See James Toseland's Rich List entry

James Toseland is rattling the ivories and writing a song for the wedding of his mum, Jane, and he has proved just as adept at rattling his rivals and renewing his own vow to end a quarter of a century of hurt. The British rider is only three races into his MotoGP career, but has made an indelible mark and become embroiled in off-track spats with the previous two world champions.

The trouble was sparked in the second round in Spain, where Chris Vermeulen, the Suzuki rider, groused about the manner in which Toseland passed him on board his Tech 3 Yamaha.

Casey Stoner, the defending champion, has joined the finger-pointing, while Nicky Hayden, the 2006 champion, ended up apologising to Toseland “for being a bitch” after the Portuguese Grand Prix. For Toseland this is water off a duck's back.

Few sportsmen have endured as much as the 27-year-old and his triumphs have been born of tragedy, from the suicide of his mother's partner to the death of his team-mate the day after Toseland shattered both ankles in an horrific crash.

Now he is fifth in the World Championship, ticket sales for next month's British Grand Prix are up a staggering 75 per cent and he has already signed a contract extension for next season. Toseland is fast becoming a phenomenon and the established stars are worried.

“Vermeulen started it, saying I was dangerous and needed more respect for other people,” Toseland said over a coffee at Heathrow as he prepared

to fly out for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. “He was just frustrated because I'd passed him and then he slipped back to tenth with tyre problems.

“Then Stoner chirped up in Portugal. He said he'd been watching the last two races and had come to the conclusion I was too aggressive. ‘Come to the conclusion' - he sounded like a bleeding safety officer. I was like, ‘Give me a break.'”

Hayden was angry at being held up by Toseland in qualifying. “The problems was I was on race tyres and he was on a qualifier,” Toseland said. “Maybe they should change the rules because qualifiers are three seconds a lap quicker, so he was going to catch me. I went round his garage afterwards, shook his hand and said sorry. He said, ‘That's a lot of sorrys in the last two weeks, man.' That irritated me. I said, ‘Not to you, pal, I haven't come across you.' That evening he came and apologised so that was OK.”

Toseland knows that the smoke is a result of a fiery start. He was second in his first qualifying session and became the first Briton to chalk up back-to-back top-six finishes for 18 years. Now he wants to end a 27-year wait for a Briton to win a grand prix in the elite class.

Significantly, he now has the engine to do it, the new pneumatic valve version giving him an extra 10km/h on the straights. “We were 20km/h down on Ducati in the first two races and that's too much,” he said. “This is a big plus for us, but I already know the gamble to come here from World Superbikes has paid off.”

While a disorderly queue has formed to damn Toseland, Valentino Rossi, the four-time champion, has leapt to his defence, praising his remarkable debut. Another to give his blessing is Jorge Lorenzo, the Fiat Yamaha wunderkind who is joint top of the championship table and not opposed to dressing up as a Roman gladiator or planting a flag in “Lorenzo's Land” after victories.

Toseland said: “He was the guy I hit hard in the first race and I thought, ‘Yeah, that was touch and go.' I apologised and he said not to worry, he'd have done the same. The hardest manoeuvre I've put on someone this year was on a man who was fine about it.”

The dissenters are picking on the wrong person. Toseland has always enjoyed the spotlight, posing naked for Cosmopolitan magazine and playing piano on stage with Jools Holland in front of 20,000 people, but he is a teak-tough, thoughtful individual.

He was a teenager when Ken, his mother's partner, gassed himself in the family garage. Toseland found out later that Ken was schizophrenic.

“I felt abandoned and cheated and my emotions were turned inside out,” he said. “I went through so much in a short space of time, but if I hadn't been moulded in that way, would I have been as successful at what I do? In a sport like mine you need a lot of controlled aggression.”

It took him four weeks to come back from two broken ankles in 1998. “I couldn't walk or put weight on them and was on crutches,” he said.

When he first went home after that crash, a mechanic carried him inside while his mother cried. That was when he found out that Michael Paquay, his new Castrol Honda team-mate, had crashed at 165mph at Monza, been hit by two oncoming bikes and died from internal injuries.

Roger Burnett, his manager, calls him the Secret Squirrel because Toseland rarely lets his emotions show, but after two World Superbike crowns, he is revelling in his feather-ruffling turn amid the elite. So, too, are his band, Crash. “They used to play in working men's clubs, but now we've been booked to play on the beach in Rimini,” Toseland said.

A good-looking entry in the Sunday Times rich list, Toseland has the world at his feet. MotoGP and its predecessor, the 500cc World Championship, has been a wasteland for British hopes since Barry Sheene and Ron Haslam were trading podiums and sideburns.

Toseland, confident not arrogant, does not harbour grudges against his critics and there is no agenda behind his assessments. “Stoner's had a couple of crashes and that's knocked his confidence,” he said. “And if you lose confidence that Ducati really punishes you. But he deserved more credit last year. He's a tough character.”

So is Toseland. He was sixth in the Spanish Grand Prix despite suffering from bronchitis and an undergunned bike, and was still “coughing like I smoke 40 fags a day” in Portugal. He faces a string of tracks that he has never seen, but the fastest wedding singer in the west is well versed in defying odds and denting egos.

Lifting lid on disorder

Born October 5, 1980 in Doncaster

Lives Isle of Man

Highs

- Picked by Castrol Honda to ride in World Supersport Series in 1998

- Became youngest everWorld Superbike champion for Ducati in 2004

- Switched teams to Ten Kate Honda and won title again in 2007

- Finished sixth, sixth and seventh in his three MotoGP races so far — a better debut than Valentino Rossi achieved in 2000

Lows

- Suffered numerous broken bones and a horrendous crash at Cadwell Park in 2000 “In those moments I had to really try?? my determination to live.,” he said.

Not your average biker

- Toseland is a grade six piano player. When he won the World Superbike title his team sponsor bought him an £83,000 Steinway. He moved house to fit it in

- Fourth in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He rose to second in the live voting after a star turn on the piano

- With the backing of Jools Holland and Status Quo, who offered to play backing tracks for him. Sony offered him a record deal. The plan is on the backburner

- Is writing a song for his mother’s forthcoming wedding

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