Valentino: Stile Italiano

Eccolo, Valentino Rossi even crashes with impeccable Italian style. We can only wish we looked this good whilst riding our motorcycles. E'una poesia nel movimento!* (Click to enlarge photo.)

* It's poetry in motion!

Ducati: Non hanno felicita

Friends, all is not well with our team at Ducati Corse. The star rider of Ducati's MotoGP motorcycle racing team, 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner, has been afflicted with illness for several months now, resulting in poor results in recent races. When I saw him race at Laguna Seca last month, the poor lad could barely dismount from his Ducati racing machine. Che peccato, Casey is not doing well.

Now, those "in the know" realize that MotoGP is right up there with Formula 1 auto racing for physical requirements in a sport; so, Casey is--and must be--in prime physical condition in order to race the 240 horsepower MotoGP bikes. So why is he failing physically then? In the wake of top doctors here in California being unable to locate any severe physical ailments, there has been speculation that the pressure that Casey is under to repeat his dominance of 2007 is so intense, that he is cracking under it. Such a phenomena is referred to as "psychosomatic", where the body cannot handle the immense mental demands, and thus begins to shut down.

Of course, it doesn't help poor Casey at all when he looks over and sees Italia's own eight-time world champion Valentino Rossi laughing and joking his way to the top step of the podium, into the championship lead, seemingly effortlessly.

Ducatisti worldwide wish Casey the best and hope that he can recover from his illness soon. A presto, amici!
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To learn more about the illness and the latest developments in Casey's racing programme, here is an article from just today that you may wish to read. (Click to enlarge.)