#mugello circuit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kwisatzworld · 6 months

Text

Vale's First Year in 250cc - 1998

Japanese GP, Suzuka “Maybe the perfect thing about 250 is I can get out of bed later! I used to get up around 7am every day for 125 practice, and that’s too early, a big problem for me. Now life is very much better because 250 practice later so I can stay in bed until 9am. I keep strange hours – at home I never go to bed before one or two in the morning, and I never get up before 11am if I can help it.” “I like Suzuka very much because it’s fun and Japan is a paradise for me because I love computer games. The track is great and I love all the shops and amusement arcades in the circuit complex – it’s like a big amusement park. Suzuka has to be the most expensive GP for me! This year I spent so much money on new games for my PlayStation and on souvenir F1 models of Hakkinen and Senna. I also bought a very trick radio-controlled Tamiya Subaru, with all the special parts that are impossible to buy in Italy.” “I think I will ask Beggio - he’s the Aprilia boss - to fix it for me to meet the Spice Girls. They are now promoting Aprilia scooters, and I’m a big fan. It would be fantastic to meet Scary Spice. Maybe I should join the band – I’d be Fast Spice!” “It’s good to be racing again after such a long winter and so much testing. I only had one real holiday – I went snowboarding for the first time. I crashed so many times. Now I’m a racer I’m more careful on skis than when I was a boy, but not too careful!”

Malaysian GP, Johor “Johor was another expensive grand prix for me – very expensive! On Sunday I lost the prize money for first place and earlier in the week I lost one million lira in a bet with Loris Capirossi. We stayed at the same hotel and I bet him that he couldn’t jump off a first-floor hotel walkway into the swimming pool. It was a pretty risky jump because he had to jump away from the walkway and there was a four metres drop to the pool, and no room for a run up! He nearly chickened out, but I’ll never pay him. Well, I’ll see if he forgets first.”

Spanish GP, Jerez “I didn’t miss the discos either, because I had a lot of late nights in clubs before I went to Malaysia. Maybe you know, but there’s a big fight in Italy at the moment to make clubs shut earlier. They close at 4am on Saturday night, but some people want them to close at two, because a lot of the kids have accidents when they drive home. But it’s crazy, if they shut the clubs at two, for sure there’s no way I’ll go home. I’ll go to another bar or to a party with my friends. I always stay up until six or seven on Sunday morning! Okay, maybe some of the kids drink too much or take drugs, but you don’t only get drink and drugs in clubs.” “It’s great to be back in Europe after the first two races. I have my camper which makes life very comfortable, the camper only holds two people, but that’s okay. I don’t like my dad to sleep with me, because when it gets to ten o’clock he starts saying: ‘Vale, Vale, go to bed!’, but I can’t go to sleep before one or two. We did share a motorhome in ‘96 and it made life very, very difficult for me. Dad didn’t make it to Japan or Malaysia and it’s good to have him around again. He knows what it’s like to be a GP rider, so he keeps in the background, maybe watches a bit out on the track, and lets me get on with it.” “Next race of course is Mugello, which is fantastic – lots of Italian fans. But I hope it doesn’t get too crazy for me in the paddock. Someone told me I should hire some security gorillas to look after me, but the organisers of the Milan motorcycle show did that for me, and they pushed the fans around. I didn’t like that, so maybe I’ll do what I did at the Bologna motorcycle show last autumn – dress up with dark shades, a wig like Ruud Gullit [the Dutch football star] and a baseball cap. I looked just like a fan and didn’t get hassled once all day. Or maybe I will dress up as a Spice Girl!”

