The Rise of Rossi
The name Valentino Rossi is spoken by almost everyone in the world who knows anything about motorsports. Rossi is one of the greatest MotoGP racers of all time. Feared by his fellow competitors so much that they dubbed him “The Doctor”, for his clinical
methods of cracking his opponents. Loved by his friends and family who call his “The GOAT”, which is an acronym for Greatest of All Time. Valentino was born in 1979, in the city of Urbino, Italy. By the time he was 31 years old, he already had 104 Grand Prix
wins and 9 World Champion Wins.
Life of Rossi
Valentino Rossi was the son of Graziano Rossi, a famous motorcycle racer from the 70’s. Following his father’s example, Valentino started racing at a very early age. When he was only five years old, Rossi’s father gave him a Go-Kart (he was not allowed a
motorcycle because his mother was afraid for his safety).
Fueled by the family habit of going fast, Valentino’s father swapped the 60cc engine for a bigger 100cc engine. As time passed, he started racing his Go-Kart, and won the Regional Kart Championship in 1990 (he was only 20 years old). Even though he was a
success in the Go-Kart racing work, Valentino was forced to move to racing mini motorcycles (minimoto) due to the fact that racing karts was costing too much money.
During his run in the minimoto races, Valentino picked up all the things he needed to know to become the best. His father and his associates Virgino Ferrari, Claudio Castiglioni and Claudio Lusuardi helped Valentino by giving him a 125cc bike in 1993. He
crashed this bike when tackling his very first corner. Even though his first season had its ups and downs, the ever determined Valentino Rossi, achieved a pole position in the finals. And during his second season of racing, Valentino had won the Italian title.
The 1997 World Championship proved to be quite the handful for Valentino. He did not finish five races and crashed numerous times. Even though he was having a down season, he went on to win the world championship at Brno, Czech Republic. Rossi made a strong
comeback, when he destroyed the 1997 World Championship, by winning eleven of the fifteen races. During the year 2000, Valentino Rossi started his career with Honda.
Honda was convinced that giving Rossi a 500cc bike would ensure their success in racing. It was around this time, that Rossi started racing against Max Biaggi (another Italian racer, with whom Rossi was often compared with by the racing community). Rossi
won his very first 500cc championship in 2001 by winning eleven races. This year was also the final year of the 2-stroke 500cc engine as there was new technology coming in.
The 500cc 2-stroke bikes were still allowed but were mostly over shadowed by the 990cc 4-stroke bikes. In 2003, Rossi’s contract with Honda was coming to an end. This caused a lot of rumors to fly around, some saying that Rossi would join the Italian motorcycle
manufacturer called Ducati. This rumor excited the Italian press, since what could be better than having a top class Italian championship winner riding an Italian bike! Ducati even tried to allure Rossi, telling him that he could ride the Ducati V4 prototype
(given the name Ducati Desmosedici).
But at the end of the day, Rossi signed on with Yamaha saying that “Ducati had the same type of mindset that he was trying to escape from Honda”. Rossi went on to take the championship during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, came in second in the 2006 season.
He rode on the new Yamaha 800cc bike, but found that it was not performing to his expectations. He even threatened to leave Yamaha unless they gave him a better bike. Rossi hit his lowest number of wins in the 2009 season. He had only won a total of six races.
On the brighter side, Rossi got his 100th win, during the DutchTT the same year.
In the current 2010 grand prix, Rossi crashed his bike in the race in Mugello, fracturing his right tibia. His doctors said that Rossi would be out of commission for most of the remaining season, but Rossi rode on despite his injuries. He made a comeback
in the German Grand Prix only 41 days after the accident. On August 2010, Valentino confirmed that he would be moving from Yamaha to Ducati in the year 2011.
What the Future Holds
Valentino Rossi tested Ferrari F1 cars during 2006. His lap times were so good that the great Michael Schumacher himself said that Rossi should join the sport professionally. Although his talent was amazing (he was only a second behind Schumacher), Rossi
expressed that he would not stop racing bikes until he felt like his “work was done”. Rossi also had a strong interest in Rally Racing. In 2010, Rossi said that when he retires from MotoGP, he will move onto Rally Racing. Where ever Rossi goes, one thing is
for sure, he will always be known as the greatest MotoGP racer ever.
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