LORIS CAPIROSSI: BOTH SIDES OF THE COIN

Before we get stuck in with Capirex himself, I think it’s important to have a little history lesson - meaning it’s time to flashback all the way to 1990, and specifically to the final round of the 125cc World Championship which took place at the Australian Grand Prix. It’s a two-way battle for the title, with a young Italian whippersnapper called Loris Capirossi looking to make history as the youngest ever World Champion at just 17 years and 165 days old, against a more established and slightly older Dutch rider named Hans Spaan. A simple battle endures between the two? Absolutely not. As it turned out, it wasn’t just going to be a plain old two-horse race; from the outset Spaan was mobbed by Capirossi’s fellow Italians, who boxed him in and slowed him down for the entirety so Loris could win. So much so, Spaan tried to punch Fausto Gresini in the helmet mid-race, in a Hulk, or indeed Fenati-esque fit of rage… YouTube it if you don’t believe me.

Whatever way you looked at it though, it worked, and Capirossi won the title in 1990, before retaining it once again in 91, and moving up through the ranks into 250cc – before jumping into the 500cc for a year. Problem was, he hadn’t won the 250cc World Championship, so having jumped back into the middle class on a competitive Aprilia for two years, in 98 he found himself in yet another two-horse race