VOL. 48 ISSUE 44 DECEMBER 13, 2011
P55
WHAT WENT
WRONG
VALENTINO ROSSI'S FIRST DANCE WITH
DUCATI DIDN'T GO AS PLANNED
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
M
otoGP 2011 was instructive in so many ways. The
lesson that came as the
greatest surprise concerned Valentino Rossi.
The progress of his season
proved something his most fervent
fans had long since preferred to
forget. Valentino, the natural winner, the charmer, the luckiest man
in racing and by now a demi-god at
least – well, he was just human.
Watching how the great man's
face changed along with his comments through the year was fascinating. Being who he is, he emerged
with credit. He kept smiling in spite
of it all. In public, anyway.
Rossi's 2011 campaign was disastrous. By his standards there is no
other word for it. Some riders might
be proud to have gained a rostrum,
and to have finished seventh overall. For Valentino, it was his worst
championship position since he
turned up as an androgynous teenaged 125cc rookie in 1996, and
placed ninth.
54-60 Rossi Feature.indd 55
If this was a blow to his fans, you
can only imagine how Valentino felt
about it.
The other remarkable thing, at
least early on, was how he kept it
hidden. His public face remained
up beat and his mood optimistic. By
year's end, when chassis variation
number four and engine number
three had yielded no significant improvement, there were times when
the enthusiasm was clearly wearing
thin.
In fact, speaking more frankly at
the end of the year, he admitted
that the feeling of desperation had
actually kicked in the first time he
rode the Desmosedici, at the postseason Valencia test in November.
"I understood immediately that
this bike had some problems at the
best point of my riding style," Rossi
said in a rare interview with Britain's
MCN Sport. "Usually my best point
is braking and entering the corner,
but on the Ducati it is the weakest
point."
Rossi admitted that the biggest
mistake he and his crew had made
was to badly misjudge his Marlboro
Ducati predecessor Casey Stoner.
12/9/11 2:30 PM
