In most countries, the place you put a race track is somewhere nice and quiet, a long way from civilization - or at least neighbors who might complain. You may, like the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, locate it a couple of miles from the nearest town, and well out of earshot of the local residents. Alternatively, like Donington, you may choose to situate it under the flight path of a regional airport, to ensure that any noise problems are rendered irrelevant by the air traffic overhead.
But not in Italy. To say that Italians are keen on motorsports is like saying squirrels are not averse to the odd nut or two. Take a trip around Italy and you won't be able to avoid the sights and sounds of motorized racing of one form or another. Posters and photographs of racers on both two wheels and four adorn the walls of bars the length and breadth of the country, and almost every village has someone riding around on an immaculate example of race-bred exotica.
This love of motor racing results in some remarkable locations for race tracks. Perhaps the most remarkable of all is Monza, which sits in a spacious and beautiful town park, right in the middle of a large suburb of Milan. One minute, you're watching a young couple jog past, and enjoying the rhythmical clip-clop as a horse and rider trots by, the next the shriek of a four-cylinder superbike shatters the sylvan serenity, closely followed by the rabid bark of a 90 degree twin being thrashed within an inch of its life.
Sun, Sea, And Strokers
Having seen Monza, Misano is barely a surprise. Located just a few hundred yards from one of the busiest and most glamorous resorts along Italy's Adriatic riviera, in any other country, the circuit's location would be utterly insane. In motorcycle-crazy Italy, it is just the opposite. After all, what could be better than to spend the morning lounging on the beach, head off to the track to watch some world-class racing in the afternoon, to return for a quick dip in the sea to cool off, and finish up the evening with some outstanding Italian food and wine at a restaurant overlooking the beautiful Adriatic sea. To the Italians, it makes perfect sense, and frankly, it's hard to fault their logic.
If the surroundings of the Misano circuit approach perfection, the track itself is a little bit of a letdown. The location itself plays a part here: built at the edge of wide, flat expanse of the Po valley, the track is pretty well flat, with no elevation changes to speak of. What's more, since the direction of the track was reversed in an attempt to improve safety - a concession to get MotoGP to return after a crash there in 1993 left Wayne Rainey in a wheelchair - the circuit has lost many of the other features that gave it its character and made it special.
Before the changes, the Curvone was the final part of a sequence of fast left handers opening up and getting ever faster, before braking hard for the long hairpin of Tramonto. Since 2006, with the track running in the opposite direction, those fast lefts have become a series of ever slower rights, as the riders scrub off speed all the way into the very tight right hander at Carro. No longer does the Curvone demand the utmost of a rider's courage, instead, it taxes their ability to brake while leaned hard over, and still maintaining corner speed.
All Change
Reversing the track has had an even bigger effect on the final turn. Before the track was reversed, the Variante del Parco was the final corner, a right-left chicane leaving room for braking before heading off to the line. But now the last has become first, and the Variante is the first obstacle the riders have to tackle after rocketing away from the line.
The wisdom of having a chicane as the first corner was thrown into doubt during last year's race at Misano, when an overly enthusiastic Randy de Puniet entered the Variante far too hot to make it through safely, and took out himself and Dani Pedrosa, while at the same time forcing Nicky Hayden off the track and out of contention. Like the first corner at Le Mans, Misano's initial chicane seems destined to take riders out of the race right from the start.
But Misano is not a boring track, by any stretch of the imagination. The fast back straight provides an ideal opportunity for passing into the Quercia hairpin, and the difficult sequence of rights after Curvone can provide opportunities to the brave for passing as they enter the Carro hairpin. Add to this the chicane and the combinations round the Curva del Rio, and the track has a few spots that can offer some interesting racing.
The History Man
If the track layout lacks that certain special something, Sunday's race could more than make up for it. For Misano could be on the brink of seeing history being made this weekend, with a record which has stood for a 32 years being equaled. If Valentino Rossi wins on Sunday, it will be his 68th win in motorcycle racing's premier class, equaling his fellow Italian Giacomo Agostini's record, set way back in 1976.
Meeting such a milestone would, on its own, be a memorable achievement, but to do so at Misano would make it unforgettable, for a number of reasons. First of all, the Misano circuit is less than 10 miles from Valentino Rossi's home town of Tavullia in Italy, a town he has returned to live in after a period in London. The entire population of the town will be at the track, joining thousands of other Rossi fans to cheer their hero on.
Secondly, Misano is the one track that Rossi hasn't won at yet, a fact that stings a man so deeply aware of his record and his place in history. After taking victory at Laguna Seca in July, Misano is the only track left where Rossi has ridden, but not won. That is a blemish he feels he needs to remove from his record.
The other blemish a win would erase was the bitter disappointment of last year's result. In a desperate bid to keep pace with the terrifying pace of the Ducati, Yamaha introduced the pneumatic valve engine early. Perhaps a little too early, for Valentino Rossi was out of the race with a blown crank bearing, his 2007 title hopes finally sunk. Rossi wants to avenge the embarrassment of that result, and only a win will really suffice.
And finally, with Giacomo Agostini certain to be present at Misano, the entertainer in Rossi will want to put on a big show. His celebration at Le Mans was memorable enough, when he picked up Angel Nieto for the parade lap after equaling his 90 wins in all classes. But if Rossi matches Ago's record, by winning his 68th race just a few miles from his home, the celebration promises to be the stuff of legend.
Potential Party Poopers
Of course, before any celebration can take place, there is the minor nuisance of winning the race. And despite Valentino Rossi's acknowledged status in MotoGP history, there are plenty of riders hoping fervently to spoil the party.
The most likely candidate to rain on the Italian's parade is Ducati's Casey Stoner. Like his predecessor before him, the reigning World Champion is finding the #1 plate heavier than expected, and is now 50 points, or two whole race wins, behind Rossi in the title race.
The remarkable thing about this is the fact that Casey Stoner is clearly the fastest man in the world at the moment. Ever since Barcelona, Stoner has been the fastest man in practice, taking pole in the last 6 races, and often leading the rest of the field by well over half a second. The reigning champ has also won 3 of the last 5 races, and was seemingly on his way to sweeping the rest of the races, winning three on the bounce at Donington, Assen and the Sachsenring. During practice at Laguna Seca, Casey Stoner was looking his old, unstoppable self again.
Breaking Point
Then came The Race. The US Grand Prix was a gripping, life-and-death battle for supremacy in the class. Casey Stoner was clearly faster, but Valentino Rossi used cunning and racecraft to hold Stoner up, and eventually forced Stoner into a mistake. Stoner made a series of bitter and accusing comments after the race, and it looked as if Rossi had done to Stoner what the Italian had done to Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau before him.
Stoner was back with a bang at Brno. Fast right out of the box as usual, and on the pole once again. This time, though, Rossi was closer, within two tenths of Stoner in the dry, rather than over half a second back as before. In the race, Rossi showed he could stay with the Australian, keeping the gap down to 1.3 seconds for the first few laps, before dramatically closing the gap on lap 6.
A few corners later, Stoner was down again, and out of the race. Rossi fans everywhere jumped on the champion's mistake, seeing it as proof that Rossi had finally broken the Australian, and that he would not trouble Rossi's title chances again. But it's a little early to be leaping to that conclusion just yet. Stoner's crash was caused by losing the front so quickly on the newly resurfaced track that he didn't have time to respond. The World Superbike riders had complained of similar problems early in the year, and so it's possible that Stoner just misjudged the grip levels of the track, rather than being hounded into an error by the chasing Rossi.
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