What's in a Number....??

MOTOGP pilot Chris Vermeulen has announced he will run the famous 'number seven' plate this year in a tribute to his hero Barry Sheene.

The hat-wearing Aussie will become the first Suzuki rider to run with the number since Sheene himself, finally having been able to snaffle it from the departed Carlos Checa.

For Vermin, it is the ultimate tribute to his mentor and the late great star of the 500ccGP era, and again it throws up the peculiarity that is numbers in bike racing.

You see, when it comes to their numbers, riders are particularly proud. For them, the digits which are slapped across the front of their machines are almost as important as the bike itself.

It isn't something which tends to happen in the four-wheel world, where only the number 1 carries any importance or indeed, interest. Take F1 or BTCC for instance, and how many drivers could you name by their numbers?

Teams will often just run two consecutive numbers, and drivers never seem too concerned or even remotely bothered about what they are handed.

In fact, the only time there was ever anything of note was the year Damon Hill ran under '0' with Williams, which provided a talking point for all of about ten minutes.

But in bike paddocks across the world, numbers are everything. Riders are so precious over their numbers that once they've secured them, they'll do anything rather than let them go..

Take Valentino Rossi for example, who has always been 46, the number previously used by his father Graziano in his rallying days.

No matter how many times Rossi has been champion, in whatever class he's ridden, he's never moved away from 46.

He may be the most famous of the number hoggers, but he wasn't the one who started it. Indeed it was the aforementioned Mr Sheene who became the first of the modern era to stick with his number after securing a title.

Some of them are more superstitious in their approach. When Troy Bayliss (21) took the World Superbike title in 2001, he returned in 02 sporting the 1 plate, but failed to defend his crown.

Returning to the championship in 06 after a dabble in MotoGP, he took the title that year but this time refused to give up 21. His reasoning was that 1 hadn't brought him much luck, and that 21 was luckier.

Not that it ultimately was however, when James Toseland (himself famous for carrying 52) won the 07 title.

Numbers are so important to riders that if they can, they will carry them forvever, and many are as identifiable for their digits as their names.

Noriyuki Haga will always be 41, Max Biaggi 3, Troy Corser seems to think he's 11, although to many it's a number best held by lanky Spaniard Ruben Xaus, and Neil Hodgson will always be remembered as 100.

And closer to home, our local boys are no exception.

Dennis Hobbs will always be 25, Paul Veazey doesn't want to budge away from 33, Michael Hill likes 19 (probably because its an age he wishes he still was) Chris Burns has been known to get upset when he can't secure 35 and now his little bro Joe has taken it, reversed it, and is marketing himself as Burnsie 53.

A number, it seems, isn't just for a season. It's clearly for life.

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