Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128334
vate, his orchestrated postrace victory charades becom ing almost a matter of duty rat her than the old ebu llient good humor. But those close to him mark little change in his basic perso nality. Fame may be a burden to the funloving yet intensely competitive 25-year-o ld Italian- but he maintains his elfin charm in public, and he keeps raking in the money that inevitably follows fame - rumo rs of a $12-m illion two-year deal with Yamaha may only be slightly exaggerated, and that's just the start. Uke Hallwood, Rossi still races for fun, and it was clear that in his last year with Honda a lot of the fun had gone out of it. Only after Gibernau had put him under pressure in the first half of the year did the old Rossi emerge. Funnily enough, it was at about the time he started ta lking to Yamaha. He's bee n enjoyingit ever since. "MotoGP racing is coming a little bit like 125 racing though we take less time for more of the track! But when it is close racing like we've had, it's perfect fun for me, " said Rossi. Most of his close racing had been with Gibernau, as he had anticipated . 36 JULY 28,2004 • CYCLE NE WS "I expected Sete to be str ong," he said. But he was expecti ng things to get tougher in the latter part of the season, and he was we ll aware he might yet have more work to do on Max Biaggi. "The other rider - maybe they have had a few more problems, but they will be there." He'd already proven that the Ho ndas were beatable. The difference was the level of effort required on the Yamaha. '" also had to ride I00 percent last year," he said. "But with the Honda , you had time in the race to be quiet, to think about your tires and see the race develop, then push. With this bike you have to push all the time. There are still some points where we are worse than Honda. "The Yamaha is much bett er for settings and adjustment . We work at every race, and it is getting better all the time. Also we get a lot of new parts . The factory cont inues to make changes. We are all working hard. But the most importa nt difference is top speed. That is the wea kest thing for me at the moment." 40th Anniversary Through his skill, that wasn't the cause of his three losses in the first seven races . Rossi spoke of how he had managed it at Assen , where he forced alo ngside Gibernau around the outside of one turn to be in position to move inside under braking for the next bend . Their bikes touched, and the Spaniard was angry at the finish . "Of course Sete was upset, because he had been lead ing the race for a long time," Rossi said. "But my overtake was 100 percent clean. What we spoke about later was not the overtake, but the next corner - where we touched . I was inside, and he was very close. I nee ded to slow midcorner because I lost the front. That's when he touched my rear." Then it was over. Rossi was gone , swe pt away by his entourage of team minders and functionaries, and his ever-p resent best friend and travel compan ion Uccio the pair have been friends since schoo l days - followed by the stocky figure of his wh ite-bearded manager, Gibo. This is the Rossi Phenomenon. And any minute now, he will eclipse even Mike Hallwood. eN