Rossi and Biaggi add to mood of discontent

It is becoming almost as difficult to find the feuding 500cc grand prix rivals Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi in the same room as it is to spot Clark Kent and Superman in the same telephone booth.

After Biaggi, who trailed his fellow Italian by 21 points in the championship, expressed a desire to atttend yesterday's unofficial press conference ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix, it was announced that Rossi, who had initially been billed as the star attraction, was unable to attend because of transport difficulties.

It was a similar attempt to accommodate the two riders in a confined corridor following last month's Catalan GP that resulted in the fisticuffs which have re-ignited their simmering disrespect. The absence of the Knightsbridge-based Rossi at the London event merely delayed the decreed continuation of this most fragile of truces until today's official pre-race launch. Only the intervention of rain at last weekend's Dutch Grand Prix had prevented further sparks from flying on the final four laps of a keenly-contested race that was awarded to Biaggi.

The major imponderable surrounding Rossi throughout this exhilarating season has been his ability to combat a tendency to self-destruct. Of the two riders, though, Rossi has the better 500cc record at Donington Park, having achieved his first win in the class there last year while Biaggi's previous success in Britain was in a 250cc race.

Home hopes will rest in this event following Jeremy McWilliams' victory at Assen while the leading British 500cc rider, Chris Walker, faces a medical examination following his crash in the Netherlands that resulted in concussion.