not been killed at the Italian GP in 1973. Like Max Biaggi, who won the opening round of his first 500 season in 1998. Like Jorge Lorenzo, with his single race win last year. And like Valentino Rossi, who won twice in 2000, and came second overall. Were

into the season, another switch to a German team, as an economy measure. Saved! But there wasn't anything left over to pay him as well.Earlier in his career, four years in 500s - '93 to '96 - saw a best of a single seventh place in France in 1995, and three other

as many laps as usual to their own economy drive, achieved by saving track time.Stoner was fastest, Rossi a shade slower: the Ozzie Groaner ran a time of 2:01.043 – 1.716 seconds faster than his best time of last year. That’s an improvement of 1.3979

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” Shakespeare wrote that. And he knew a thing or two when he wasn’t waffling on.Rossi knows it too. But five races into the 2009 season, it’s not his head that’s worrying him most. It’s the other end

.The record says it all. At the last round of 2004, Capirossi racked up 216 starts in all classes, with 23 wins - a rate of 10.65%. In 500cc/MotoGP, the rate drops to 2.86% (105 starts, three wins). Checa has 168 starts and two wins, making his average 1.43

their predictability.Few more so than three blinding laps in the Donington deluge. After running wide and losing 2.5 seconds to lie fourth, he re-caught veterans Barros and Roberts, played for a while, then pulled away - gaining 1.6 seconds one lap, 2.5 the next, and 3

expressed. They were investigating an 'error message' in the fuel-management ECU, but there was petrol. No there wasn't, said the team. A wrong signal from a faulty sensor said the bike still had 1.9 litres. In fact, it was empty.This developing story

to pretend on a fortnightly basis, that Rossi is just an ordinary racer, with a bit of talent, a lot of luck and some good technical support. And that he is very definitely beatable.The first Yamaha tests of the M1 saw the double Superbike champion within a

-limited 1000cc engines, and even production-based engines for privateers. Dumbing down, to save money and build up grid numbers from the present minimalist 17. This further reduces the distance between the two series.By starting late, and then getting caught

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