at Laguna Seca; or suffering under the desert sun at +50 degrees after the race at Brno and after last Sunday’s Grand Prix, Guido would turn into a roast chicken in long fire: + 75.
Another motive for overcoming. Misano was important for me because I consider it my home weekend. I live 10 km from there. Did you notice my helmet on Sunday? Home Grand Prix… and a helmet that represents the ideal house like I imagined it when I was a kid: a simple house with a red roof, the iron vane with the rooster that turns, the clothes hung up in the sun blowing in the wind and the inseparable Guido – always he – altogether relaxed in its house in the garden…
Looking at the closeness, my Grand Prix of Misano began like a normal day of work: I got up on Thursday morning… and I went to work. On Friday I didn’t need or set the alarm, the 125 and 250s woke me with their engines.

The visit of Maradona

To tell all that happened during the weekend I would need all the pages in MARCA, but seeing as I cannot extend it that much I will try to concentrate all the emotions or my Grand Prix of Misano in one page. Considering that you surely have seen the race I will start with the end, with the surprise the guys of my team had for me at the end of the race when I returned to the garage after the press conference. All my mechanics and friends were surrounding me and we were celebrating the victory, when at one moment they started singing “Oh mama, mama, mama, sai perchè mi batte il Corazon?”, which was a very famous chant in Italy, en vogue above all in the period when a certain “Diego Armando” played for Naples.
In this moment I understood all: I turned around and Diego Armando Maradona was in front of me! He approached and I gave back the kiss to my right hand he gave me on the grid: I kissed his foot, the foot that in a long career had given so many emotions and so many goals to all football fans. I remembered that just before the race on the grid he told me “you have made history in sport!, “I? and you?” I answered him remembering the World Cup in Mexico. Maradona, the best football player of all times was celebrating with me. Fantastic! This was the end of my weekend, what has been an absolutely PERFECT Sunday!

I could not fail for the fans

I could not fail at the most important moment of the year in front of my fans. Last year here in Misano I reached the lowest point in my career: engine break after few laps after the start of the race and a disadvantage of 87 points to Stoner. My championship was practically terminated. But the situation this year is practically reversed: my bike goes strong and I am in a splendid form. Also the stands were all yellow and I saw my ‘46’ everywhere, so I had only one option: to win!

History was repeating him self as much on Friday as on Saturday: like in Laguna Seca and Brno Stoner was always faster than I in all the sessions. In a certain sense this worried me a little, but on the other hand I was certain that on Sunday in the race things were different, in a race there are many variables and everything can happen, like in the United States and in Brno for example.
The race started with one of my not so perfect starts, especially since Pedrosa could put himself in front of me and I lost a bit of time passing him and then go off on the hunt of Stoner. Undoubtedly we were both pressing hard and at a certain point I saw a possible way to pass but in that spot the asphalt was very slippery and I had a strong whiplash.
After the race in Brno I said that even if Stoner hadn’t fallen I would have given chase and overtaken him. Here in Misano I couldn’t honestly say that. Probably I would have had to work real hard to recover the three seconds that I lost trying to get past Dani… But luckily those are only words. On the contrary, the facts state that things were different.
When I saw Casey’s fall I though I could slow down my rhythm a couple of decimals but Jorge, behind me, did not relax and I had to go hard till the end. I am also happy for him, with me on the podium, seeing as to what he went through in the last races. Now he is back to where he was at the start of the championship and surely will come to enjoy himself.

Nieto, better than Agostini

This victory permitted me to equal the record of one of the greatest riders of all time: Giacomo Agostini, who won 68 Grand Prix in the king class. Now I am at the top of that class and that makes me happy. When I equalled the record of Nieto in Le Mans I remembered that Ángel was happy, above all because we are good friends and overtaking is always less painful. In case of Ago, on the other hand, although we are friendly and a reciprocal esteem and respect exists, I guess he will be a little less happy…

It is understandable, though. Probably it will annoy me also, when at one time some young guy equals or surpasses my marks. But then again Ago keeps the record of won world titles (15!!!) and the one of total victories with 122. I have a minimum of two years now at my disposition to beat the last one. I don’t know if I will make it happen, because the difference is abysmal, but I can say that I will try with all my might. My race on Sunday has allowed Italy to achieve a total of 700 victories since the world championship exists. In summary, an authentic race of records.

