Note: That’s Gregorio Lavilla on a Honda bike up there, not Schumi.

The Formula One World and Michael Schumacher’s wife, Corinna Schumacher, were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Schumi backed away from an offer to compete in the extra-tough and dangerous World Superbike Championship (WSC) that was to be held this year.

Since Schumacher, the living Formula One legend, retired from Formula One two years ago, he has been sating his need for speed and competition by trading-in his mad “four-wheel driving skills” for high-speed and high-profile “two-wheel spills.”

In short, Schumi has been dabbling with motorbike racing—a sport that’s just as dangerous, if not even more dangerous than F1. Unlike driving an F1 race car, speeding with motorbikes requires balance and alertness. Because a motorbike is much smaller than the already ultra-light F1 car, a single mistake could instantly send you somersaulting through the air or making a nose-dive for the asphalt. The good news is that the seven-time F1 World Champion hasn’t been on any serious spills that could cause him major injuries.

Despite the fact that Schumi is a much better F1 driver than a motorbike racer, the Japanese automaker Honda was so impressed by his determination and commitment to the sport that the Honda Race Team’s European big-man, Carlo Fiorani, offered Schumi what seemed like an irresistible offer—the chance to race n the WSB championship. He even promised the former-F1 driver a top-grade 220 mph bike!

With the great ride came the amazingly-huge amount of money. Schumacher was offered approximately 2 million pounds a year if he were to ride for the Honda team full-time. While most of us would probably sell a relative for the gargantuan price offered by Fiorani, Schumi isn’t really a stranger to earning loads of cash every year.

Throughout his long career in Formula One, Schumacher is said to have increased his worth to up to 900 million pounds! I’m guessing, losing around 2 million pounds-worth of *possible* profit for him, isn’t such a big loss after all.

Sweet as the offer was, even Schumi knew that taking the stage and participating in the WSB championship was simply too risky even for him. After considering the offer for awhile, Schumacher finally stated: “I’m discounting any chance of an appearance in WSB. Maybe I’ll go watch. But that’s all. I’m not going to race.” I think it was a pretty wise decision on Schumacher’s part. For a man that’s used to winning, taking on a new motorsport and facing the probability of losing and possibly even breaking a few bones here and there—and publicly at that—just isn’t worth it.

The 40 year-old ex-F1 star actually fueled rumors of taking on WSB after he was spotted testing for the double WSB champion James Toseland’s Ten Kate Honda team. He was also seen going around testing a factory Yamaha and a Ducati last year.

While Michael may not be up to competitively riding in the WSB Championship, he was interested in another challenge. Schumi just couldn’t resist challenging the prolific MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi. Because Rossi is said to be as talented on the bike as Schumi is in an F1 car, Schumi threw a challenge directed at Rossi.

Schumacher, referring to Rossi, reportedly said: “I’d love to take him on in a stadium race…cars and bikes… and that would be fun.” Like Rossi, the former Ferrari superstar has set a lot of records throughout his career—including in 2002 where Schumi became the only F1 racer to have raced a complete season with consistent podium appearances.

“Given that Valentino is quick in cars, as he showed on the Rally of Great Britain and when he has [sic] an F1 Ferrari, as well as being so brilliant on a motorcycle it would be a pleasure to take him on. I think I could give him a good run on motorbikes…I really enjoy stadium racing like the Race of Champions at Wembley in London a couple of weeks ago, and it would be a great challenge.” The F1 ace added.

Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One big boss himself was a one-time bike racer too. Ecclestone said: “It’s good news that Michael has ruled out a ride in WSB—he wouldn’t be able to race or ride round just for show, he’d have to give it a real go and that could be dangerous.”

Source: GulfNews.com