the crash that broke Wayne Rainey's spine. Without the pressure of Rainey chasing him every foot of the way, Kevin Schwantz started losing interest, and retired shortly afterwards.Like his hero Schwantz, Valentino Rossi is another rider who prefers

, it does.Grid NervesAs the bikes sat the on the grid, waiting for the red lights to dim, Hayden's position did not look promising. Sat in 5th place on the second row, with a run of poor starts over the second half of the season and Valentino Rossi on record

cherished, but the price of failure rises to match the price of success.Valentino Rossi knows all about the price of failure. The last time he was in a position to win a title, at Valencia in 2006, it all went horribly wrong for him. With an 8 point lead

numbers. This regularly left half the field unable to compete, and most painfully, saw Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, key figures in Dorna's target markets, floundering and off the pace. The current tire situation could not be allowed to stand.I Know I

was the first non-Yamaha man, putting his Ducati on the front of the second row, with the Hondas of Randy de Puniet and Nicky Hayden alongside him, the Michelins providing a clearly superior qualifying tire. Valentino Rossi, who had used up a lot of his

crowd, and Valentino Rossi's pleasure at being able to compete for wins once again. But both podiums also showed their darker side. Pedrosa may have been pleased to take 2nd in Qatar, but he was not at all happy to be sharing the podium with Lorenzo, a

off, the tantalizing question of whether Valentino Rossi, the man who had ruled MotoGP for so long, would still be in the series for 2007. Now the wait is over, the season is upon us, and we have answers to many of those questions. And those answers

was the only man capable of challenging Valentino Rossi at Jerez last year, and this year, he has an added advantage: Jerez seems to favor the Michelins over the Bridgestones, with the French tire maker traditionally outperforming their Japanese rivals here

acceleration and smooth, fast style will give the winner of the Jerez race the edge out of the slower turns and through the fast kink down the back straight. While the agility of Valentino Rossi's Yamaha, coupled with his ability to make almost impossible

. If Valentino Rossi can finish on the podium in Japan, or concede fewer than 12 points to Casey Stoner and fewer than 6 points to Dani Pedrosa, the Italian will wrap up his 6th MotoGP championship, and his 8th title overall. It would take Rossi ahead of Mick