MONACO, May 24 - MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi turned his back on a career in Formula One on Wednesday and pledged his immediate future to racing on two wheels.

"No Formula One, at least for the moment. I'm staying with bikes," the charismatic 27-year-old told the Italian news agency ANSA. "I will carry on racing in MotoGP for a while yet."

Rossi, as dominant in MotoGP as Michael Schumacher was in Formula One, had been courted by Ferrari and impressed in tests with the glamour team.

The Italian's decision not to try and follow in the footsteps of Briton John Surtees, the motorcycle world champion who won the Formula One crown with Ferrari in 1964, ended a long guessing game about his future.

Ferrari are waiting to hear whether seven times world champion Schumacher, now 37, wants to continue in 2007 and have been linked to McLaren's Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen.

With Rossi out of the picture, Ferrari's 2007 lineup is likely to be Raikkonen -- if the rumours are true -- with either Schumacher or his Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa.

Rossi, champion for the last five seasons, thanked Ferrari for giving him the opportunity to try out a Formula One car in test conditions, saying it was "a beautiful experience".

"I believe my work in motorcycling is not yet finished: I still have so much to do and will carry on in MotoGP for a while," added the Yamaha rider in a statement to ANSA.

"I hope Ferrari achieve their target and that it coincides with mine -- to win the world championship."

WORST START

Rossi has endured his worst start to a season and is languishing in eighth place after five races.

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