P120
CN
III LOWSIDE
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
Ciao,
Vale,
T
he great man has finally hung up his
AGV. Some, including myself, thought
this day might never come, but Valentino
Rossi is human, after all, and time eventually
catches up with everyone.
Rossi has been the lynchpin of my love of
MotoGP for as long as I can properly remember.
I watched the races with mum and dad prior to
Rossi's arrival in 1996, but at 13 years old that's
when my memory of racing really began to so-
lidify. Rossi was there, front row center.
It's incredible to think until yesterday he was
still racing grands prix. I've gone from 13 to 39
in that time and can barely remember my life in
1995 as a 12-year-old. What a career that man
has had. One truly remarkable in not just world
sport but public life in general. I cannot think
of a sportsman more universally popular than
Rossi. The good he has done for motorcycle
racing as a whole will take years, possibly gen-
erations, to fully grasp.
As a teenager, I was drawn to the mischie-
vous ways of a young Valentino, and each
October my best mate Simon and I would beg
Grazie
