Rossi’s 100 Grand Prix wins - He's Born to Win

Some facts and figures relating to Valentino Rossi’s remarkable 100 career wins, since his first victory in the 125cc class in Brno in 1996

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Valentino Rossi’s flawless march to victory over the weekend at the Alice TT Assen made him just the second rider in history to reach 100 GP triumphs, with one of his idols Giacomo Agostini being the only other rider to have achieved such a feat courtesy of his incredible 122 wins.

In tribute to Rossi’s historic achievement, motogp.com today offers three videos tracking the Italian’s spectacular route to glory in the three World Championship categories over a 14 year period.

The first video, “Rossi’s Road to 100GP wins: The 125& 250cc years”, features footage of his very first race victory in the 125cc class at Brno in 1996 with Aprilia.

Also featured are his 12th career victory at Sentul in Indonesia at the end of 1997, which made him the first rider ever to achieve 11 125cc wins in one season, and victory number 26 in Rio in 1999, his ninth of that season, which gave him the points to become the youngest ever 250cc World Champion at that time.

In “Rossi’s Road to 100GP wins: The 500cc era”, fans can views clips of The Doctor’s first ever premier class success, at Donington in 2000. That victory, in just his ninth ever 500cc race and the 27th win of his career, made Rossi the first rider ever to complete the hat-trick of wins at the British circuit in all three categories.

The ‘500cc era’ video also recalls Rossi’s 2001 Suzuka triumph, which put him top of the premier class standings for the first time, and marked Honda’s 500th GP win across all three classes. The video concludes in Rio in 2001, where Rossi achieved his 39th career victory and his 11th win of that year, in the last ever 500cc race.

“Rossi’s Road to 100GP wins: The MotoGP Era”, meanwhile, gets underway with victory number 40 at Suzuka with Honda, in the first ever four-stroke MotoGP contest. Next up is win 49 at Rio in 2002, which gave Rossi his first ever ‘MotoGP’ title.

The last video continues with some additional famous victories from recent seasons. His 60th GP success was a particularly important one as Rossi scored a victory in his first race on a Yamaha (2004/Welkom, South Africa) to become the first rider to take back-to-back victories in the premier-class riding machines from two different manufacturers.

When Rossi equaled Mick Doohan’s record of 54 premier class wins, at Losail in Qatar in 2006, it was the 78th of his career in all classes. Le Mans 2008 brought Rossi level with Ángel Nieto on 90 wins, and the MotoGP Era video features that triumph along with win number 99 and a brilliant battle with team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, beating the Spaniard in his home race at Catalunya on the last corner.

With his victory at the Alice TT Assen Valentino Rossi became only the second rider ever to reach the milestone of 100 Grand Prix victories, as motogp.com documented in Monday’s video tributes to the Fiat Yamaha star.

Today we offer a selection of statistics relating to Rossi’s colourful and triumphant march to a century of GP successes, which along the way have brought him eight World titles across the three Grand Prix classes:

- The 100 victories have come from 217 Grand Prix starts – a win rate over his career of 46.1%.

Rossi has won on six different types of motorcycle: 125cc Aprilia (12 wins), 250cc Aprilia (14 wins), 500cc Honda (13 wins), 990cc Honda (20 wins), 990cc Yamaha (25 wins) and 800cc Yamaha (16 wins).

- His 41 wins riding for Yamaha is more than any other rider. The second most successful Yamaha rider is Phil Read with 39 victories.

- Rossi has won Grand Prix races at 27 different circuits. The circuits at which he has had most success are Mugello and Catalunya with nine wins at each.

- The most wins Rossi has had in a single season is 11, which he has achieved on four occasions: 1997 (125cc), 2001 (500cc), 2002 and 2005 in MotoGP.

- His 11 wins in 1997 is a record for most victories in a single season in the 125cc class.

- Rossi’s 74 race victories in the premier-class is more than any other rider in the 61-year history of Grand Prix racing.

- With his victory in Jerez this year Valentino Rossi became the first rider to achieve at least one Grand Prix victory for 14 successive seasons.

- The total length of his winning career from his first win in the 125cc race at the Czech GP in 1996 to his latest victory at Assen, is 12 years 313 days. Only four riders have had a longer winning career in Grand Prix racing: Loris Reggiani, Phil Read, Angel Nieto and Loris Capirossi.

