91Èȱ¬

However, a tumultuous season on board the Ducati has led to injuries and inconspicuousness unbefitting of a rider of his calibre. With little room for improvement from the current Desmosedici, as well a new generation of stars snapping up all the prime real estate for next season, this is as good a time as any to say goodbye.

It is also apparent that Capirossi's notorious killer edge has been blunted by time, a fact he may well have felt compelled to reflect on this week when he looked across the school playground to see , whose daughter will be in the same class as his four-year-old son this term.

Capirossi and Harada were the protagonists of one of the most controversial finishes to a world championship season back in 1998, when they arrived at the final round of the 250cc series in Argentina with the Italian leading the Japanese by just four points.

With Valentino Rossi leading the race on the final lap, Harada held second place ahead of Capirossi, a result that would have made the Japanese world champion by merit of having more wins. But then , who went on to clinch second place and the crown.

Eight years earlier, Capirossi had been crowned 125cc world champion in the final round of the season at Phillip Island in similarly controversial circumstances, although this time it wasÌýcompatriots Fausto Gresini, Bruno Casanova and Doriano Romboni who dished out the rough treatment on his behalf.

Blocking title rival at every turn, to the point that the Dutchman became so frustratedÌýhe actually threw a punch at Gresini, the Italian 'mafia' gave Capirossi the opportunity to escape at the front and seal the title by a nine-point margin.

After repeating his title triumph in 1991, Capirossi began his first spell as a 250cc rider with limited success, finishing 12th in his first year. In both 1993 and 1994, he missed out on the championship because of what he described in our interview at Misano as "my aggression, my mistakes".

Capirossi also reflected on another potential title bid in 1996, his second season as a 500cc (now MotoGP) rider, that slipped through his fingers due to a series of crashes.

It wasn't until the final race of that year that he took his first premier-class win, by which time he was already destined for a return to the quarter-litre category for 1997.

His next opportunity at the MotoGP title didn't come until a decade later. And, in my opinion, it was the big one.

The 990cc Ducati GP6 had shown enough versatility at contrasting circuits such as Jerez, Losail, Mugello and Le Mans to suggest it was a title-winning package. Thanks to podiums at each of those four circuits, Capirossi was tied with Nicky Hayden for the championship lead after six rounds as the series headed to the Circuit de Catalunya, where he had scored an historic first win for Ducati three years earlier.

However, a six-rider pile-up caused by an initial collision between Capirossi and team-mate Sete Gibernau left him out of the race - unconscious, battered and badly bruised. By the time he had bravely limped home to a single point in the next race two weeks later at Assen, Hayden was celebrating the first of two victories that would help secure the title by a five-point margin from Rossi - with Capirossi 23 points adrift.

The 800cc era has been largely unkind to Capirossi. A single win at Motegi in 2007, when Ducati team-mate Casey Stoner clinched the title, would prove - barring a miracle over the last five races of 2011 - to be his last.

It was fitting that was on hand to witness Capirossi's Italian farewell at Misano on Sunday, having been his team manager for that first 500cc win in 1996. In fact, if you watch our show from Sunday back on the iPlayer and look closely at around 00:08:48 on the timeline you will see the pair celebrating that victory together.

You can see from this clip alone that, only three years after his at Misano, Rainey's enthusiasm for racing remained as strong as ever so perhaps it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that his return to the Italian circuit almost two decades later was as pragmatic as it was poignant.

Having said that, I thought his comments to , in particular that he felt the circuit had been spoiled by the safety changes made in the wake of his accident, were remarkably candid and gave an unparalleled insight into the mindset of a racer.

It was something of a coup and great credit to Steve that Rainey agreed to speak to the 91Èȱ¬ as he accepted only a handful of interviews that weekend. As well as being wonderfully evocative viewing, it also served as a timely reminder that we should never underestimate the risks the riders assume for our entertainment.

Capirossi may be struggling right now but he will continue to put everything on the line over the final five races of a glorious career - just as he has for the past 325.