Grand Prix Ceske Republiky:The Doctor’s winning therapy.

Today, at the end of the MotoGp, Rossi compared Stoner’s crash to Biaggi’s one in 2001 at the same track. It could be a pure coincidence or a planned analogy but, regardless, the result doesn’t change since the Doctor’s medicine for his adversaries it is the same inside and outside the track: building a steady mounting pressure. In the last couple of years Yamaha and especially Michelin didn’t support his game, but now the Doctor is back with a competitive bike and tires as good as his competitors. With 5 wins and 50 points over Stoner, only Rossi can loose his 8th World Title. Stoner seems to have lost momentum with two questionable performances right when we was asked to prove his real talent, his ability to “outperform” under pressure. If in Laguna Seca he let Rossi to suck him in a fight where he lost the victory and, I would add his confidence, today in Brno he gave away the championship on a silver plate. If in Laguna Stoner almost searched the dice with Rossi, today he played his most obvious card, the solo ride from the start to the finish. Strong of 6 consecutive poles, he thought that by building a buffer zone he could have avoided the Italian pressure. He went down with a stupid low-side, maybe over a little bump that must have suddenly challenged the grip of his crazy-glue Bridgestone. Most likely it wasn’t his fault and this is what he wants to hear now, but the reality is that he took that line, released the front brake and hit that apex. After taking off like a missile at the green light, the Aussie wasn’t able to disappear because Rossi after a couple of laps seemed capable to stabilize the gap with a very efficient ride of his Yamaha in the twisty sections of the track. Stoner’s time board must have appeared like a mirror filled by Rossi’s contour and, if I recall it properly, the Ducati rider rode his fasted lap right before crashing.
At this point it’s totally normal to question the assumption that Ducati had found a talent able to obliterate, in a few seasons, Rossi, the greatest rider of the modern history. I don’t want to elaborate too much this topic because there are still six races to watch where Stoner will do his best not only to win but to help everybody to forget the past two MotoGps. Anyhow Ducati shouldn’t be too disappointed since today after Rossi and Stoner there is nobody, particularly now that Pedrosa is injured. Another issue about which everybody agrees is that Ducati is not for every rider, as Capirossi and Melandri have proved. They need someone fearless, able to take the red bull by the horns, like a real matador, maybe someone like Elias. Yes, Elias was the real surprise of the day, the only rider able to add some salt on a race that was quite boring. I don’t want to forget to mention Capirossi’s podium, but his result was announced in the first day of practice in dry conditions. On the other end Elias’s performance was totally unexpected and made even more special by the rumors that his presence in MotoGp had recenlty been questioned.
I wonder if today Elias has somehow mixed the cards on the table for the Ducati Team. We know that Hayden would love to be in red and Gibernau would definitely come back and I speculate for considerable amount of money, but what about Elias? His second place was only the result of a lucky day, the outcome of a providential bike set-up that he wouldn’t be able to replicate in the future, or the simple dividend of his hard work on a bike that it’s evidently difficult to understand? Misano will answer.

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My strategy for Rossi in 2008: garlic and red chile peppers.

Do you believe in bad luck? Are you superstitious? A lot of people for religious reasons or just to prove, at least to themselves, that they can make their own destiny, will consider the concept as an ignorant or irrational mindset. On the other end, if I rephrase the question as “do you believe in luck?” the same people would probably admit that they have directly or indirectly experienced it. Beside the obvious luck in gambling we could list numerous type of situations or fields where a successful outcome is normally labeled as lucky: career, family, health, investing, business and many more. The common denominator of all the lucky stories it’s always the action or risk taken by the person, the chance to loose some or everything he or she has at stake. Anyhow we shouldn’t forget other situations where luck is synonymous of case, fate or being blessed: typical example is the survivor of an airplane crash! So if luck (or what else you want to call it) or no luck exist, everybody should agree on the existence of bad luck too, at least as other side of the coin. In Italy, where we were pagans before becoming Christians there is a clear sense of awareness about the topic but what differs it’s how we deal with that.
Rossi’s pre-race procedure of “praying” while kneeling on his bike, adjusting his underwear leaving the pit out lane and then again on the grid has become famous because he has won 7 World Championships. All the MotoGp riders have their own steps with which they reach their mental focus and physical prowess while keeping at bay the negative energy. Negative energy …? But where does it come from? Well if we want to keep talking about MotoGp racers, it could come from an objective issue like a mechanical problem as well as the mounting pressure received by whoever is around them. Have you ever experienced the situation where you suddenly perceive that within your circle of people, family, friends or co-workers the atmosphere has changed? Now you start feeling the criticism and the pressure deriving from any of your actions: some people would love them while others hate them! Some are supporting you, others hope in your endeavors failure. For a famous actor or sport star the phenomenon assumes giant dimension because of the number of people that make “his or her circle”. Jealousy and enviousness are dangerous forces capable of bending the strongest minds, fold the best careers and reversing the best stories. Until a couple of year ago Valentino seemed to be immune from this peril but in coincidence with the peak of his popularity, and by default enviousness, he started experiencing some unusual difficulties or issues that in his long career he had already encountered but successfully solved in a short time. In 2006 I can easily recall the long straggle with the chattering, the faulty Michelin tires and at least one engine failure while leading the race. And what about that second place behind Elias by a couple of inches? After mysteriously low-siding on the last race, those five vital points meant losing the World Championship! At that time, he was greatly criticized for driving the F1 Ferrari during the pre-season months hence held responsible for failing to win the World MotoGp Title. In the 2007 season Valentino was not distracted by any particular lure (if we discard the friendship with the gorgeous Elisabetta Canali), indeed he gave 110% to compensate the substantial lack of power/speed at the beginning of the season and then for the miserable performance of the Michelin tires. In the last race in Valencia, in perfect compliance with the Murphy’s Law according to which “whatever can go wrong will go wrong, at the worst possible time and the worst possible way” Rossi lost the second place in the World Championship because of the M1 engine. The ice on the cake it was that the mechanical failure happened while he was courageously riding and defending his position with a wrist fractured in the free practice! And what about that blow received during the summer when he was notified of a multimillion-pound tax evasion on undeclared revenues between 2000 and 2004? He is responsible from a legal point of view but we know who “put” the young and inexperienced Italian fellow in such a predicament whose outcome revealed itself only after three years went by …

