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Valentino Rossi - “The Doctor”

Valentino Rossi, born in the village of Urbino, is regarded as one of the all time greats of motorcycle racing. He has won seven world championships, narrowly missing out on an eighth title in 2006.

Rossi started racing go-karts at the age of five.  Having some success, Rossi’s father couldn’t afford to race in go-karts so his son decided to race in MiniMoto, something Rossi is still passionate about to this day.

Rossi soon started winning races and worked his way through to the 125cc GP class. His first major season in 1996 wasn’t a massive success, but he did win his first race at Brno in the Czech Republic, finishing in ninth overall. The 1997 season would see Rossi dominate, winning eleven of the fifteen races.

Rossi then moved to the 250cc class, but struggled in his first season.  Rossi himself has said that the 1998 season was the toughest of his career.  He won the championship in 1999, winning nine races.

Moving to the premier class with Honda, Rossi finished second in his first season behind Kenny Roberts Jr.  Rossi won his first premier class title with Honda in 2001, winning eleven races.

Rossi also raced in the Suzuka eight Hour endurance race with Colin Edwards, who would be his future team mate at Yamaha.

In the Moto GP era, Rossi won two championships with Honda before moving to the struggling Yamaha team.  Spurred on by people saying he had the best bike, that’s why he won, he won his first race on a Yamaha, beating Sete Gibernau.  Rossi had proven that the rider was more important than the bike.

Rossi also has a passion for rallying, and has entered a number of races.

Whilst still relatively young, it would appear that Rossi will be with us for some time to come!