Newly crowned MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi is heading home from Australia to rest up before the season's last two races.
Unlike his other colleagues who have opted to stay in the southern hemisphere until the Malaysian Grand Prix in two weeks' time, Rossi has decided to go home to celebrate his new title with family and friends.
''Maybe I'm getting a little old and I need to sleep in my own bed and be with my dog Guido,'' the 29-year-old Yamaha rider joked.
''I need to charge my batteries after two races in two weeks, as well as pump my motivation back up,'' Rossi added.
After winning his eighth world title with a victory in Japan, his sixth in motorcycling's premier class, Rossi had a spectacular race on Sunday working his way up from a 12th place start on the fourth row to take second place away from Honda's Nicky Hayden on the last lap.
Ducati's Casey Stoner won the race on his home turf and many observers said the 2007 champion was lucky that Rossi wiped out during qualifying and thus compromised his chances of winning.
Rossi hurt his neck in the fall and the two-week break before the next race will give him time to recover.
Looking ahead to the Malaysian Grand Prix, Rossi said that ''Sepang is another one of my favorite tracks. During this winter's tests my Yamaha performed very well with Bridgestone tires, so I think we'll have another great race''.
