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Your support makes all the difference.In a summer which has already seen Michael Schumacher continue to confirm his superiority in Formula One and Lleyton Hewitt dismiss any thoughts of a challenge to his domination of tennis, the trend continues in motorcycle road racing.
If this weekend's British Grand Prix at Donington is won by anyone other than Valentino Rossi it will take a supreme effort from one of his opponents, mechanical failure or a considerable error of judgement on his part.
For British fans, Rossi's anticipated victory will at least have an element of reflected glory since the 23-year-old Italian has spent the past year living in London where he claims to enjoy his comparative anonymity (not to speak of an escape from Italy's punitive taxes). Back in his homeland there is understandable excitement over his extraordinary, relentless progress from being the best in the world on less powerful machinery to becoming a master of the fastest bike around.
Already this year he has taken what looks ominously like an unassailable lead in this year's Moto GP Series. His most recent victory, in the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen a fortnight ago, was his sixth in the seven rounds of the 16-race season so far completed.
His new V5 990cc Honda has proved formidable in its acceleration yet Rossi believes there is more that he can extract from the bike in terms of handling. The only person to beat him this season is Tohru Ukawa, who happens to be in the same Honda team. Rossi now has 170 points, with Ukawa on 108 and Yamaha's Carlos Checa a distant third with 72.
Yesterday his alleged pleasure at not being recognised in London (or at least only being spotted by almost every Italian visitor) looked a shade less convincing as he rode up the Haymarket to Leicester Square, not on his racing bike of course, but on an enormous Honda Goldwing accompanied by a posse of photographers. "Oh, yes,'' he said later, "I do get recognised more often in London these days but not quite like David Beckham. In Italy it would be different. That's why I decided to leave. I didn't want to leave my family, my friends and my dog but no doubt it's easier here not to have people always wanting pictures and autographs. But you know I didn't realise how many Italian waiters there were in London. Lots of them are now my friends; we go to the clubs together.''
In reality he would cope with the greater fame of being a Formula One driver or football star with consummate ease. He is a natural performer on and off the track. On Sunday he will be celebrating his 100th grand prix and if the expected victory comes his way doubtless he will dream up some yet more bizarre way of celebrating. Picking up spectators in their fancy dress and letting them ride "pillion" on his flag-waving lap has already been done. "This time I'll think of something, but first I have to win."
Since he had his very first grand prix success at the Donington circuit a couple of years ago, he feels pretty confident.
"It's a strange track,'' he said. "Some parts are very fast and some very slow.''
Either way the Honda four-stroke copes with impressive ease. So impressive that Rossi himself is beginning to wonder what effect his domination of the season is having on the sport as a whole and himself.
"It's not really my problem if it's getting boring,'' he suggested. "But I really would like someone else to come up with a serious challenge because it's always more fun that way. But when you win I have to say it's still lovely.''
As if his performances so far have not been sufficiently exciting, he reckons that the Honda is still performing at only 80 per cent of its capacity. Earlier in the season he was far from certain that the bike would be able to beat the more established two-stroke machines that had the fields to themselves in previous seasons.
"We started slowly,'' he said, talking comparatively of course, "but the bike is now fantastic [he was clocking 160mph when he won the latest GP at Assen]. Next season there will be more four-stroke machines so it could be more difficult.''
He badly needs to avoid making winning seem easy, and so does the sport. "I'm not thinking about it yet, but there could be a time when bikes are no longer my passion. Then I might try rally driving.''
In the past he has often said that his ultimate challenge would be Formula One. "Yes, a long time ago that's what I wanted but it was far too expensive.''
His father, Graziano, a former grand prix rider, let him race karts but soon realised that the boy had inherited a great talent for bikes – one that was to lead to his becoming the first rider since Britain's Phil Read in the 1970s, to complete the set of 125cc to 50cc and 500cc world titles. And who does he think he has to match to become the best of all time?
"It's my dream to be the best ever but it was also my dream to race in a grand prix. For me everything is now a dream, but I never saw [Giacomo] Agostini or Britain's [Mike] Hailwood.
"My father tells me the best was Hailwood." The showman, the argumentative young wizard, the rider who defies not only gravity but any thoughts of etiquette on the track can be surprisingly diplomatic. Who was his hero when all he did was watch motorsport on television? "Nigel Mansell – no doubt.''
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