when he penned a po-faced letter of complaint to Suzuki, insisting this juvenile practice must stop.Many old-timers remember a string of Randy's own practical jokes, from stripping naked with unbearable frequency to setting off massive explosives; from

become somewhat muted.To some, excessive pre-season publicity was the venerable racing factory's biggest mistake with the new YZR M1, which was quickly nicknamed "Mission Impossible" by the Biaggi-friendly Italian press, when it finally faced

to place sixth this season. He rode his Suzuki to its absolute maximum last year to beat the factory Hondas, in an off year for the winningest GP bike. Now it's not good enough -I'll come to why in a minute. And Kenny simply isn't the kind of rider who

Nobody likes being overtaken, especially not Rossi. When the guy passing him is the same guy who knocked him off in the first corner at Jerez last year, and who later beat him by a couple of nano-seconds at Estoril, costing him the five points

to an admittedly rather depleted 250 class, and where Rossi had taken two years to dominate, Dani did so in his first. In '05 he faced tougher opposition, but dominated again.And now he's arrived with the big boys.Most think his time will come in '07, when the 800s

Edwards fell off on the last corner. Pedrosa won the same number, while Catalunya injury victims Capirossi and Melandri had three apiece. Rossi five. Another surprising statistic: all year long, Hayden led for 29 laps. One-race wonder Troy Bayliss led

it.It was back in his 250 days that Rossi discovered that the Italian Press, while friendly to his face, liked nothing better than ripping him to pieces behind his back in print.He hadn't seen anything then to compare with now, as they pore over his

and passed Rossi to take control of the race - for one-and-a-half corners. Then he fell off.By now, a vague feeling that Yamaha had decided to keep the wrong man was turning into a serious certainty. The team's Europe-based (and European) management were

. Even in these days when riders talk incessantly about 'throttle connection', to Loris the twist-grip had never been anything but an on-off switch. He thought he might try the other way now. But even he openly acknowledges the twilight of his 11-year

deals have been going off all over the place, seemingly starting almost as the year got under way.Stoner stays at Ducati. And everyone congratulates themselves on agreeing finances for Year Two before he'd started racking up the wins.Hopkins to Kawasaki