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VOLUME 58 ISSUE 15 APRIL 13, 2021 P123 the other riders were just support- ing cast, extras on the set. When news broke that he was flirting with a switch to F1, the doom-say- ers were in the ascendancy. Not anymore, continued Lucchinelli, whose opinion was borne out by the second Doha race's closest-ever top 15, inside nine seconds. "The others also put on a show. Now even rookies are fast. There was a time when you broke your bones for three years before you were fast." Not sentimental, but well ar- gued, you might think, and I hap- pen to agree—have done for some time, and increasingly over the past year or so. Rossi is playing the unedifying role of bed-blocker. Or maybe dog in manger. The more so in 2021, when his reluctance to cede to the inevitable combined with his stranglehold over Yamaha im- posed unwelcome conditions on the vigorous and successful new Petronas Sepang Racing Team. The squad, present in all three classes, came into racing at a high level in 2020, with a major intention being to develop fresh talent, which it could feed into Yamaha's factory team. As happened brilliantly with Fabio Quartararo. In its second year, however, Petronas SRT has been obliged to accept VR, now a factory- team cast-off. Worse still, second rider Fran- co Morbidelli, who won three races last year, has been left with a two-year-old bike, while Vale has the latest-spec M1. It's an old racing truism that "the first person you have to beat is your teammate." This means that last year's results make uncomfortable reading for Rossi fans. The other Ya- maha riders (average age 23 to Rossi's 41) finished second in the championship (Morbidelli), sixth (Vinales) and eighth (Quar- tararo). Valentino was 15th. Between them, the younger trio won seven races, Rossi claimed a single third-place podium. This year, demoted to a satel- lite team but still on a top-level factory bike, things have started off in a similar manner. Rossi qualified a worthy fourth for the first Doha race, but finished 12th. Former factory teammate Vinales won. A week later at the same track, he qualified a dire 21st, a career worst, and finished out of the points. It was now Quartararo's turn for victory as top Yamaha, with Vinales fifth, barely two sec- onds adrift. Morbidelli had prob- lems for a second race but made the points in 12th, still only six seconds away from the leader. Vale missed the points in 16th, five seconds away from the pack and 14 seconds off the winner. So, Lucky's not blowing hot air. A respectable racer himself, of a comfortably raffish outlaw type compared with today's squeaky- clean marketing units (yes, he did a jail term for a cocaine offense), he knows the game. But he's been widely belittled, the groundswell heavily in Vale's favor. Social media doubt- less came up with a few death threats, while in Italy, insulting Valentino is up there with the worst kind of sacrilege. Valentino, in turn, responded with trademark brutal charm, ear finely tuned for the stinging soundbite. "I hope I am not like that when I get old," he said, adding that he was surprised because hitherto Lucchinelli had always "kissed my arse." The moral of the story? Criticize Rossi at your peril, no matter how reasonably. You'll get a big kicking. I could have told Marco that. And from experience, and just in case, I'd add, don't rule out a Rossi bounce-back either. CN It's an old racing truism that "the first person you have to beat is your teammate." This means that last year's results make uncomfortable reading for Rossi fans.