Biography of Valentino Rossi | One of the best drivers in the history of motorcycling.

For his unchallenged dominance in the maximum displacement is considered one of the best drivers in the history of motorcycling.

Since the World Championship gained relevance in the mid-1970s, the category Queen of motorcycling, the 500 cubic centimeters, had been, with few exceptions, preserve of American and Australian pilots. For this reason and for its youth (had only twenty-two years), the triumph of pilot Italian Motorcyclist Valentino Rossi in the World Championship 2001 acquired particular relevance.

Valentino Rossi

After having conquered the title in the categories of 125 and 250 cubic centimeters, Rossi, in his second season in the highest category, unseated all the Favorites, and on October 14, 2001 was proclaimed champion of the world with unquestionable certainty. Since then he has been harvesting one triumph after another, spraying historical records in such a way that, even without having completed his career, already sits him among the best pilots in the history of motorcycling, next to mythical figures such as Giacomo Agostini and Angel Nieto.

Valentino Rossi was born on February 16, 1979 in the Italian town of Urbino, Pesaro. It is the only son of the popular former pilot Graziano Rossi, who won the Grand Prize of the Netherlands in 1979 with a rudimentary 250 Mobirelli, in a season that was third in the world. The father sent his son passion for motorcycling and it didn't take long for students to overcome more than his master.

Even so, Graziano not led him to compete, because it was not desirous that his son was the champion that it might not be. But the small Rossi soon showed some innate qualities to the driving of motorcycles. Only eleven years old, he played his first race with a minimoto (pocket bike). Did not win, but his pilot career began at that moment.

After competing in 1992 in local races and in the regional championship, in 1993 he debuted, with a Cagiva, in Italy Sport Production Championship, in 125 cubic centimeters, finishing twelfth. The following year became champion. As a result he was signed by Sandroni-Aprilia team, which in 1995 won the title of champion of Italy of 125 cubic centimeters. He was also third in the European Championship in the same category.

That boy had a feeling for motorbikes, driving with a naturalness and a recklessness disconcerting even for accomplished professionals. Moreover, wore and it continues a pace and a lifestyle unfit from a professional. It is able to get out all night, not sleep, arise in the starting grid as if it were rested and win.

In the world

The young Rossi debuted in the World Cup on March 13, 1996 with an Aprilia, in the great award of Malaysia, where he earned the sixth position. He finished ninth at the end of the season, but he already drew the attention of experts and amateurs, because it was only seventeen years old and weighed just 50 pounds. Yet that season was fourth in the Grand Prix of Spain and the Italy, and won his first podium as third in the Grand Prix of Austria, on August 4, to, finally, win in the Czech Republic.

In 1997 was presented already as a young promise that was respected. But it was more than just a promise. It was a pilot without limits. An arrogant young man who won the World Championship 125 cc with an insulting authority for most conspicuous rivals: 11 wins in other so many great prizes, a second and a third, which came up thirteen times on the podium. It was eighteen years old.

One of their jovial celebrations

The category was small, so in 1998 jumped to the of 250 cubic centimeters, which his future arch-rival in 500, Max Biaggi, had won four consecutive titles. That season Biaggi made his debut in 500, while 250 Rossi maintained a bitter struggle with other already consecrated compatriot Loris Capirossi, who became champion. Rossi, debutant, was already runner-up, having won five Grands Prix.

But that year already became the number one Idol not only of the tifosi , but all teens, amateurs or not to motorcycling, due to their extravagant dress, his antics in the circuit or on the podium and witty answers and out of place in the interviews. In all this show has always counted with the complicity of his father, who once supplanted his son in a Grand Prize-free training, leaving track identically dressed than his son.

In 1999, Rossi swept unceremoniously, and at the end of the season his jump was won without discussion to the category Queen. Neither the emerging Japanese rider Tohru Ukawa, who was runner-up, and the reigning champion, Capirossi, both with Honda, could make even shade to the Aprilia of Rossi, who ended the season as champion after winning eight Grands Prix and being third in one.

Jump to the 500 cubic centimetres

Conquered titles of 125 and 250 cubic centimeters, in 2000 made his debut in the category Queen. Many were those who thought that it was going too fast, that before you should consolidate itself as 250 champion, as 500 require a physical and technical training is not reaching certain age. But Rossi did not listen to anyone, because Honda, retired Michael Doohan, offered him an official motorcycle, and that to him was a dream. It does not desentonó. On the contrary, he planted face the champion, a quick Kenny Roberts Jr., and was proclaimed runner-up, with victory in two Grand Prix. Biaggi, his already bitter rival in and out of the tracks, was third.

The definitive consecration came when, in 2001, it became for the first time with the 500 cc World Championship. Biaggi and Capirossi had started the Championship with great force, but little by little Rossi showed that you neither in this category had rival, to the point that got the victory on several great prizes coming out for the first round leader from positions very delayed, which undermined more if the morale of their opponents. In 2001, he also won the Suzuka eight hours, an endurance race that rarely highlight the pilots engaged in the racing world.

