Rossi's Mind Games

Valentino Rossi has finally drawn the ire of Casey Stoner.

Stoner was unhappy with Rossi's over-aggressive driving in the United States Grand Prix, where Rossi won at the Laguna Seca circuit for the very first time in his illustrious career.

Ever since Stoner emerged as a genuine threat to Rossi last year, the feud was something waiting to happen.

In the past, Rossi has had feuds with riders such as Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau, both were his main contenders for the World Championship at the time. If history is going to repeat itself, Stoner has to keep his fingers crossed and brace for the worst.

He's not going to do well in the foreseeable future.

The feud between Rossi and Biaggi was legendary, and the pair even came to blows at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2001. Biaggi's career petered out shortly afterwards and he is now racing in the all-but-forgotten World Superbike Championship.

Meanwhile, the feud with Gibernau was no less controversial. During the Qatar Grand Prix in 2004, Gibernau's team complained to the officials about Rossi's attempt to leave tire marks on his starting spot. Rossi was then (justifiably) sent to the back of the grid. Legend has it that Rossi then put a curse on Gibernau, saying that he will never win a race again.

And he hasn't won a race since then. The closest Gibernau came to a win was the opening race at Jerez in 2005, when he got punted off the track at the very last corner by, who else, Rossi himself. Since then, he had survived a major start line accident at Catalunya in 2006, and is now out of MotoGP but close to a return to racing full time next season, as a teammate of Stoner.

And in both cases, Rossi was the lone beneficiary as he picked up five straight World titles between 2001 and 2005.

Stoner, after a slow start in the season, has been in excellent form with three victories on the trot. But if there is a lesson to be learnt, it would be not to fall victim to Rossi's mind games.

Rossi's photogenic and larger than life personalities have won him fans over the world. But underneath his innocent smiles lies something more complicated and calculated which should never be underestimated.