Valentino Rossi autobiography

This 288 page book goes into details of life of Valentino Rossi, one of the best MotoGP racers ever. Autobiography provides inside details of both on-track and off-track life of living motorcycle legend, allowing reader to get better understanding of life and achievement of Valentino Rossi.
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2007-09-03  Rider impressions after Misano race
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After race in Misano we have championship situation almost sorted out, but for sure things are getting more and more interesting behind Stoner, with some new riders showing strong performance. Although this race did not brought too much exciting racing, we had few quite unlucky riders which have few things to say about race. Read rider impressions after Misano race. Casey Stoner - winner: I'm still taking the championship race by race. It was unfortunate what happened to Valentino [Rossi, DNF] and to Dani [Pedrosa, DNF] today, but I was out in front doing my own thing, I had enough pressure myself. It took a lot of concentration to not make any mistakes because it was really hot and hard work today. This was very nice win for me. Yesterday I wasn't so confident, but when we arrived on the grid today we were quite confident with the setting and everything worked well, we got a good start and we were able to get a good advantage. If there was a group up front my plan was to separate the group so there were less riders to battle with, I expected it to be a very difficult race. The team did a great job all weekend, they really pulled through for me. And after a race like this I'd really like to thank my trainer Anthony who I work with every time I have a bit of time off. The second part of the season is when I usually get stronger, so I hope we can be stronger at the next races but we'll see what happens. The more I ride My Ducati the more comfortable I become and the faster I become. Chris Vermeulen - 2nd I am very happy to be on the podium. I said earlier this year that there would be two Rizla Suzukis on there before the end of the year, and I am very pleased to have been proved right. Obviously I’m happy to be in front of John, but congratulations to him and the whole team on this great result. We had no data on the bikes before we came here and Suzuki and Bridgestone have both done a great job to give us such a fantastic package for a new circuit. I got a good start from the third row, which was nice because I was dreading starting back there as it is so difficult to pass around here. I got up to fourth early on, but I still had to pass John and Valentino – two of the hardest guys in the paddock to get around. After I got through them I tried to catch Casey and thought I was doing so, but I think I used up a bit too much of my rear tyre trying to catch him and at the end he pulled away a bit. Once again I would like to pass on my thanks to Tom and all my crew, plus all the guys at Bridgestone for this weekend. John Hopkins - 3rd: What can I say, two Rizla Suzukis on the podium so that isn’t too bad a day! I got a great start which was crucial and I was lucky to avoid the accident at turn one. I wanted to hang on to Casey early on for as long as I could, the Bridgestone tyres worked really well right from the start and the bike also felt good. I had an incident when I pushed a bit too hard coming in to a fast right and had a big front-end slide. That cost me some time as it spooked me up a bit and because of that my lap-times dropped off. I could hear Chris behind me, he came up the inside and passed me - I knew he had a strong pace and I tried to hang on to him. I hung on for as long as possible until I had a problem with a knee-slider that came loose and I had to take it off and put it back on! That is neither here nor there though, Chris and Casey rode at a hell of a pace and I didn’t really have anything for them. I’m happy to get this position for the Team and for Suzuki. It’s a great performance today and now we’ll be pushing tomorrow to try and make more improvements. Then it’s on to Estoril where I have very high hopes! Marco Melandri - 4th: I couldn't have hoped for a better result considering my physical condition and starting position. This morning we made a few modifications during the warm-up that didn't have the effect we had hoped for so we changed a few more things and went out with an even more different setting in the race. With a good performance in the race I wanted have to apologise to the team for my mistake in practice on Friday that could have compromised our potential this weekend. The team gave me a bike that has worked well here and Bridgestone came up with the tyres. The whole package felt good and that allowed me to ride comfortably despite the physical problems. Once I got past West, Edwards and then Capirossi, I ended up on my own for almost the entire race. Loris was close but I kept my focus for the whole race and then pushed again over the final few laps to make sure of fourth place. This is a fun track but there aren't many places to overtake. Loris Capirossi - 5th: It has been a difficult weekend and yesterday I never thought it would've been possible to get fifth place. We struggled a lot with our set-up - I wasn't quick enough through the slow corners because I wasn't able to get the bike turned so well. But during morning warm-up we made a big change to the setting and my feeling improved a lot. We decided to make another small step in that direction for the race and for sure the bike was the best it's been all weekend. Starting from the fifth row was difficult but I got a good start, fought with Marco and finally I finished fifth. It's not a bad result considering how the rest of the weekend went. Carlos Checa - 6th: In the circumstances I'm very satisfied with this result thanks to the support of Honda with the engine update, and the work we have done with the chassis and tyres. After passing Edwards and West I could stay with Loris, right on his rear wheel, but gradually he pulled away as the front end of my bike started to push a little in the curves. I played with the engine map setting but in the end decided to make sure of sixth place and be the first Michelin rider. Toni Elias - 7th: I'm satisfied with this result. This morning in the warm up we made a few improvements to the bike and that allowed me to take a step forward with my pace. I'm really tired now because the leg was so painful - especially in the second half of the race. From a physical point of view, Misano is very demanding but I stuck in the group and just tried to make up positions. Now I've got another two important weeks to rest before Estoril. Anthony West - 8th: My start wasn't so bad, which meant I was in quite a good position going into turn one, but as I approached the second corner all I could see were guys flying through the air. I didn't feel that strong during the first few laps. In fact, to be honest, much of the race was really difficult because I had a few small problems with the feel of the bike all the way through. Although small, these problems made it quite difficult to wrestle the bike around such a small and tight track. I'm a bit annoyed Elias went past me towards the end: just like he did in Brno! But I held him off for most of the race, which is some small consolation. I think he could see that I had to fight the bike at some parts of the track as he was waiting behind me. Anyway, by the later stages, the tyres were pretty well gone and I couldn't hold him off. Still, top ten is not too bad, you've got to be happy with that, and I got some more points. If we can improve the small problems we had today, I'm sure we'll be running a lot further up and I'll be able to go better towards the end of the race. We're always working on things and have more time to improve further during testing tomorrow. Colin Edwards - 9th: I got a good start and managed to miss the big melee with Hayden and de Puniet. Then Checa almost took me out a couple of times and the second time I had to run wide and West and a couple of others came through. Once I'd got sorted again I had my work cut out getting back by West, but then I just got my head down and got going. Unfortunately however, the left-hand side of my tyre then started to give me trouble and I had no grip from then on. There are a lot of quick changes of direction here, turns one-two and four-five for example, and every time I had to flick it left it felt pretty scary. I had to adjust my pace accordingly and from there on in it was just survival and looking to salvage what points I could. It wasn't fun out there today to be honest! Shinya Nakano - 10th: I didn’t get too bad a start at all. I saw the accident on the second corner and managed to escape that and was also able to overtake some other riders so that was OK. In the middle of the race my lap times were probably better than any other time over the weekend, which make me feel quite positive. Just at the end of the 28-lap race I tried to follow Colin Edwards but couldn’t close the gap to him, then during the last few laps I lost my rhythm a little and got overtaken by Alex Hofmann, but he out-braked himself and I was able to hold my 10th position to the line. The bike felt OK after we made the modification this morning and had quite a good feeling from the front, so from this I was able to make the improvement in lap time and the overall set-up wasn’t bad at all. I’m OK with a top ten, as despite being disappointed with how things went after first practice, a top 10 was what I was aiming for from this weekend. Alex Hofmann - 11th: Though I feel like I had a great race, I’m not happy at all by the results.  This was one of the most physically difficult races I’ve ever had in my life, and even though I was able to pass Nakano in the final laps, my hand was giving out and under hard braking I lost the position back to Shinya.  