Then the pilot lived with their parents in Tavullia, where everything was breathing to Rossi, who was a beloved character to the inhabitants of the place. He had many hobbies, but not superstitions, while statistics showed that so far its good years were odd (champion of 125 in 1997, 250 in 1999 and 500 in 2001). He argued that this was part of his method: a year to become familiar with the category and to the next champion. But already it had more categories.

The 2002 season was premiered with attractive novelties. The category Queen (500 cc) it was renamed Moto GP and the traditional two-stroke machines could participate in it (500 cc) and new four-stroke engines of up to 990 cc. The incentive to innovation, the Italian pilot did not disappoint the expectations and debuted with an undeniable triumph in the Grand Prix of Japan, driving a new Honda RC 211V 4 T.

In the first round of the season, Rossi left good sample of what was to be a constant in the world of that year: its absolute superiority over all rivals and the confirmation of its status as the best pilot of the circuit. It only needed eleven more runs and an unmatched balance of nine wins, a second place and an abandonment by tire failure to conquer in Brazil its fourth title of world champion, the second consecutive in the maximum cubic capacity.

In the absence of four runs to complete the calendar, Rossi had sentenced the world and left the work of accounting for their extraordinary triumphs for statistics lovers: 50 victories in important races disputed 104, 10 of them in the same season (2002). Rossi was already two steps away from the record set by the legendary Doohan, who managed 12 first places in 1997. Even approached more Australian brand after the victory in the Grand Prix of Australia, the penultimate round of the Championship, but it could only be second in the circuit of Cheste (Grand Prize of the Comunidad Valenciana), the race with which the world was closed, and failed to match the mark of Doohan. That hit, however, the 355 points, the highest in the history of motorcycling.

Rossi riding his Honda (2003)

The conquest of the fifth world title of his career, third in the category Queen, began to take shape from the first event of the 2003 season. Rossi climbed to the top of the podium in the Grand Prix of Japan; It was a tragic day, marked by the fatal accident at the Japanese rider Daijiro Kato. Since that time, the Italian demonstrated once again its unquestionable hegemony. He climbed on the podium in every race of the calendar, achieved the victory in 9 major awards and became champion in Malaysia, in the absence of two tests to complete the world. In the Valencian circuit of Cheste, last round of the Championship, he added victory number 59 of his career and the twenty second consecutive podium, which allowed him to equal the record of the legendary Giacomo Agostini. After the World Cup, the flamboyant champion announced his rupture with the Honda team and his signing with Yamaha.

After this change few opted for the Italian champion, I was going to start the season with a lower than the rivals bike. However, Rossi began the 2004 season with a victory in the Grand Prize of South Africa, which astonished his detractors. Two quarters put in Jerez and France seemed to put things in place, but three podium finishes followed in Italy, Catalonia and the Netherlands showed that il dottore, as it is affectionately known in the circuits, was the same as before despite technical deficiencies. His domain was only questioned by the Spanish Sete Gibernau, who was making an excellent season.

Rossi with his Yamaha

Following the abandonment in the Grand Prize of Qatar, to just three runs from the end of the season, the dispute over the world title could not be more hard-fought: 229 points for Rossi and Gibernau for 215. However, undisputed top three in Malaysia, Australia and Valencia left classification in 304 points to Rossi and 257 to Sète, which concluded a season that, in addition to assume for Rossi the fourth world title in Moto GP, also served to proclaim it as one of the greatest drivers of all time.

The 2005 season, which would get her fifth title at the maximum displacement, was a triumphant ride to Rossi. Four great prizes before the end of the season Rossi was proclaimed champion mathematically: added 281 points front the 159 from Max Biaggi. With nine first positions and three seconds (and just a drop-out), il dottore was the unquestioned leader for the entire Championship. Neither Biaggi, Hayden, Capirossi, Melandri, Barros and Gibernau could make shadow; Urbino was awarded the Championship comfortably, and equaled the legendary five 500cc Championships achieved by Doohan, thus taking over as great world motorcycling icon.

Adding world titles in 125 and 250 cc, already had seven in his entire career, which entered the list of the best drivers of all time, below even of names such as Giacomo Agostini (15 titles), Angel Nieto (13) and Mike Hailwood and Carlo Ubbiali (9), but matching to Phil Read and John Surtees (both with 7). All a feat for a driver so young that, despite being the undisputed king of motorcycling, it shuffled the possibility to try his luck in Formula 1 next season as one of his eccentricities. He renounced it when it proved what was inside a car, and decided to continue in motorcycling.

The year 2006 not did especially well for Rossi. In the greater prize of Shanghai had technical problems with his Yamaha and could not finish the race, which led to a downturn in the overall standings. In addition to technical problems, it also suffered a few falls. In the second part of the season, starred in an epic comeback which, however, did not have a happy culmination: in the last race in Valencia ended up ceding the title to Nicky Hayden.

