Rossi turns quick 90

Larry Tate

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

International moto gp

Valentino Rossi is back on top of the world after his second consecutive Moto GP win on his Bridgestone-shod factory Fiat Yamaha. Last weekend's win at Le Mans in France – a solid five seconds ahead of second place – puts the Italian back in the lead for the world title after five of 18 events.

His chief rival, defending champion Casey Stoner, had a rare mechanical problem with his factory Ducati and dropped to fourth in the standings, while Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) are now tied for second behind Rossi with a second and fourth respectively in France.

Rossi is back on form in more than one way. He's returned to his post-race antics, although this time it was a superb tribute to a past champion, Angel Nieto of Spain. Nieto had 90 GP wins in his career (all on small-bore machines, 50 and 125 cc) and before France, Rossi was on 89.

He approached Nieto about a stunt if and when Rossi got his 90th, and Nieto happily agreed. A special set of leathers was made, and on the cool-down lap of Rossi's 90th win he pulled over and let Nieto take the controls to finish the lap with Rossi riding as pillion carrying a flag that read "90 + 90."

Nobody but Rossi could make such a stunt work, and it's one reason that he's a crowd favourite world-wide.

Lorenzo's performance to take second was miraculous, as he's still on crutches or in a wheelchair (including on the victory rostrum) after a horrific crash in Shanghai that left him with broken bones and torn ligaments in both feet.

And he did it without painkillers because he doesn't like needles: "After the weekend I have had, with the crashes and so much pain, I can't believe I'm here!" he said.

The Yamaha factory couldn't believe their weekend either, with their two factory entries in first and second, and Colin Edwards of the Tech 3 Yamaha satellite team in third. Despite his great result, the Texan was not a happy camper, convinced he should have won the race.

Edwards, second on the starting grid by a fair margin, was pumped at his chances for his first-ever Moto GP win. He said that in the event he simply couldn't stay with Rossi, and when Lorenzo also got by him he settled for the last podium spot.

"I honestly thought that today was going to be my day with the pace I'd been able to run all weekend," he said after the race.

The frustration showed more when he added, to veteran commentator Julian Ryder, "I'm going for a beer. Y'all can kiss my ass."

Pedrosa, the factory Honda rider who took pole position, was equally glum about fourth. "I'm sorry because we could have been on the podium but in the race I wasn't able to go as fast as I had during practice," he said.

While Pedrosa is known to be something of a complainer, practically everyone else on the grid other than the top three were also noisily unhappy with the weekend. Changeable weather no doubt caused some of the problems, and there's not much doubt everyone will be looking forward to the next race at Mugello in Italy June 1 – a race that Rossi has won every time he's entered.

U.S. racing

There was action south of the border this weekend as well, as Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies took wins in both ends of the AMA Superbike double-header at Infineon Raceway near San Francisco, both times followed home by team-mate and six-time U.S. champ Mat Mladin.

One of the support races was of great interest to Canadian fans: the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup (copied from the existing European series) is designed as a showcase for young riders. Using identical spec KTM 125 cc GP machines, the series is a potential jumping board to the big leagues, and an entry is extremely hard to get.

One who's done so is 13-year-old Emerson Connor of Burlington, the only Canadian to make the cut out of more than 600 applicants. Connor not only has qualified to get into the series, but is riding in the top group, finishing a superb 10th out of 23 finishers at Infineon.

Connor, who's been winning motocross, flat track and supermoto titles for four years already, is clearly pumped and ready for the big leagues, another of the incredibly talented young riders Canada has been tossing into the mix in the last few years.

Closer to home

The third round of the Ontario RACE championship took place at Shannonville on Victoria Day weekend, and a miserable time it was for all with cold, windy and wet weather.

The showcase this time was a much-anticipated revival of the Can-Am Challenge for 250 and 125 cc GP bikes. A good turnout of both local and U.S. riders made the damp air smell that much better with the lovely waft of burning two-stroke oil flavouring the atmosphere most of the weekend.

The show was good as well, with Ben Young clearing off from the 125 division, followed by Josh Wong and Steve Nickerson – none of them even close to being able to vote, let alone have a drink of victory champagne.

In the 250 cc contest, Marc St. Amand finally showed that somebody can beat veteran Eddie Brunet, taking a strong win with past Shannonville champ John Dempsey third.

Fourth and fifth went to the kids, with teens Ben Young and Ken Riedmann both impressing by taking their 125s to fourth and fifth, ahead of many 250s. Riedmann was riding after a crash on Saturday, doing his best not to limp in case his mom found out about it!

Freelance motorcycle racing writer Larry Tate can be reached at larryt@primus.ca

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