Therefore from now on we cannot lose our concentration, because at the moment, we have won nothing. The Championship is still long and there are another 125 points in the play. The guys from my team know this too well and for that we can not drop our guards. From now till Valencia I will always have to give the maximum to give to me and to you a great joy.

We see each other in Indianapolis, I hope you are going to watch the race and as always you will read it in the pages of MARCA

Ciao!

Rossifumi 46

In Brno I won Gold

Hello all. The victory in Brno has been a significant one, also in the circuit where I managed my first victory in the World Championship in 1996 in the 125s. I didn’t win in Brno since 2005… After Laguna Seca I have been relaxing with doing absolutely nothing for ten days. Then I have started to work again, because I wanted to be in form for this race. I was training hard every day because Brno is always a key moment of the season.

During the practices we have worked well together with the whole team, both on the Friday in the dry and the Saturday in the rain, but after Sunday’s Warm Up we weren’t fast enough. This is why before the race we had to look for a emergency solution in the completion of the bike together with Jeremy Burgess and the other mechanics. And this change was decisive for the result. In this form I could be fast in the race including in T2 (the second part of the lap) und could withstand the attack of Stoner.

Casey started very fast, very strong, with an incredible first lap. And I couldn’t respond because I first had to free me from Hopkins, who was in front of me in the first turn. Afterwards we were fighting for six laps at a very fast and intense rhythm. These laps reminded me of a DVD when you turn the speed from normal to 1,5 times the speed…

It would have been maybe difficult to keep up this rhythm during the whole race because we were riding each lap with 2 seconds less than the rest! And also in part because Pedrosa and Lorenzo had difficulties with the tires and so neither Casey nor I had other rivals, but I did not want to let Stoner escape and I could follow his rhythm without problems. I have felt very well, very strong, very fast and I could have taken him without problems. Admittedly he went down soon and all ended, but I would have liked to have had a good fight. I have to admit that it was very easy to win then…

After the race me and my friends have played some games of Briscola (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briscola) on the bike. During the summer we have played a lot of cards and made many games of Briscola. So we decided that if I won, we would play cards on the tank of the bike. It has been funny!

Now we can go to Misano calmly. The circuit is at only 10 km from Tavullia where I live and therefore is my home track. There I have a score to settle because last year it was a big disillusion. We were fast, we have gone well in the practices and also in the race our times weren’t bad. But after only five laps the new motor of my Yamaha broke. Now we go there with 50 points advantage, but there are still six races to come and there will be some hard battles with Stoner. He will have to try to get as many points back on me as possible and we have to keep him at a secure distance. Also Pedrosa and Lorenzo are in the fight and could complicate the matter…

Anyways and given that we are in the Olympic period, we can say that on Sunday I have won my gold medal, right after the impressive 100 meters of Bolt (I couldn’t have done that even on my bike) and the eight golds (and seven world records) of Phelps.

And now, I expect you all in my home, in Misano, for another great spectacle. You stay alert because it will be a hot finish!

