Hitting the Apex Page #6

He suffered.

When Jorge Lorenzo

won the world title in 2010,

Yamaha offered to keep Rossi on

if he'd take a pay cut and accept

number two status in the team.

After a decade, as one of the highest

paid sportsmen in the world,

he might not have needed the money,

but Rossi had always been number one.

Casey Stoner had taken the best bike

available for 2011.

He was leaving Ducati

for Repsol Honda,

the team of his childhood hero,

Mick Doohan.

Rossi now did

what everybody hoped he would.

He said goodbye to his beloved Yamaha

and he moved to Ducati.

The Italian dream team was born.

I remember writing if he wins a race,

it would be like the Pope

winning at Monza in a Ferrari.

And it would be a fantastic story.

But it was an unmitigated disaster.

Casey Stoner had won

23 races for the Italian team.

None of the other Ducati riders

could come close.

In 2009, when I first got on the bike,

I couldn't believe

how Casey could go so fast with it.

Casey had extreme talent.

Stoner's success rate at

Ducati had declined over time, though.

Ten wins the first year, then six,

then four, then three.

He had also missed three races

through illness in 2009.

Many thought the declining results

were due to his health problems.

They were wrong.

Stoner wasn't getting worse

as the years went by.

The bike was.

I had a very bad feeling.

From the first time in Valencia.

And I was very, very...

Not desperate, but very worried

to make the wrong choice.

We copped a lot of flak

from Valentino.

Not just me but my whole team.

Valentino and Jerry Burgess

and all that.

They'd said so many bad things

about what Ducati had done

and what myself and my crew had done.

It really frustrated me.

Rossi was hampered

by a shoulder injury

from a crash on a dirt bike

in early 2010.

At first he was in bad shape

with his shoulder

but then we realized

the bike was in bad shape as well.

Rossi was 15th fastest

at the MotoGP test in Valencia.

Stoner was fastest on the Honda.

After the test,

Rossi went back to Italy

for surgery to repair his shoulder.

Four months later,

it was time to go racing.

Stoner won the first grand prix

of 2011 in Qatar.

Rossi was seventh.

The rain in Spain at the second race

was good news for the Italian team.

The wet conditions lowered speeds

and reduced the forces

which unsettled the Ducati in the dry.

Rossi set the fastest lap in the race

and looked on course for a win.

He just needed to get past

Stoner and Simoncelli.

And now Valentino Rossi

has got Casey Stoner in his sight.

He's taken down Stoner!

Valentino Rossi attacked

from a long way back

and he's taken out Casey Stoner.

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