PICTURES: Valentino Rossi's Misano 'donkey' helmet.
This is the special helmet unveiled by Valentino Rossi on Saturday during his local grand prix at Misano.
The helmet has a smiling image of the donkey's face from the film 'Shrek' painted on top - similar to Rossi's memorable 2008 Mugello helmet, featuring a shocked picture of his own face. The choice of a donkey is a joke at Rossi's own expense for crashing at Indianapolis last Sunday.
This is the special helmet unveiled by Valentino Rossi on Saturday during his local grand prix at Misano.
The helmet has a smiling image of the donkey's face from the film 'Shrek' painted on top - similar to Rossi's memorable 2008 Mugello helmet, featuring a shocked picture of his own face. The choice of a donkey is a joke at Rossi's own expense for crashing at Indianapolis last Sunday.
"If anyone is wondering about my helmet - I have the donkey on it because in Italy, if you make a stupid mistake we say that you are a donkey.
"As soon as I hit the ground at Indianapolis I thought what a donkey I was. Later I thought that would make a good helmet design for my home race.
"So, I may have lost 25 points but I solved the problem of the helmet design for Misano!" smiled the eight time world champion. "I think it's very funny."
The Indy fall marked Rossi's first non-finish since 2007 and means he starts round 13 of 17 with a reduced 25 point lead over Lorenzo.
Rossi took his special helmet design to pole position in qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix.