On the other end we have Stoner that after crashing bikes for most of his career until 12 months ago, on Ducati from day one was able to keep upright the bike each and every race! Mechanically he has never suffered any problem but one race when his slipper clutch was not consistent in the feeling. Also, during the season the young Aussie time after time enjoyed an edge on the competitors before with a 20kmh faster bike and then with winning-proof Bridgestone tires. That’s the beauty of life: anything can change at any moment, and sometimes magically or, let me say … luckily for the better!

Now given the circumstances if I were a consultant for Rossi I would remind him the old saying “there is never two without three …”. We cannot lose another championship in this manner, so besides dropping Michelin for Bridgestone, blustering the Yamaha engineers for a better bike and fire is friend and manager Gibo Badioli, I would recommend the old wives’ tale to hang garlic and peppers on your 2008 M1 to keep away negative energy and bad luck!

Grand Prix of Turkey: "Michelin Impossibile" ... even for Rossi

Last Sunday, back from the weekend in Pennsylvania, I went to check the results from Istanbul and it didn't take much to understand that something went wrong, very wrong if nobody out of the first three riders from the qualifications were able to make the podium. Stoner, the 21 year old Aussie on Ducati, won his second race of the season in a manner absolutely authoritative. After a crash on the first lap caused by Olivier wiping out Pedrosa and Edwards, Stoner took the lead on a mistake committed by Rossi, and maintained it to the end. Behind him, everything happened: Rossi, after taking a tour in the grass on the fastest turn of the circuit, found himself in 5th position. From there it took some time for the seven time World Champion to gain the second position: he seemed to struggle a little bit in making ground on the leaders of the race, maybe because he didn’t have the typical that extra corner speed that we had noticed in the first two rounds of the season. Probably the vibration that has churned the rear tire and forced him back to the tenth place was already challenging his confidence on the brakes. As matter of the fact when he was aggressively overtaken by Elias he did not reply. I would like to open a short parenthesis about the Spaniard who finished in second position at 6 seconds from Stoner but with 2 seconds on the rest of the group. Some people have pointed out that after what Rossi has done to Gibernau and other riders, last Sunday he shouldn’t have raised his elbow to fence off the young Honda rider and he should have avoided to comment (italian video) the accident with the press . About the first issue I am positive that raising the elbow and converging towards the other rider is totally normal in such a situation because there is a tendency to support each other in a moment of contact. Elias reached his side only by the turn point when Rossi was going to release the pressure on the brakes and dive toward the apex of the turn. It seems to me that Elias had never showed his front tire to the Italian, and he did gamble a little bit in a maneuver that, if not successful in its timing, would have sent Rossi out on the tangent compromising his race and in case of a bad accident even his championship. Also, Elias is the rider that knocked him down at the first race last year and he is the same guy that after some rough passing won by a couple of inches a race on Valentino that could have made him to win the 2006 MotoGp World Championship!
Anyhow, last Sunday the real show was for the third place: Capirossi at the end prevailed on the 37 year old Alex Barros and on the last year winner, Marco Melandri. Macho looked very aggressive but he was worn out by an extremely tough Hopkins, protagonist of a spectacular performance. Hayden, first Michelin rider, finished in a mere 7th position, definetely not enough for someone who is supposed to defend the crown.

Next appointment in China: another fast track where the Ducati will show off the extra speed. At this point all the attention is on Michelin: we have not forgot the faulty front tire that stopped Rossi last year and in consideration of the work done by Yamaha and its riders, the Michelin man has to be sure not to fail again ….
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