Source: MotoGP

Rossi feeling good after first ‘real’ pole of 2009

Italian reflects on Assen top spot and hopes for dry conditions.

Valentino Rossi in the parc fermé after QP in Assen

Valentino Rossi will start from the head of the MotoGP grid for the second time in 2009 for Saturday’s Alice TT Assen, although he regards his Friday result in the timed session as his first ‘real’ pole position of the year.

The Fiat Yamaha rider was previously given the honour of leading the riders off the line at the Japanese round of the MotoGP World Championship in Motegi, courtesy of his free practice times after the rain-hit qualifying run was cancelled. This time his rivals could have no complaints, as he sent them all packing with a 1’36.025 lap.

“I’m so happy about the qualifying session. This morning we worked a lot on the bike and this afternoon we put it all together,” said the joint World Championship leader. “I have a good pace with the race tyres as well, and I’m looking at a few places where we can improve tomorrow. “I’m also happy to have taken pole position, because even though it is always great this one is my second of the year. Motegi was a strange case because of the rain in qualifying, so this is a real pole position with a really good lap at the end.”

Not a fan of flag-to-flag races, Rossi is praying for sunshine at the ‘Cathedral of Motorcycle Racing,’ where he believes that he can challenge for a 100th Grand Prix victory.

“I’m in good shape, just like my M1, and I just hope for good weather tomorrow. To have the grandstands full today for practice sessions is something incredible, so we’ll try to put on a good show for the fans tomorrow.”

Source: MotoGP

Opening MotoGP session at Montmeló ends with Rossi on top

The first MotoGP free practice session of the Catalunya weekend saw the World Champion lap three tenths of a second faster than his premier class rivals. 

Valentino Rossi in aciton in Montmeló

Valentino Rossi stamped his authority on the opening MotoGP practice of the weekend with the fastest time of Friday afternoon at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya, lapping the Barcelona track on his Fiat Yamaha M1 in 1’43.038.

The Italian star has never finished outside the top three in a premier class race at the Mediterranean venue and he signaled his aspirations for victory at round six, having not won since the third race of the year at Jerez, by starting the weekend on the front foot.

Valentino Rossi´s helmet for Mugello

Behind Rossi on the time-sheet was his factory Yamaha colleague Jorge Lorenzo who was 0.302s off the World Champion’s pace on a far better Friday than last year at his home track – where he crashed in practice and missed the race due to concussion.

Third on the timesheet was Mugello race-winner and 2007 Barcelona victor Casey Stoner who went round just over half a second slower than Rossi on his Ducati Desmosedici, despite a small crash near the end of the session.

Fourth on the timesheet, just as he has been in the last two MotoGP races, Andrea Dovizioso put in a similar time to Stoner. Dovizioso’s injured Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa was down in 14th place as he tested the condition of his injured hip.

At one of his favourite tracks Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) was fifth fastest, whilst a big improvement by Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden saw him finish sixth quickest in one of his best sessions of the season so far – around a second off the pace.

Veteran riders Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) were seventh and eighth respectively. Yuki Takahashi was number nine on the timesheet, trying to push hard after seeing new MotoGP recruit Gabor Talmacsi join the Scot Racing Team on Friday.

Talmacsi was unsurprisingly the slowest participant in his first 800cc session, four seconds behind Rossi, whilst satellite Yamaha rider James Toseland completed the top ten.

Sourc: MotoGP

Hot Paddock Girls - Mugello 2009

Source: MotoGP

Randy de Puniet and Lucio Cecchinello at LCR Honda Playboy event in FLorence

Playboy party kicks off Mugello weekend for LCR Honda 

A big weekend for LCR Honda at the team’s home round began in style on Thursday night. The collaboration between the MotoGP outfit and sponsor Playboy took a further step with the organisation of a party in Florence’s Central Park club, welcoming a huge attendance from the paddock and beyond.

Rider Randy de Puniet and Team Manager Lucio Cecchinello were joined by national stars of screen and print -in addition to the obligatory Playboy bunnies- as the LCR Honda Paddock Girl for the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice was chosen. The eventual winner was local lady Cristina Milan.