Italian GP, Mugello “The noise at Mugello is mad – the fans on the hills rev up engines all day and all night. Some people bring big, old car motors in the back of vans, with big, open megaphone exhausts. They just rev them on the rev- limiter until the engines blow: pa-pa-pa-pa-pa... boom! It’s very funny! It’s fun to go up on the hill on Saturday evening. Two years ago I wasn’t so well known and I went up there and blew up someone’s CBR engine. Ooops! Last year was very dangerous for me – everyone shouting ‘Rossi! Rossi!’ and jumping on me. There was this big wall of people and only one way out – through the showerblock, so I rode my scooter through the showerblock. If I hadn’t, I’d probably still be up there.” “Mugello is always a lot of pressure for me, but maybe this year isn’t so bad as last year when I was on top of the points in 125s, so I had to win. This time as usual I spent so much time signing autographs, taking photographs with fans and talking to journalists and TV people. It’s okay, but it’s a little problem, because I need so much time to set up the 250. It’s not easy like the 125. You must think a lot and speak to your technicians all the time about your engine, your gearbox, your suspension, your chassis. Busy! Busy!” “The other thing that takes a lot of time is the girls! There are always a lot of girls at every Grand Prix, but a lot of really young girl fans come to see me in Italy, 12 and 13-year-olds. I prefer older girls who are real fans of me as a racer – not teeny-boppers.” “I wasn’t so confident before Mugello because while I was at home I played football and lost, I played tennis and lost, I rode motocross and lost. The only thing I won was minicars – I am the champion! We got beaten in a five-a-side soccer match, six-one, then a friend beat me at tennis, six-one, then Marco [Melandri] beat me at motocross. I’m always fighting with Marco on motocross but he’s faster than me. I’m getting better though – at the start of the year he’d beat me by five or six seconds, now it’s only one or two. I have much fear when I ride motocross because I’m not good at flying. We don’t go crazy; it would be stupid to get hurt doing that. Motocross is great for my muscle power though. I don’t go the gym much in the summer because I want to be outside, so motocross is perfect.”

French GP, Circuit Paul Ricard “Of course I’m looking forward to the World Cup. I love football and you get a great atmosphere for the World Cup. For sure I will see all of Italy’s matches on TV with my friends. I may also go to Paris for one of our matches to work with Italian TV. I hope it’s the final! But I think it will be difficult for Italy. For me, Brazil are the favourites, maybe also France; they have some good players.”

Madrid GP, Jarama “The Saturday before Jarama I went to a crazy disco in Riccione – a lot of people were out of their minds, really high! It’s incredible what the young do for enjoyment! I nearly got into a fight in the club too. This guy came up to me and asked for a cigarette. I told him I don’t smoke. So he asked me again, and I said I don’t smoke. He said ‘You don’t want to give me a cigarette because you’re Valentino Rossi’ and he wanted to fight me! Luckily a friend of mine – a big friend – arrived just in time. That’s another reason why I must get bigger muscles!”

Dutch TT, Assen “I love Assen – it’s a fun track – so it was great to win my first 250 GP there, especially after I won there on the 125 last year. The only thing I hate about Assen is the weather, but it didn’t rain until the 500 went out. God must like 250 racing!” “Maybe my new hair style gave me good luck. I dyed it orange before I left home for Holland, but only when I got to Assen did I realise that orange is the country’s national colour. So far I’ve been blue, blonde and orange, which leaves so many more colours to choose from. I think silver will be next.” “The weekend before Assen I went to the Misano World Superbike round. The track is only 10km from where I live, so I rode there on a scooter with some friends. It was like being a kid again! We watched from the side of the track, not from the paddock. We just laid down in the grass, sunbathed and cheered like crazy when Aaron Slight won both races. I’m a big Slight fan, so it was another perfect day. Aaron’s a really nice guy, but I’m also a big fan of Haga. He didn’t have such a great day – he crashed in both races – but that didn’t stop him having a big party on Sunday night. I went out to dinner with him and the Yamaha team that evening. I had already met him at the Suzuka GP and although he doesn’t speak Italian or English we had a very good Japanese/Italian interpreter. He’s incredible – he drank so much beer! He’s a good guy and very funny.” “The Superbike paddock is great, very different from GPs. Everyone is so serious in GPs – they have to be because the racing is so competitive. In Superbike it’s not like that, the whole Yamaha team was drinking on Sunday night: chief mechanics, mechanics, riders and even the number one guys of Yamaha Japan and Yamaha Italy. I think it’s better like that, but the scene in GPs is too intense for that kind of thing.” “A few days before Misano I went to Paris to be a studio guest on Rae TV for the Italy v Cameroon game. Three-nil! It was fun, but I didn’t get to talk much and I never met the Italian team, because I was in Paris and they were playing in Montpelier!”

