The saying 'break a leg' is supposed to bring luck, but not for Valentino Rossi. As well as the story of the injured local hero, Toby Moody discovered what else had the MotoGP paddock abuzz in Mugello.
The fall of the idol
10.39 was the time that Valentino Rossi crashed out of the second Free Practice at Mugello, leaving his Yamaha at 178kph (111mph) and hitting the tarmac at the Biondetti corner. He writhed in pain immediately, his leg already crooked at a wrong angle. Something was wrong – really wrong. I twigged immediately that it was at the Biondetti esses and, in that case, he would be going through there at getting on for 200kph. A quiet air descended over the valley, but once people realised that it wasn’t the total end of the world and that he may well be back before the end of the year, raceday dawned with more of a spring in people’s step.
I just called to say I love you
After his successful operation on Saturday night, Rossi made a live telephone call from his hospital room through the circuit PA system before the race session on Sunday. The Yamaha team’s Lin Jarvis and Masao Furusawa were scheduled to visit Rossi in hospital on Monday.
Making them proud
Marc Márquez kicked off the first race of the day at Mugello with his first-ever grand prix win in the 125 class. His Mum Roser, father Julia and brother Alex were all present to see their lad cross the line first. Márquez said that he couldn’t actually believe that he led those last few metres across the line. “I was waiting for the others to come past me out of the slipstream. I was waiting… waiting… and then there was the line! It’s a fantastic day for me to win, because also my hero, Dani Pedrosa, won the MotoGP race.” Aki Ajo, the boss for Márquez’s Red Bull Derbi squad is still glowing with his appreciation of the star that he has in the team. “There are still so many things to learn for Marc, but he’s got something special.
Gold & Goose/Red Bull Photofiles
Running in the family… ?
Beware of more Márquez speed in the future – his younger brother, the aforementioned Alex, has just started racing in the ultra-competitive Spanish 125cc Championship. He had to miss the season opener because he wasn’t old enough, but now he’s the ripe old age of 14, he ran at Albacete. Ironically, though technically Marc’s ‘little brother’, he’s not a little version, as he’s actually taller!
Gearing up for victory
Dani Pedrosa returned to using his normal first gear on board his Honda V4 at Mugello – a trick that worked perfectly for him as he led into turn one and was never headed. At the last race in Le Mans, he had a longer gear of 200kph and was beaten to the first corner, but here he reverted to his favoured 170kph cog – and it worked.
Worthwhile journey
President of the Honda Racing Corporation, the ironically-named Mr Tetsuo Suzuki, was at a grand prix for the first time this season, so both Red Bull-supported riders, Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, getting on the podium together and the first Honda win of 2010 were worth the boss racking up the air miles to come over from Japan. It can’t have had anything to do with the fact that the Mugello circuit is one of the most beautiful motor racing tracks in the world, nestled between green hills, olive groves and pizzerias? No, not at all, but whatever Honda have done to their RC212V after Pedrosa’s troubles in Qatar, they are more than proud now. As the Spaniard said, “For sure, everybody is very happy to see the boss here!”
'I don’t know how I remembered to even breathe, I was riding so hard' – Marco Melandri
Water way to celebrate
Dani’s crew chief, the Austrian Mike Leintner, celebrated underneath the podium as the champagne was sprayed, only for Mike to get his own shower. The mechanics decided to pour water all over Mike just to make him not feel out of place next to Dani, who was dousing himself in fizzy. New shirts, please!
Let me qualify that…
Marco Melandri had a superb tussle with Casey Stoner for fourth position, the pair of them passing each other twice on the last 5.23km (3.25-mile) lap. “I had to ride like I was on a qualifying lap every lap. I don’t know how I remembered to even breathe, I was riding so hard.”
That’s me in the corner
Hiroshi Aoyama must have surely had the most spectacular moment of the weekend away from the TV cameras when he tried a different line over the top of the blind crest on the home straight. As he aimed his Honda through the kink, the bike’s bars shook so violently he almost had to let go… by which time he was on the grass at 342kph (212.5mph) approaching San Donato and a 1.6G braking effort. Can you believe he managed to make the corner? He did. Aoyama’s race wasn’t as good as his wild antics from Saturday, but he was still working with engineer Tom Jojic in the Interwetten garage over two hours after the race – and still in his sweaty leathers. Ugh…
Time to re-tyre
Bridgestone are more than happy with their speed of tyre fitting behind the garages, as they can fit 35 tyres an hour, compared to 15 tyres an hour in a public garage with road tyres. Special machines are needed to fit the rubber on the rims for the MotoGP bikes due to the incredible sidewall stiffness required for racing compared with roadgoing tyres.
LordSchrammi/HelenaN
Complimenti ai tifosi professionale
Mugello was one of the season highlights for sheer numbers in the paddock too. There are 1,800 permanent passholders in the paddock over a weekend, and on top of that there are up to 4,000 guest passes… and three bunnies. Oh, sorry, that was the ‘sponsor’s product’ of Randy de Puniet’s LCR Honda…
For more cheeky fun from Mugello, see our MotoGP event page
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