“It is another successful event for us in the collaboration with Playboy Italia,” said Cecchinello. “It is our home race, we’re in Italy, so we thought ‘why not put on a party to celebrate the occasion?’

“The relationship between us is a natural one; the combination of bikes and girls! Since the beginning of the year we have been working with them, and we are happy to work with such a powerful brand and help promote them in a special way. We hope to have a good performance this weekend with Randy and –why not?- get out best result of the year so far.”

Whilst the party continued through the night, one of the early departees was De Puniet. He needed to get some shut-eye before the opening Free Practice session at the Mugello circuit, which takes place on Friday afternoon.

“It’s a really good event, with lots of people here. Obviously I have a big day tomorrow so I can’t stay for long, but I hope that the people here have fun for me!” said the Frenchman. “I’m really looking forward to getting back on track after Le Mans, and Mugello is one of my favourite circuits. The best way that I can promote the team and the sponsors such as Playboy will be to have a good race, and I’m aiming for another top ten this weekend.”

Source: MotoGP

Off-track: Sky Platform hosts MotoGP poker game

Source: MotoGP

Gibernau undergoes successful surgery in Barcelona

Spanish rider to miss visit to Mugello, but could be back for home race at Catalunya’s Montmeló circuit.

Sete Gibernau went under the knife on Monday at the Clínica Dexeus in his native Barcelona to help fix his broken left collarbone which was injured in a crash at Le Mans on Saturday.

The operation was undertaken without complications by Doctors Xavier Mir and Ignacio Ginebreda, who attached a supportive plate onto the bone. Gibernau is expected to be released from the hospital in the next 24 hours to continue his recovery at home.

Medical staff expect Gibernau to be able to recommence training in four weeks which means he will definitely miss the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice on 31st May and will be ‘touch and go’ for his home race in Barcelona on 14th June.

The team managers of the Grupo Francisco Hernando outfit, for whom Gibernau rides, are expected to make a decision about a possible replacement rider in the coming days.

Source: MotoGP

Hottest Paddock Chicks From Jerez 2009 & Le Mans 2009

Enjoy :)

Differing views on Hayden-Kallio clash

Mika Kallio blamed his second MotoGP DNF on Nicky Hayden at the weekend, whereas the American says it was him who had the bad luck when Kallio slipped and touched him.

Following his good results in Qatar and Japan, followed up by his technical problems at Jerez, Mika Kallio’s learning process in MotoGP continued on Sunday when he crashed out at Le Mans.

Given the highly difficult wet-drying conditions it was perhaps surprising that more riders did not suffer the same fate, but Kallio and World Champion Valentino Rossi were the only premier class competitors to hit the deck in the French contest.

Kallio’s demise came about on lap 11 when he tried to overtake fellow Ducati rider Nicky Hayden for eighth place and then lost control as he hit a wet patch on the asphalt as he went round the American. The two Desmosedici GP9s made contact, though Hayden was able to continue riding despite some light damage to his machine, losing some ground and eventually coming home twelfth.

Pramac Racing rider Kallio reviewed the incident saying, “We were doing really well, I chose the right moment to change bikes and I was in a good position. I reached Hayden and I tried to overtake him on the inside. All of a sudden he changed line and I had to pass outside where there was a wet spot on the track and I slipped. He probably didn’t see me. I am very sad about it because I was feeling really good.”

Hayden’s view, meanwhile, was, “I got unlucky again when Kallio crashed and his bike slid into me. I was lucky to save it because the impact was hard – you can see the rubber on the side of my bike – and I ran off track. It cost me time and positions and also damaged the front wheel sensor. We have two sensors so the bike was still working, but probably it didn’t help things.”

However, Fabiano Sterlacchini, Pramac Racing’s Technical Director made a cheeky reference to Ducati Marlboro rider Hayden when he gave his thoughts on what had occurred, “Mika’s crash was due to a wet patch he hit while overtaking a much slower rider, who didn’t see that he was arriving. There is nothing we can do about it. We are convinced that our rider can always do well at each Grand Prix, we just need a bit of luck.”

Source: MotoGP

MotoGP 2009 Action Shots from Motegi.

Source-MotoGP