The Valencian Grand Prix will mark the first final round title showdown for 14 years and is a fitting climax for a season of unprecedented drama - highlighted by the penultimate round, at Estoril, two weeks ago. Rossi began that event 12 points behind Hayden, but the American was amazingly wiped out by his own Repsol Honda team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, early in the race. Rossi was then beaten in a photo finish by first time winner Toni Elias, but still took the points lead for the very first time this season.
As a result of his eight-point advantage over Hayden, and his incredible racing record, the reigning five-times title holder will start as the clear favourite for a sixth MotoGP crown on Sunday - which would make him the only champion of the 990cc era - but the Italian superstar is aware that another twist of fate could snatch the crown from him, even though he just needs to finish second on Sunday.
"It's the last battle," stated Rossi. "It's very interesting. We are in front, but eight points is not a lot and we'll just try to do as we have in the last few races: A big effort in practice, a good starting position and a good set-up on the bike. I think it'll be a hard and tough race for everybody. "This year has been very difficult, especially because we had a lot of bad luck. We broke down three times and I crashed at the first turn once, so I had three non-scores and once only scored two-points. The second part of the championship was good, after Laguna, and we came back at the top level. But it's been difficult to win this year. It's been more important to stay consistent and arrive on the podium."
Rossi has undoubtedly suffered more than his fair share of bad luck this season, with technical problems, accidents and injuries dropping him 51 points from Hayden by round eleven of 17 - when he began his incredible fight back. But Vale was lucky to avoid a penalty for overtaking under yellow flags at Phillip Island and even he couldn't have imagined that Pedrosa would act so devastatingly in his favour at Portugal.
For Hayden and Honda, the Estoril 'incident' was a bitter, bitter blow - marking the American's first non-score of the season at a track where, with hindsight, he could have joined Elias and Kenny Roberts Jr in battling Rossi for victory. Some have said Hayden was due 'bad luck' anyway - but 'bad luck' is something that happens throughout the field during a racing season? being eliminated by your team-mate while leading the world championship with one round to go is more of a 'freak incident' - but one which Hayden must quickly put behind him.
"It's a big weekend. It's the final showdown," began Hayden. "I'm looking forward to it. I've got to get over what happened last time at Estoril, sure it hurts and it was definitely a bad deal, but I've got to get over it and shake it off. Elias did me a big favour by beating Rossi and giving me hope, so I've just got to go out there and try and win the race.
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