Rossifumi 46

This is racing

Ask me if I am happy! Yes, today I am truly happy! I write you from Monterey, California, United States, nothing can stop the party of my first victory at the legendary track in Laguna Seca. We were not all, but almost all: Uccio, Davide, JB, Matteo, Alex, Bernie, Brent, Gary, Roby and all the friends who came to see the race. We were in a restaurant at the harbour, had a television in front of the table and watched the race. Four times! I hope you have watched it all, because a race like this you won’t see every day.
To start with I want to say that the race at Laguna Seca was one of the ten grandest in my career. It was a fantastic test on a fantastic track. It was a battle in all rule, epic, like those of past times, when you took every turn like it was the last, almost pushing, almost with your eyes closed… This is racing.
During the whole weekend, including Sunday morning, I have thought I would have to try to follow Stoner, who was faster than us (my M1 and I) in all the training sessions. Even though we could improve in the official qualifying and achieve second position, the distance to lead the race was worrying.
But then…
In the warm up and before the race we managed to get some tenths, but it was still not enough to give me the certainty to be able to play for the victory till the end. I had a unique form not to let escape Casey like he had done in the last three races: to attack, to attack and come back to attack. I knew that I couldn’t even let him have time to breathe because his bike was faster than mine. I think I surprised him because in all the sessions he had the better time, he probably wasn’t expecting having to follow from the first lap on. I had an optimal start, maybe the best of the whole season and in the second turn already I was behind Stoner, ready for battle.
You know what the Corkscrew is, right? It is possibly the most famous turn in the whole championship. It is a left-right in descent, with an elevation at the back right after a hill that causes everything to be “blind”. The first time I did it in 2005 it seemed an impossible turn to me. All the American riders were used to the Corkscrew because they raced there in the Superbike championship, did it almost with their eyes closed, while we, the Europeans, were looking for the ideal line to get out of it… on foot!
I talk to you about this turn because just there, in the first lap, I was able to give the first thrust: overtaking Casey on the inside in the first left of the Corkscrew. Don’t ask me if I have prepared this overtaking from the start, because I will never tell you! However I will tell you that I suffered a similar thing in 2005 when Colin Edwards, then my team mate, passed me in the exact same manner in this spot!
I can’t tell you how many times Casey and I were overtaking in the first laps; I only know that I wanted to be in front of him at all cost and that I couldn’t allow him to get past me and escape. And I didn’t allow him to.
Forgive me if I gave you a good scare in the third lap! In order to be forgiven I tell you, that I had a good scare too! Casey had overtaken me anew in the straight and I accidentally could get past him again in the Corkscrew, only in the change of direction to the right I left the track on the inside in the gravel to the ground. Fortunately in California the ground has exceptional grip and after a brief excursion I was able to return to the track and stay in front of Casey. Tonight we have watched this scene dozens of times. And all in all I am surprised I have avoided falling!
32 laps in Laguna Seca require a physical and mental strength even in normal conditions. You can imagine how I felt thinking I would have to do this all in this manner! Think that in the first 20 laps I was not able to once look at my pit board because I could not be distracted for even one second. Casey continued to be faster than I in the straights while I was able to always be up front in the turns. Each passing for the finish line it was a matter of hundredths. What a great battle!
After the first 22 laps I knew that I had surpassed my goal. And that was to be able to play with my adversary one on one till the end. However after, at 9 laps to the finish one of us committed a fatal error and… fortunately it wasn’t I! First I responded to the nth attack by Casey with an overtaking on the outside that drove the crowd literally crazy (I even felt the outcry through my helmet) and after just at entering the final turn, Casey tried to overtake me again, but he went wide and fell in the sand. The problem was that I didn’t know it! I saw Casey going wide on my right, but I didn’t know he fell and for that had lost so much time. This is why I continued to go faster. I thought he was two or three seconds behind me and that he would return to overtake me again in the straight. When I saw that my advantage was 16 seconds… I knew it!
The rest you know, you know that I won, you know that in the lap of honor I kissed the Corkscrew, that now has changed into a “friendly turn”. You also know that this surely was the most beautiful race of the season, and not only because I have won but and above all because it was a passionate race, hard, a real race! You know me, you know that when the game is hard, it means also a lot of fun for me, I am not one to sit back. Certainly!
Summing up: if the race had you fixed in front of the television despite the time difference, you know it all. I make you notice one thing. In 2004 in Welkom I have won my most beautiful race. The first after signing with Yamaha. In Laguna Seca I have won one of my most beautiful races, the first one after the reformation of Yamaha! I will stay here for two more years, expecting to entertain you.
The only negative note of the day was Jorge’s fall. Truly an ugly fall. I have seen it on television a couple of times and it left an impression. I wish him to get well during the summer break and that he comes back to Brno in form, like he was at the beginning of the season.
Alright guys, ask me today if I am happy and I will reply that yes, very much!
Good holidays everyone and we will see each other again in MARCA after the race in Brno.
[signed Rossifumi 46]

