WSBK: Noyes’ Notebook: Sympathy For The Devil, Pt. I
Dennis Noyes looks at the recent clash between Italians Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri while recalling Biaggi’s colorful past, which is highlighted by similar incidents.
Dennis Noyes
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Posted April 07, 2011
Borrego Springs, CA
Aprilia Alitalia's Max Biaggi (Photo: Aprilia Racing)
While still very early in the season, riders are getting into each other’s faces this year. In MotoGP it was Casey Stoner telling a still-helmeted Valentino Rossi after the race in Jerez in which the Italian crashed and took the Australian down with him, “Your ambition outweighs your talent.” A week before the exchange between Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri in the World Superbike round at Donington was perhaps less eloquent (the camera mics didn’t pick up the verbal exchange) but more emphatic; Max gave Marco a couple of slaps to the cheek, the second being clearly more than a love-tap but miles short of a punch.
The Rossi-Stoner war will pick up again at the Portuguese Grand Prix on May 1, but let’s give World SBK center stage for once and take a look with a bit of historic perspective at the Biaggi-Melandri incident in Donington.
Biaggi’s meltdown was disappointing for supporters of the 2010 Superbike World Champion not just because it somewhat besmirched the reputation of one of the best riders of the last twenty years, but because it was reminiscent of previous episodes in the storied career of the veteran “Roman Emperor,” as his legions of fans refer to him. Max rides for the Alitalia sponsored factory Aprilia team and carries the #1 plate. Everything he does is magnified by the title he carries.
The events in Donington have been sufficiently explained and even documented with Youtube postings. Briefly, Max balked both Noriyuki Haga (Pata Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike) during qualifying. In both cases there were interchanges of gestures with Max indicating that he hadn’t seen the other rider coming. In Melandri’s case Max’s waved apology wasn’t good enough. Melandri, once a rising superstar in MotoGP and the winner of five premier category Grands Prix riding a ‘satellite’ 990 Honda, left the prototype championship after a run of three unsuccessful seasons (with Ducati in ‘08, Hayate-Kawasaki in ’09, and Gresini Honda last year), and is currently riding for the factory Yamaha team as a Superbike rookie.
