Age & Result Not a Brake as Valentino Rossi Still Rule Hearts in Moto GP

Motegi: Wet morning in Motegi, Japan and the aura of Valentino Rossi remains unmatched in here, as the most dominant among the colours that fans wore were a shade of fluorescent green and black. He may be well past his prime and is having a bad season this year but Rossi Still rules out in the hearts of everyone in Moto GP.

Despite drenched weather the main qualifiers took place ahead of the Japanese leg of the Moto GP and its subsidiary races. The temperature was hovering around the 15 degrees Celsius mark and the constant drizzle that the Twin Ring Motegi received throughout the preceding night had spilled over into the morning.

Ice-cold raindrops that had settled on the seats had to be wiped off before people could sit on them with their already wet raincoats and clothes. Those sitting in front of the big screen outside had to negotiate the slushy soil underneath.

Once they settled in, spectators realized that there is no such thing called ‘settling in’ in this weather. The umbrellas would threaten to fly away in the end and much effort went into holding onto them. The process was compounded by the hands feeling colder by the minute. Water dripping from the top of raincoats would find their way onto the seats which hence needed to be wiped from time to time.

As far as ideal conditions were concerned, these were far from it. Not that any of this made much of a difference.

Over 20,000 fans took their places in the stands and thousands of others to settle themselves in front of the big screen outside the gate.

They sat huddled in their uncovered seats underneath their raincoats and umbrellas. Some took cover in doorways that were dug into the stands along the walkways that separated sections, sitting on tiny foldable chairs.

All of this meant that the colours fans were wearing were mostly hidden for much of the morning on Saturday unless the raincoats and umbrellas were bought from stalls outside which were selling merchandise with the riders’ numbers and colours on them.

Those were clear on the day of the main race that came the next day. The clouds had made way for clear skies. What challenges the weather posed on Saturday were substituted by the traffic which stretched for a few kilometers outside the main entrance to the circuit on Sunday.

On the first day, with the free practice sessions drawing to a close, the riders were moving in to fulfill their media duties. It wasn’t difficult to spot where Rossi was. The area behind the Yamaha paddock was filled with calls of “Vale! Vale!” when the Italian legend walked towards them. IANS

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