British GP, Donington Park “It was a bad end to a bad week for me. We watched the Italy v France World Cup game on Friday night in the Aprilia hospitality unit – there were a lot of Italians and a lot of French making a lot of noise, so it was very funny. Of course I was sad to see Italy get beaten, especially on penalties. For sure if they’d won the cup there would have been a really huge party all over Italy. I was looking forward to that. Now I want Brazil to win. I was glad to see Germany go out on Saturday because I didn’t want them to win. Sorry, Germany!” “The guy who really impressed me during the World Cup was Michael Owen, the English striker, he’s only 18 or something and he scored an amazing goal against Argentina. Maybe he’s the Valentino Rossi of football!” “We had our own paddock World Cup at Donington on Thursday, which was really shit, because we played three games and lost three games. I played in the Italian team with Melandri, Boscoscuro, Scalvini, Locatelli, Borsoi and Carpani. First we played the Suzuki 500 team and lost, then we played Team Rainey and lost, and finally we played Dorna, and lost. Dorna were all Spanish and very good. But the games weren’t so much fun because the pitch was tiny and really bumpy. Last year we had the paddock World Cup at Imola on a full-size pitch, and I scored twice. Nice!” “I have to say I don’t like leaving home to go racing at this time of year - there are too many beautiful girls around where I live, and they don’t wear so many clothes during the summer. Before I left home for Donington we played this really fun game of football in Riccione, on a soft rubber pitch, covered with soap and water, so you slide all over the place! It’s very difficult even to touch the ball, and you spend most of the time crashing into each other. We were laughing so much we were crying.” “I’ve got a new PlayStation car racing game at home: Grand Turismo. It’s fantastic and I’ve been spending a lot of time playing it. You start off with a not-so-good car, and then win prize money to get trick tuning gear for the engine and chassis. Now I have a Subaru with 350bhp. It’s so fast! I’ve heard there are also some good bike racing games coming out soon – a World Superbike game from Virgin, and the Aoki brothers are working on a GP racing game with Namco. Maybe if they’re really good, I’ll just give up racing and stay home with my PlayStation. It doesn’t hurt so much when you crash.”

German GP, Sachsenring “Now we have a four-week holiday before Brno, but I’m going to spend most of my time on the beach near my home – it’s sunny and the girls are nice, that’s all I need! But I am going away for one week – a racers’ holiday with Loris Reggiani, Roberto Locatelli and Melandri. We’re going to Tunisia to mess about with jet skis and fast boats. Should be a lot of fun!” “People ask me why I don’t have a really flash car, but I like the Impreza. And anyway I live in a town with small streets – not so great with a supercar. Maybe next year I will buy a Porsche S4. At the moment I think I am maybe too young for a Porsche. I guess I can afford one but I don’t want to have everything I want too soon. I’m still young and have plenty of time ahead of me for doing things.” “Perugini has a Ferrari, but I think a Porsche has more class. Capirossi has a Lamborghini Diablo with 500bhp, like an F1 car. They’re great cars but they’re like a Fiat 128 inside! Also you can lend your Porsche to your mother so she can go and do the shopping. Try doing that with a Lamborghini – Iimpossible! For me, Porsche is number one, for sure.”

