The Paranoia Spreads

Top teams have banned their riders from attending a Bridgestone party at Valencia tonight to mark the company's withdrawal as the MotoGP tyre supplier after a successful period of six years. Disappointed Bridgestone personnel will continue with the event, but are naturally disappointed that riders who have scored so many victories on their rubber will be absent.

This is all part of a raging paranoia that is sweeping through the paddock here. Already Yamaha have cancelled a major All Stars party scheduled for Saturday night. Meanwhile, FIM president Vito  Ippolito has warned that "some controversies have surpassed the limits of a healthy passion and, on occasion, logic itself." He continues: "This weekend we will pay even mire attention to what occurs on the track for the benefit of the sport."

And he adds darkly: "Some changes will be made to prevent this from happening again."

The culprits that all this is aimed at know who they are...

So Polite at Rossi's Media Tea Party

Everyone was polite and well-behaved. Valentino was not spiteful to other riders, and no one asked him questions about the unmentionable - the incidents at Sepang. We were in the Movistar Yamaha hospitality centre for Valentino's Friday post-practice media debrief, about 100 journalists, photographers, and broadcasters.

To start with it had a bit of a rock-concert aura. Seated or standing, we awaited the arrival of the God of MotoGP to arrive through the rear entrance of the hospitality unit. We saw him outside at the back, posing for a fan's photo with a girl on either side. Then he entered and sat at a one-person table.

Valentino described his day's work. "So, I am quite happy and satisfied," he opened. After some questions about tyres, the English-language segment was over - just six minutes, but enough. Then the same procedure in Italian, and after 13 minutes in total, the performance is completed.

Valentino rose, gave a V-salute to the media, walked to his right and paused among his entourage to clasp both hands above his head as if to say, "I survived it!"

Then he exited stage left into the the Yamaha truck. Just like a rock star.