In the 2007 season, Rossi debuted the new Yamaha YZR-M1. In the first race he managed to finish in second position behind Casey Stoner, but this, riding his Ducati, managed in successive races extend his advantage in the overall standings on the riders closest to him. In the Grand Prix of Turkey, Rossi finished tenth due to a defect in their Michelin tyres, and although he managed to climb back to second place on the podium in China, a bad recommendation from Michelin tyres caused his sixth place in the Grand Prix of Le Mans. Tyres Bridgestone-equipped riders took over the three squares of the podium and Rossi responded saying that Michelin must urgently fix the weaknesses of your tires.

In the Grand Prix of Italy, Rossi was reunited with the victory, beating Dani Pedrosa. In the Championships of Catalonia and Donington, Rossi finished second and fourth respectively (Stoner won races), but in Assen, Rossi was re-fashioned from position 11 and went on to win the race, beating Stoner. Halfway through the season, Rossi was 21 points from Stoner and could challenge the title. But everything is twisted in Sachsenring, when on the sixth lap Rossi suffered a fall that damaged his right hand and had to leave.

Later, in the Grand Prix of United States at Laguna Seca, Rossi managed fourth place behind Stoner and Melandri, Vermeulen. The Grand Prize of Brno, Czech Republic, Rossi finished in seventh place, settling him 60 points of Stoner in the general, again because of problems with the tires, and in Misano, new engine problems caused a new cumulative difference of 85 points. In Motegi, Rossi could only see how Stoner reached the final victory, in a race marked by the humidity of the track, and he did that I had to enter in boxes. He finished in 13th position and was third overall, behind Stoner and Pedrosa.

Rossi in the Brno Grand Prix (2008)

Of those mediocre results it desquitaría getting back the world title in 2008. Rossi left the Michelin tyres for the benefit of the Bridgestone; He began the season with a fourth discrete in Qatar, but soon it began stringing victories. Stoner remained strong, and relegated it on more than one occasion to second place, but Rossi came to the last Grand Prix with a comfortable lead, and won it. His career is far from over, and however his record in the GP category holds historical records and unseen figures: nobody, not even Giacomo Agostini, had earlier won 71 races or had climbed 115 times on the podium. And you can to soon exceed him, in addition, the number of world titles.

In addition to speed, Rossi practice ski and motocross, and since you have card leads to full speed Porsche of maximum power; not in vain his maximum sporting Idol is the late Ayrton Senna. As pilot of Jet, apart from Wayne, has admired Kevin Schwantz, the world champion of the category Queen in 1993, when he made his first steps in official competitions. Now, with numerous nicknames, like Rossifumi, Valentinik or the most Italian of Il Dottore or Pavarotti of motorcycling, it has become the benchmark for other young riders who aspire to conquer the world and a pilot admired even by those who already have been champions.

Chronology of Valentino Rossi

1979	Born in Urbino, Italy.
1990	His first race with a minimoto disputed.
1993	He made his debut in the Italian 125 cc Sport Production Championship, winning the following year.
1994	Win the 125 cc Championship of Italy.
1995	It validates his title of champion of Italy of 125 cc and remains third in the European Championship in the same category.
1996	He debuted in the World Championship 125 cc with an Aprilia.
1997	Eighteen-year-old proclaimed 125 cc world champion, after winning eleven runs.
1998	Skips to the 250 cc and accomplished debut same world runner-up.
1999	He won the 250 cc World Championship.
2000	Skips to the category Queen, 500 cc, and again gets world runner-up.
2001-2005	Defeat in the World Championship 500 cc (category called MotoGP since 2002) in five consecutive editions, equalling the record of Doohan.
2006	Runner-up in the Moto GP World Championship.
2008	Gets his sixth MotoGP World title.

Palmares of Valentino Rossi

Impressive palmares of the Italian rider Valentino Rossi included at the end of the 2008 season, a total of 8 world titles, six of them in the category Queen of the 500 cc (known as MotoGP since 2002). Their statistics are spectacular, and in some records, it is the best pilot of the history. In Moto GP, nobody exceeded their number of victories and podiums (71 and 115), or the number of points, fastest laps and podiums achieved in a season. Here is the list of his victories:

125 cc

• Italy champion in 1994 with Cagiva.
• Italy champion in 1995 with Aprilia.
• Third place in the European Championship of 1995 with Aprilia.
• World Champion in 1997 with Aprilia.

250 cc

• World runner-up in 1998 with Aprilia.
• World Champion in 1999 with Aprilia.

500 cc | Moto GP

• World runner-up in 2000 with Honda.
• World Champion in 2001 with Honda.
• World Champion in 2002 with Honda.
• World Champion in 2003 with Honda.
• World Champion in 2004 with Yamaha.
• World Champion in 2005 with Yamaha.
• World runner-up in 2006 with Yamaha.
• World Champion in 2008 with Yamaha.

Rossi celebrating his victory at Jerez GP

Extracted from the website: Biografías y Vidas