Imola GP, Imola “It’s nice to win again – especiallly at home. Maybe my Italian hairdo worked, which makes me think, because I won in Holland, when I had my hair orange, which is their national colour. So maybe I’ll dye my hair like the Catalan flag for Barcelona – red and yellow. Only problem – I’ll look like an oil flag!” “I could hardly move for girls outside my pit at Imola. Too many girls. Also some very nice girls, but I don’t have time! Maybe they like my new hairstyle. Imola was a tough race for me. Not because of the girls, but because it’s a very technical track with many slow chicanes, so we had trouble finding the right settings for my Aprilia.” “I’ve decided I prefer 125 riders to 250 riders – they’re much more fun and much more honest. It’s better. If you do something bad on the track, the other 125 riders come and tell you to your face. If you do something bad in 250, they just smile and say hello, and then say bad things about you behind your back.” “A lot of the 250 riders aren’t as friendly or as well behaved as 125 riders. 125 racing is like a family – everyone is friends, it’s not like that in 250, and I guess it’s probably the same in 500.” “Back at the start of the season, Ukawa got in my way on purpose when I was on a fast qualifying lap, to try and slow me down. He said he didn’t see me, but for sure he did see me. The same has happened other times. No one ever got in my way on purpose when I was racing 125 GPs in ‘96 and ‘97. In 250, the other riders seem to get angry if you’re fast, they like you more if you’re slow.” “Everyone knows that 125 battles are often very close and very crazy, but we still manage to stay friends. I don’t like the way some 250 riders behave. Before I came into 250 a lot of the riders were my heroes, but not any more. I hope I don’t become like one of them – if I do, I hope you will tell me.”

Catanlan GP, Catalunya “I don’t think the GP bosses liked my friend the chicken at Catalunya. The rules say you’re not allowed to give people pillion rides, but the rules don’t say anything about chickens. Maybe I’ll get into trouble, maybe they’ll put me in jail, but I won the race, so I don’t care. As long they let me out in time for Australia. Why a chicken? Simple, a friend of mine runs a chicken farm, and he’s one of my sponsors.” “We had a big party after I won at Imola – a lot of people, but I didn’t have a hangover the next morning, because I don’t drink alcohol. Maybe the occasional beer, for fun. But I’m only 19, plenty of time for drinking later!”

Australian GP, Phillip Island “I got to Australia on Wednesday and left on Sunday night after the race, so I had no time to see anything, apart from some koalas, kangaroos and possums at a nature reserve on the island. I spent some time in Sydney in ‘96 and I think Australia is my favourite country, outside Italy. I love the people and they’re very passionate about bike racing. They were all behind Mick [Doohan] over the weekend and I saw there were some shops at the track selling black flags with a number six on them. Very funny! [The flags were taking the mickey out of number six 500 rider Max Biaggi who had been black-flagged at the Catalan GP.]” “Since they cancelled Rio I lost all chance of winning the world title. But I’m happy we’re not going there because the track is shit. So the last race is Argentina. I’ve never been there before, so I’m looking forward to it, especially since some people tell me the girls there are the most beautiful in the world.”

Argentine GP, Buenos Aires “It's great to win again - my fifth win of the year - hooray! But I lost the championship by just three points, so, shit!” “It's been a long season, but I could still do another few races no problem. Which we' 11 have to do next year because we have 16 or 17 grands prix in 1999. In fact I' m still not finished - I have a rally at the end of November and next season I' m doing a big event at Misano, racing against lot of other bike racers, doing motocross, karting, rally cars and Formula Renault. It should be a lot of fun - I think I' Il be racing with [Kevin] Schwantz, Reggiani, Mamola, Harada, Melandri, Haru and Nobu Aoki, [Luca] Cadalora, [Roberto] Locatelli and Criville. I' not too worried about winning, I just want to have a laugh.” “On Saturday he took a short cut. round the back of the circuit, and was going through this corner at about 20kph when I arrived on a very fast lap. It was really frightening, so I paid him back by kicking him as we returned to the pits. That was my first trip to Argentina, but Buenos Aires is good: nice place, nice girls!”

#valentino rossi #motogp #250cc #the valentino rossi files: everything i've ever written about vr #by mat oxley #reading

15 notes · View notes