Valentino Rossi

People often ask why I like Valentino Rossi. Sure he is the most successful bike racer of his generation by quite some margin but I’m generally a sports fan and admire many people but I love riding all kinda bikes, so motorcycling is my primary hobby therefore Motogp is merely a side product because it is motorbike related.

With that in mind I’m a fan of sports stars (and others – actors, musicians, writers etc) who have an interesting narrative with some grit, personality and character to their life story that sets them aside from their rivals and above their chosen profession....sure the element of achieving 'the best' is part of it but for me it is not the most important element.

People like Mal Meninga, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, George Best, Paula Radcliffe, Cathy Freeman, Ian Botham, John McEnroe, Venus Williams, Navratilova, Alex Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Guy Martin, Tiger Woods to name just a few…..honest truth it stems from that basically!

Sure the young Valentino had huge success winning titles on Dunlop’s, Michelins, Bridgestone’s, riding Aprilia’s, Honda’s, Yamaha’s, with engines ranging from two stroke to four stroke and from V2, V4, V5 as well as the in-line 4 configuration, winning superbike Suzuka 8 hour, he also won World Titles at 125s, 250s, 500s, 990s and 800s plus 5 seasons back to back champion. He was just head and shoulders better than anyone else! At the same time as he was amassing race wins and world titles he was also getting a reputation for comical victory lap antics, feisty/funny press conferences, quirky stickers on the bike, brilliant Aldo Drudi helmet designs, rivalries, controversies, teammate spats, the crazy yellow army of fanatics and then his decision to test the Ferrari F1 car and despite a massive offer he turned it down to stay with bikes. Coming back from a broken legs, the first time after just 33 days and the second time just 19 days later meant he had already become the most popular rider in two wheel history!

BUT he gets more interesting to me in the last 10 seasons since he hasn’t won a title. He fell out with Yamaha, switched to Ducati which proved disastrous, sacking of crew chief Jerry Burgess, the recovery from that fatal Marco Simoncelli accident, the return to Yamaha and getting back to winning races, the Ranch Academy rider project, job creation in his home town of Tuvulia, the VR46 merchandise company producing clothing for fans of most riders, his Moto3 & Moto2 teams etc….so even now when he's stopped winning but still racing as the fastest 40 year old on the planet - it just keep my interest in him because there is nobody else on the Motogp grid who has ever gotten close to bringing this kind of narrative to the sport or attention to bikes in general.

Plus he’s even made it acceptable for road riders to wear dayglow yellow and stand a chance of car drivers maybe seeing us!!