We’re looking forward to a little rest before Estoril, where we’re going to come out swinging and see what we can do. Nicky Hayden - 13th: What can I say? Another first corner incident. I didn't get a good start and there's really no excuse for it when you're on the front row. I've made such awesome starts lately, but I muffed that one up. I lost a few positions and then the first corner incident pretty much ended our race. I just saw it all happening right beside me and I absolutely had nowhere to go. I thought I was going to have to lay it down before I hit the tyre wall but luckily I stayed on. Then when I got back on track I was so far behind. We'd had a good roll going from Brno and we've proved this year that we're not going to give up. So we'll come back tomorrow and get rolling again with some testing before the next one in Portugal. Kurtis Roberts - 15th: In warm-up today we had the same problem as at the start at Czech, with the electronics not working properly and the engine bogging down, so I tried to start it without the launch control, and I screwed it up a little. Then going through the first corners de Puniet bowling-balls everybody, and Hofmann stops right in front of me. I don’t know why, but I just tapped his rear wheel and ran off the track. Nicky Hayden was ahead of me, and I passed him. We were together for three or four laps, but his bike is quite a bit faster, and I couldn’t keep making up the difference on brakes. I did outbrake him a few times after he would pass me on the straightaway, but the accordion effect just kept building, and I kept over-riding it, until I ran off the track. After that I was frustrated because I was so far behind. I’m not sure if I’d bent the front wheel a bit, but it started kind of hopping going into the corners, and that was it. Unfortunately we had a mistake from other people that sent us off into the gravel, and then I made a mistake that ended my race, really. After that, the only reason I stayed out was because I was in the points. Otherwise I would have pulled in and jumped on the sword. Dani Pedrosa - DNF: It's a real shame about this crash because I made a good start and had a chance to get away with the leaders. I was just turning into Turn Two when I was hit on the inside and really that was the first I knew about it. There is always a possibility that this kind of crash can happen in the first few corners of a race, especially at a tight circuit like this. It's just unfortunate that this is the second time it has happened to me this season because someone hit me in Turkey as well. The only positive thing is that I am not hurt. It's a disappointment, but we must put it behind us and continue to fight for the best championship position we can get. Let's hope for some better luck in Portugal. Alex Barros - DNF This morning we set the bike up to have a great race, and as we showed from the start, I was making up positions and was looking good to have a good result with my Ducati.  It’s such a pity that a n electrical problem forced me to quit and ruined all the work we did this weekend.  I’m very unhappy with what happened, and I’m sorry for the team.  We’ll do our best to put everything back the way it should be and get some points in Estoril. Randy de Puniet - DNF I don't know what happened, we have to check the data because when I tried to change direction, entering the left corner, I lost the rear, touched Pedrosa and crashed. I don't know if I used the rear brake or not, I want to check our data so I have a better idea about what happened. Obviously, I'm disappointed. I feel I did really well over the weekend so, to finish the race at the second corner is not very good. Luckily, there aren't any big injuries: the footpeg went in to my back when I crashed, and that hurts, but it's nothing major. But yes, obviously, I'm not very happy. Valentino Rossi - DNF At the start I felt I was lacking some temperature in my tyres and so I slipped back a little from my starting position. However apart from this I felt quite good, stable, with a good rhythm and confident that things would continue to improve as the temperature in my tyres increased. However on lap five, when I was braking hard, I suddenly felt something go and that was the end of my race. The engine was the same one that I used at the Brno test and also here in practice and it felt quite good; we don't yet know what the problem was today so we will have to wait until our engineers have had time to examine the situation. It would have been great, and very useful, to have a good result here in Misano today. I like the track a lot and I really wanted to do well in front of all the fans; it was a great emotion for me to see so many people in yellow. Unfortunately this wasn't the case today and now we know that the championship will be very, very difficult. Breaking down after just a few laps is frustrating and unlucky, especially because today we had good expectations and we had been fast during practice. But when bad things like this happen you have only two choices; give up or come straight back and start working again even harder than before. This is what we will do at Yamaha; me, my team, the engineers - everyone involved. We still have five races left and we will keep trying to get the result we deserve. Once again Stoner deserved to win today, so well done to him. We have a lot of work to do before Estoril.

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