By Matt Roberts, BBC Sport at Misano

After squaring up with the Italian taxman so that he could move home to Tavullia from London earlier this year, Valentino Rossi repaid a debt to his true 'home' fans with victory on Sunday at Misano.

It was a weekend to remember for Rossi, who equalled Giacomo Agostini's premier-class record of 68 wins, became honorary life president of AGV helmets and was told that he will be named Mayor of Tavullia for a day.

Rossi profited from Stoner's spill to take victory

Not only that, he met one of his all-time heroes, Diego Maradona, who kissed his throttle hand on the grid and told him: "You are making history."

"I said it should be me kissing your left foot!" Rossi told us after the race. "Hopefully he's still here because I want to meet him again, I have so many questions!"

To Valentino's delight Maradona was waiting for him in the Yamaha garage, where they danced together with Valentino's friends all jumping up and down singing "We've met Maradona!"

It was also a record-breaking weekend for Loris Capirossi, who set a new benchmark for all-time Grand Prix appearances.

The record of 276 held by Brazil's Alex Barros finally fell to his former team-mate, who has promised to keep going until the 300 mark, which would take him precisely to the end of next season, barring injury.

It is almost certain he will reach that milestone with Suzuki, who are close to tying up deals for both the Italian veteran and Chris Vermeulen. The only rider anywhere near that figure is Rossi, who is currently on 205.

The sensational news that Dani Pedrosa will be switching to Bridgestone tyres was met by disbelief throughout the paddock, not least amongst the other riders.

It was no secret that Honda were planning the change for 2009, but to do so over halfway through the season is unheard of - highlighting the stamping power of Dani's feet, however small they may be.

Pedrosa lost confidence in Michelin's tyres

"They'd only do this for one rider," Jorge Lorenzo told me off camera: "Maybe two, but for different reasons."

Even more amazing than the news itself was the fact that it was only officially confirmed by Michelin, who sent out a press release bizarrely titled 'Honda and Michelin reach agreement for the remainder of 2008 season'.

It quoted Pedrosa, as opposed to any of their own staff or management, who said: "I thank Michelin and Honda for their mutual understanding and for agreeing to my personal demands.

"I am very conscious of the fact that I have made some excessively negative comments about Michelin tyres, even though Michelin helped me make an exceptional start to the season."

The official line from Michelin was as follows: "Dani Pedrosa has made it known to both Michelin and Honda that he doesn't feel at ease with the tyres that Michelin have offered him.

Honda and Michelin believe that rider confidence needs to be at its maximum if the rider is to fully exploit the tactical potential of the tyres.

In these circumstances Michelin and Honda have therefore decided not to equip Pedrosa with Michelin tyres for the remainder of the 2008 season."

If that is the case and the French are prepared to wave the white flag that easily, we can safely assume they'll be deciding not to equip any other rider with Michelin tyres in the near future.

Marco Melandri competed for Ducati on Sunday and rode a solid race to ninth after being punted off track by Alex De Angelis.

However, the paddock rumour is that his current race-by-race agreement with Ducati was due to be terminated before Misano, with Sete Gibernau having been told that he was stepping in.

When Ducati found out that Melandri had ridden in a secret test for Kawasaki in Japan, setting the lap record at Autopolis, they scrapped the idea in fear that he would beat Gibernau first time out on the ZX-RR, reflecting negatively on their Desmosedici.

Melandri admits the only business left to be done on his 2009 contract with Kawasaki is for them to announce it.

De Angelis' over-enthusiasm on the track wasn't the first time this season that he'd got on the wrong side of a fellow rider, although he did provide a few smiles in the pre-event press conference on Thursday.

Having so far conducted all television and press conference interviews in Italian with a translator, he suddenly broke out in perfect English. Not only that, he showed he had a sense of humour.

Asked about the weather forecast at his hometown track, Alex quipped: "I don't know. I'm the kind of person who wakes up, takes a look out of the window and then decides what clothes to put on."

Finally, explaining the crash that has virtually handed the title to Rossi, Casey Stoner revealed that the team had decided to scrub in his front tyre for the race by putting a couple of laps on it in the morning warm-up.

"The cooling down and reheating process that took place naturally after that affected the chemical balance of the tyre, particularly on the right-hand side, which is the part that comes under most stress," explained Stoner.

A bit like reheating a chicken dinner in the microwave - the bike-racing equivalent of salmonella.

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