Michael Scott column: Riders as robots.

In the first of his exclusive columns for Crash.net, Motocourse editor Michael Scott - a regular in the MotoGP paddock since 1984 and familiar to motorcycle racing fans worldwide through his best selling books on the likes of Wayne Rainey and Barry Sheene - reveals the effect of an increasing clampdown on rider personality, as pursued by the communication departments of their respective teams...

The gypsy philosopher king of the grid was centre stage; alongside a crop-head cowpoke full of kiss-my-ass wisecracks, on the other side a younger Italian, increasingly urbane as his fingerhold on the big time leads to an increasingly firm stance.

This was the front-row press conference at Le Mans, fourth race of the year - Rossi, Edwards and Melandri. What a bunch of characters we are singularly blessed in racing right now, even in the absence of Sete "Hairstyle" Gibernau, that fascinating glowering and vulnerable Max Biaggi, the wry Frog-in-Water Olivier Jacque, or indeed Nicky "I Gotta Witness" Hayden, with those breathtaking teeth.

Gypsy philosopher? Rossi was recently described in one Italian newspaper as "pikey", not only because of his loose and fun-loving life-style, but more by lineage... because GP-winning dad Graziano eschews the hotel or motorhome lifestyle to sleep in his car at European races.

Now shorn of racing's longest pig-tail as a tribute to his son's success, the amiable ex-racer is often to be seen in a dressing gown twixt car-park and showers in the morning... although he argued that his BMW estate was in fact his motorhome, some stunningly petty officialdom bans Graziano from parking it among the real ones.

He's certainly a philosopher. As adept in badinage as he is on the throttle, Valentino has a knack of summing things up in a nutshell, but with deceptive profundity. As at Jerez, after his brutally masterful defeat of Gibernau: "It was a race of motorbikes."

And a few weeks later, when asked how he felt about the rising use of electronics, with fly-by-wire technology that can second-guess the rider: "Computers make things easier. But they also make them more difficult." Say no more.

Bike racing has had plenty of larger than life characters. My own time-span of two decades reveals several deceptively deep thinkers (Eddie Lawson a prime example), a number of off-the-wall crazies (look no further than Christian Sarron), several adorable clumsy clots (no names) - indeed, the whole span of humanity, but all bound together by that exceptional urge that makes them go racing on Sunday afternoons, up against the best in the world.

What is more remarkable is that these characters are still on open display. Contrast a couple of rows of MotoGP riders with the full Formula One grid, and the car people take on all the colour and joi-de-vivre of cardboard cut-outs.

This is not because they're really like that: car racing has always attracted its own brand of unforgettable lunatics. Just that nobody is allowed to know... so that when Kimi Raikkonen swigs champagne on the rostrum, the fact that alcohol has been seen to pass his lips causes a positive flurry among the assembly.

Sadly, the same process is under way in MotoGP racing.

Gentleman Gibernau is a prime example. Diplomatic by nature, Sete had a rare flash of openness in China, where he complained at having a tyre choice thrust upon him, that subsequently ruined his race.

Both Michelin and his Gresini team took something of a battering, albeit in slightly oblique terms. One race later in France, what did Sete say at the press conference? "I want to say thank you to Michelin, who helped me make the best possible tyre choice, as they do every weekend."

A major change of tune, showing that Sete was talking not through his heart, but through his wallet.

Sete performs this sanitation process on his own behalf. He over-mentions and over-flatters Michelin, his crew and Honda, undermining his own credibility in the process. Some say this excessive circumspection shows in the way Gibernau rides as well. That's what makes him vulnerable to the ferocity of Rossi.

What is of more concern is how the same process is applied to other riders, without their really knowing about it, or even in some cases against their will.

Colin Edwards is one such victim. "Colourful" is what the Texan does. It's second nature. He's the guy who enjoys himself, enjoys his fans, enjoys racing - and exudes the spirit of it. It's hugely evident in his turn of phrase. Tornado talk retains its Texan twang and swagger even when it's only written down.

Le Mans again gave him the chance to swagger. On the front row in practice, after a season when - lagging far behind illustrious new team-mate Rossi - he'd been hearing a growing crescendo of criticism not only in the press (goes with the territory, he reckons) but more hurtfully from fans and friends, on his website.

At the qualifying press conference, he hit back. Succinctly. "There's a lot of armchair world champions who've been sayin' I should be doin' better. Now they can kiss my ass."

Next day he raced to a first rostrum in xxxx GPs, behind Rossi and Gibernau, and all-smiles offered a journalist another chance to pucker up and get personal, before grabbing the mike. "I wanted to win too - but these bastards were too fast," he chuckled, elbowing the adjacent Rossi.

"The whole weekend was a crap-shoot. There wasn't much time in practice. Before the race we said... which tyre? That one felt good. We only got five laps on it yesterday, and we don't know if it'll last, but it felt good," he continued volubly. "I could do mid-34s all race long."

Then the trade-mark sound bite... "But if you told me I had to do a 1:33 or you'd kill me, I'd have said: 'Put the gun to my head right now'."

Great if you were there, but not everybody can be. A lot of newspapers in Britain, just as one example, take their reports from absentee journalists (The Telegraph, Guardian and Independent, just up at the quality end). And they rely on those team press releases.

How did the double-rostrum successful championship leading team relay the Texan's words, on their company letterhead? You can be sure mentions of ass-osculation didn't get a showing. Fair enough... there might be children present. But the statement also excised the "gun-to-my-head" sound bite too, on the grounds that "it might not translate into other languages."

This left Edwards uttering the usual mealy-mouthed "I'm very pleased" sort of pap behind which his very real personality was effectively camouflaged.

For what reason? Who knows why. Perhaps it is because that's what happened in F1, and so it must be right. Perhaps it all adds to the mystique. Though to my mind it takes away from it, and reduces the humanity that it motorcycle racing's richest asset.

Well, here's another conundrum, from the same stable of press statements. Ducati regularly set new top speed records... yet they won't let anyone talk about them, and excise all mention from the written releases. Almost as though it's embarrassing to build the fastest of the fastest racing motorcycles in the world.

The wider the audience becomes, the shallower the perception. Apparently on purpose. And the more the heart of the sport is diluted.

At least (as I find myself saying increasingly often these days)... at least they still have a race on Sunday afternoon.