The newest Marca column:

I present you my guys

I write from Sepang where I finished gaining my ninth victory. Nine is a number I like very much. I am very happy to have equalised the number of victories of 1999, 2003 and 2004. Now the goal is to come to your home to try winning the last test of the year.
I thought I have told you all, but I remembered that I have missed out on the most important. 2008 has been the year of Valentino Rossi’s return, but to be honest I could not have been able to return to the top of the world alone. I present you my team
Masao Furusawa, the big boss of Yamaha in MotoGP. He is a great person. He is a man of very little words, but when he speaks he says things clearly, precisely and directly. With him I always had a special relationship: we are always on the same wavelength, always agreeing. He says I remind him of himself when he was my age. For me that is a great honour because Furusawa-san enjoys the esteem of all that are working with him. It might be a coincidence but when Masao is at the track things are always better.
The big boss of my team and also the leader of the Yamaha M1 2008 project is called Masahiko Nakajima. He also says little like almost all the Japanese, but after five years of working together a look is enough to understand each other. He will never admit it but in Motegi, when I won the title, I saw his eyes shine for a little bit. For me they were tears of joy.
Now we go on to my real team, the ones I call the guys (even though they aren’t precisely young ones…).
Above all my team leader, Davide Brivio. You know him for sure because after me he is the one shown most on television. Davide is the person who five years ago had the dream to take me from Honda and get me to Yamaha. His dream became true and with him also the dream of winning three championships, each one more beautiful than the one before. Between Davide and I there is a great friendship and a great relationship. He is probably the best person in the world. Always calm and reflective.
The guru of the World Championship
My chief mechanic is called Jeremy Burgess. JB to his friends. Jeremy is the guru of the World Championship. If I am not mistaken he has won 13 titles and 151 races! When I went to Yamaha I managed that Jeremy followed me because I believe that JB is the absolute best in his field. I can’t imagine a box without Jeremy: where he is I will follow. And the other way around… JB is a master of the mechanics on a Sunday morning: more than once I have understood that during or after the warm-up Jeremy was able to find those 2 or 3 fundamental decimals for giving me the possibility to overtake and to win a race. In Jeremy I appreciate much his effort in adapting to the new MotoGP, with all the electronics.
One of the most beautiful moments is when during dinner I and JB find ourselves seated at the same table and start to talk about… bikes. There are so many stories that a whole book would not be enough to tell them all. Jeremy is like me: for him exists only the highest step of the podium.
My data acquisition technician is called Matteo Flamigni. And he is the magician of the electronics. His role has become very important. I always spend a lot of time with Matteo because he is the one who records all my moves on the bike. We say that Matteo is the black box of my M1. Nothing happens without him knowing it.
There are also my mechanics: Alex Briggs, Bernie Ansiau, Brent Stephens and Gary Coleman. They are able to mount and dismount my bike in record time. They surely are the best in the world. Alex, Bernie and Gary were in Honda and went to Yamaha with me, while Brent was already with Yamaha when we came there. I work with them for many years but we weren’t yet able to get together to see a race all together. Maybe one day when we are so old to continue doing that work we will get together in one of our houses and watch one in front of the television.
There is also Roberto Brivio, the team coordinator, whom I call Varenne like the very famous Italian race horse, he sees to the logistics. I know it is strange because even though I call him Varenne we are doing this for year, he says to me “Hello Varenne” and I respond “Goodbye Varenne”. Someone who hears us will think that we are crazy.
There are many other men. They are called Shigeto Kitagawa, the number two at Yamaha, Lin Jarvis, the head of Yamaha Motor Racing, Peter Baumgartner, the Bridgestone technician who is with me since the start of the year, Mike Norton, the Öhlins technician who attends to my suspensions, Hiroya Atsumi, my personal Japanese engineer… and many others, to name them all I would need the whole magazine. To all of them: never-ending thanks.

Rossifumi 46

thanx tammerz great read.................