By the way Michael's passion for battles on the green lane finally led him to ankle injury, but having personally seen his "offensive actions" in charitable matches I can say for sure that he wouldn't spoil the mass playing for half of the Russian Premier-liga teams. As Ferrari chiefs announce, the injury isn't serious and can't anyhow influence 2006-season team-work, preparations for which Schumacher will begin in January. As for Rossi, his results at Formula-1 bolide's wheel in Mugello are far from ideal, but Valentino still has plenty of time to overcome 5-second lag of Baricello's best time.

Motor riders continued their "performance" for three extra weeks after Formula-1 races were over. Planned marathon, consisting of 17 races, came to its logical end in Spanish Valencia, and the end was quite unexpected. It's clear that I'm speaking not about the championship, the result of which became clear long ago, and my last article was about king's Valentino latest coronation. Just as the others, I wasn't an exception, predicting a person to become the owner of MotoGP 2006-season's crown. But what goes for the rest...
Thank God, at the beginning of the year and while MotoGP events were in full swing I didn't have enough money and felt no pernicious desire to gamble, otherwise I would have long ago been loafing at some pawnshop holding my last pants.

When I turned to MotoGP topic for the last time it seemed to me that to fix the triumvirate of winners would be even easier than to buy a dozen of eggs. So much the more, it was necessary to fix only a pair. And I had nearly no doubt that the pedestal will be completely Italian; among the other things this fact sufficiently relieved musician's life, as they had to learn only one melody - of course, Italia chiamo!

Everything we finally saw is one more proof of the following - the fact that you've studied the content of medicine encyclopedia doesn't make you a great diagnostician.
For example, I laid great hopes on Loris Capirossi, taking into account Ducati's August and September considerate headway, and primarily, the Italian's great performance in Czech Republic (where he was the second) and his two victories in Japan and Malaysia, following one after another. It was Capirossi, who from my point of view, was to become the third in final forecast. But unfortunately everything happened so, that Carlos Checa was the only person to fight for Ducati brand during the final stages because of Capirossi's serious fall in Australia, after which he was able to take part only in the last Valencia racing. That's why Loris's third place, which he heroically managed to take after Malaysian motor-racing seria, turned into the final sixth. And Ducati's only second number efforts were evidently not enough for a full third-place fight with Movistar motorcyclists.

In the very Movistar just as in rival Repsol Honda, a kind of "orange revolution" took place during the season. Marco Melandri and Nicky Hayden, who are numbers two in both teams, seriously decided to take the heavy burden of leadership, thus relieving lives of Sete Gibernau and Max Biaggi. But what concerns Gibernau, even he himself can't explain what has been happening to him all this year. Getting poles with inexplicable easiness, Sete hardly ever reaches the finishing point once in two races. If MotoGP regulations could be changed with the same frequency, as Formula's chiefs do, and the Spanish king asked to limit Grand Prix distance with three laps because of patriotic reasons, then today's Spain would have got not only the constitutional monarch and Fernando Alonso, but MotoGP king Gibernau. And he would have also got autographed T-shirt of Madrid "Real" (just as Alonso has recently done). But the guy got only the seventh place and no T-shirt at all.

As against Movistar situation none let Nicky Hayden from Repsol Honda have the place without fight. As I've already written, after not a very successful start Nicky gradually became a serious competitor for Max Biaggi from the same team, and after seven races for the first time he took the victory in the US. Meanwhile Max should have been meditating about smth abstract, as he either failed to notice this fact, or didn't consider it to be significant, hoping for God knows what. Perhaps the virus of cock-sureness, which affected me at the moment I was unconditionally ready to give the second place to Biaggi, also affected Max somehow; but we have what we have: no points at all in Qatar and Australia, just as the places, far away from the podium in Turkey and Valencia, threw the Italian back to the fifth place. And if one more racing had been included into the schedule, in such a tempo Repsol Honda would have very probably lost even the second place in constructor's championship.

Melandri and Hayden vise versa managed to finish the championship irreproachably, and during final Grand Prix fought for the first place till the last minute, being finally separated by 0,097 sec. Just as in the previous racing, Melandri was the winner and became vice-champion by rights. Repsol Honda had nearly lost the second place and Movistar motorcyclists, lead by Melandri, failed to gain some seven points for taking the second team-place. It means that poor Gibernau had to fall only one time less...

Team Yamaha, lead by Valentino Rossi, became the absolute winner. And it couldn't happen in any other way, if we take into account at least Rossi's personal result. And he managed to get 367 points. Meanwhile Repsol motorcyclists, who took the second place, could both scrape only 379. A simple arithmetical calculation draws us to the following conclusion: Colin Edwards, Rossi's partner in Gauloises Yamaha, could have taken part in racings only twice for the season, and either once become the fourth, or twice the tenth. But Edwards also didn't try to find easy way-out, and though he can't surely boast of frequent podiums or victories, nevertheless twice he became the third and once the second (we are not speaking about his less significant achievements). And now he justly takes the honorable forth place, having outstripped Biaggi, Capirossi, and, all the more, Gibernau. That is it.

I won't have to promise anything again, as we'll rest from MotoGP as long as from Formula-1. As usual, motorcyclists only start their season later. Just as in Formula-1, at the moment (though only two weeks have passed since the championship ended) MotoGP world is full with all kinds of rumors. But they won't become true until the spring chirping of, how are they called?... sparrows begins. Only the tests of Rossi, driving Ferrari, seem to be quite realistic. But the organizers insist on their exceptionally private character. The guy is just having a good time. Perhaps he's having a rest this way. Or he can't afford a good surfing board. Or maybe Valentino is just afraid of water. Everything might happen.

Well, we'll see.
Hasta la vista. Savar