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.)

Valentino Rossi, il vincitore!

Hello my wonderful friends! Oh how I've missed you all!
[Long, Awkward Pause]

This past July, we once again made our annual pilgrimage to Laguna Seca racetrack for the MotoGP race; as I've mentioned before in Blogiorno, MotoGP is the premier motorcycle racing series worldwide, and if a rider can win a MotoGP championship, they are truly World Champion. Fortunately, the spectacle that is the MotoGP United States Grand Prix is only an hour and a half up the coast from my home here in California, making it a very easy journey.

Since the USGP has been in America in the "modern era", I've been cheering on my favorite rider, Italy's Valentino Rossi, hoping for a victory, even praying to our pal Benedict XVI for one, even though I'm not Catholic; that's how desperate I've been. Finally, this year it happened! Not only did Valentino win this race, but he did so in such a way which left no doubt as to who the best motorcycle racer in the world is. He took the lead from Ducati's Casey Stoner on the first lap, and a battle of epic proportions raged for the next 45 minutes, with Stoner finally laying his bike over in the gravel. This race was without a doubt the best race I've ever been to, and perhaps the best MotoGP race I've ever seen; in fact, some seasoned MotoGP commentators have remarked that it was perhaps the best MotoGP race of all time!

At the end, after Valentino won, he stopped his bike at the world-famous "Corkscrew" turn, where he first took the lead, and he kissed the tarmac. Bravissimo!!!

Unfortunately, there was a minor dark cloud: Tom Cruise, his wife Katie and their "entourage" just HAD to watch the event from the Ducati timing stand, right on the racetrack, across from our seats, making us feel like lepers, and effectively sucking the oxygen right out of the race. Yes, Tom and his posse just had to cause a stir, bringing with them the standard paparazzi mayhem. WHAT. A. DRAG. Okay, okay, just kidding Tom, it was great to see you there. Now go away...and let Valentino bask in his well-earned glory!

You must see highlights of this race, so click here.

For more on Valentino, click here.

Grazie mille for reading! Until next time my friends,

Ciao!