Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

lIalentino Rossi • • e a(In 0 a u ler Doohan to five st raigh t tit les. And with Mick himself in the pit, whe n the HRC ra ci ng manager is a t the races . More will rea lize th at it is th e vast talen t that ha s m ad e it look easy. Th e many ride rs he ha s bea ten know the tru th of it. I s po ke to Ros s i aft er the first pra ct ic e sessio n for th e Est or il Grand Prix in Po rtu gal. The next day he repe at e d a fe at he 'd pulled off in Ge rmany - ignoring conve ntiona l wisdom tha t th e track ha d few over ta king o p po rt u n itie s to sli ce th ro ugh th e top 10 a n d ca tc h th e le ad ers . He e nde d up third , just two ten ths behind Ke nny Rober ts J r., se tting the lap record on th e final la p . He seems to be riding with ha pp y confidence too . Here ' s my t a pe recorde r. It wo n't ma ke yo u ne rvous? Ha ha . (Post- modern ironic laughter.) S o me wou ld s ay th e NSR is god' s own racing bike . What' s it like to ride ? The bike - is fantastic because - er - er • Wait , I think in Italian. (Titte red translation from pretty e nto urag e member. ) The balance. The b ike was very easy to ride from the beginning - th e braking , the handl ing . But the problem of this bike is power. It's hard to ride because of very much power. .. to con trol the power. But it's more easy to ride than the Aprilia 250. Re ally? Ye s . I think the good of th is bike , when the settings a re not so bad , is ve ry much the feeling it gives to yo u. More tha n Aprilia. With Ap rilia the la p time is o kay . but th e feel ing is a little bit worse . YOU used t o ta lk a bo ut how much fun it was to ride a 12 5 . And you seemed to ha ve fun o n the 250. Is it actua lly fu n t o ride a 500? Or is it j us t too s e rious. Fro m o ne po int of view , yes. 125 ra c ing wa s mo re like a game. 250 sta rted to be come serious . And this is more serious. Because this bike is dangerous . When you o pen the th rottl e, arriv e 200 horsepower. It's necessa ry , every tim e ... [to bel quiet with the bike. Very qu iet. But aft er another po int of view this bike is more funny than 250 or 125. (La ughs .) When a ll is oka y. Because of th e speed, and the very hard power. Th rottle co nt rol is e ve rything . Your pit cre w says yo u have very p recise th ro t tl e contro l, sho wn on th e t el e m et ry. Where does that co me from ? It's na tural. Also with Aprilia - I had more th rottle control th a n the other [ride rs] , I use the th rot t ie in a different m od e : more easy for the en gine. Ma ybe it comes be c a use I sta rte d ve ry young , and rod e m a ny b ikes . But I re member with Aprilia Loris [Capirossi] us ed th e th rottl e like a switch - o n/off. I used ver y mu ch mor e throttle contro l. But Ca p irossi is fas t, no? So m ayb e it's just my wa y. You've a lready won a race. What level are you at with th e bike? Fo r s ure, I ha ve a lot to lea rn. I a m not at 100 per cent with the 5 00 . It's st ill d ifficu lt to set the bik e up - not so bad, but not 100 percent. This year, I hope to win a nother race, o r two races. So the ra e- A Q ~ ) P :l ' A B y M ICHAEL S COTT P HOTO S BY G O LD [, G OO S E a m pa nt and exu ltant, the o ld Vale nti no Ross i is ba c k. In new form, of cou rse, as befits a 500c c ride r. No more ridin g round th e paddoc k in a girly bathrob e , sto pp ing an d la ugh ing with everyone, like when he was a 125cc kid - a nd no more costume dra ma s af te r ra c e wins . Not just at th e m o m e nt . a nyway . "Yo u mu st prepa re these thing s . I was surprised by win ning at Don ingt on Park." Afte r a sp ell whe n h e s e e med to h a ve s uffered t ha t sob ering cha ra cte r th at often afflicts new 5 00cc riders , Rossi has bec om e a ros trum regula r a nd a la te title chal lenger in just two th irds of a season, picking up a R 30SEPT EMB ER 20, 2000 ' cue • e n e pace that it takes some riders (current World Champio n Alex Criville, fo r ins ta nc e) years to achieve. And th e g rin is back, along with t he resou nding ca c kle of re ad y laug hter. Some mig ht think the c razy-cropped kid from th e Ad ria tic c o a st n e ar Misa no (now a re s id e nt in a s nooty suburb of c e ntra l London ) ha d a n easy path to glo ry. Son of Gran d Prix winne r Graz iano Ross i, wh o ga ve hi m a m in ib ike before he cou ld ride a pedal b ike , Valentino su rged to a lmost insta nt dorni na nce in th e 125 and th en 250 cc class with a factory Ap rilia that other rid ers would ha ve ki lled for. Ta king th e title in his second year in each class, he the n stepped stra ight onto a go rgeous fac tory V-four Ho n d a , run by the e lite pi t cre w wh o took Mick _ so Q A I I 1 ) ?

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