I hope that in the future nobody will win like Valentino Rossi

“I think it’s difficult to say, but maybe this is even better than the first championship with Yamaha in 2004. In 2004 I arrived after three championships in a row; the change was very big and no one expected me to win then, not even us to be honest! But this year is great too because I didn’t start as the number one favourite after losing for two years. The taste of this is something special.

“In 2006 I lost because of bad luck; I still won the most races and was the fastest on track for most of the time, but in 2007 Stoner was a lot faster than us and so we got to the end with a big of disadvantage. Winning this championship was very difficult but also very, very important.

“The decision to change to Bridgestone tyres, which I took together with Jeremy, my team and all the Yamaha crew, was very important, as were the changes to the bike because the first 800cc M1 last year was not competitive enough. We spoke a lot during last season and I remember a strange meeting in Valencia last year, me with a broken hand, speaking with Furusawa about 2008. From then we started to work on the improvements for this season. It’s also been important to have the right people in the right place and this year everything has been correct. It’s been step-by-step.

“I think I have made a lot of good decisions this year and we have been competitive from the start. Qatar was the worst race of the season but I knew our potential was good so, although we were a bit worried at that point, we weren’t desperate because we knew if we fixed a few problems we could try to win.

“I grew up a lot in the last two years, because at the end of 2005 I had a great career and I had won all the important targets so far. 125, 250 and then five titles in a row in MotoGP with two different bikes – I felt unbeatable. But in 2006 and 2007 I learnt to lose and this has been very important. I came out much stronger and my level of concentration and effort to win this championship has been higher than ever before.

“This season has had some different periods. At the beginning of the year we had some important results when Bridgestone wasn’t the strongest: Jerez, Portugal and others, and in that period we took a big advantage from Stoner. After Barcelona Casey started to ride like a demon and dominated three races in a row, and then we went to Laguna which was the turning point of the season. Laguna was a real battle and from then on we have flown.

“The show after the race was one of my friends pretending to be a ‘notary’, signing and certificating the eighth championship ‘deed’. It was very exciting to be planning the championship t-shirt and celebration once again with my friends and fan club and the one we came up with is funny I think, it says ‘I’m sorry for the delay!’

“I am very content at Yamaha and this is why I signed for two more years. I had some good offers at other factories, but I already changed bike once and proved everything I wanted to and so there is no need to do that again. Also I am no longer 20 years old and I need a good atmosphere in my team in order to keep me focused and happy, and I have this at Yamaha. The atmosphere in our team, from the Japanese all the way down to the garage is fantastic and this is what makes me want to stay.

“I think 2009 will be even more difficult than this year. Now I am the world champion again and I have demonstrated that I am still very fast; I think I rode the best of my career this year apart from the mistake in Assen, but next year is another story, it depends on how the winter is and how Stoner, Pedrosa and also Lorenzo are next year, as well as the other riders because there are many fast people in this championship. I think it will be a great championship and I’m looking forward to it, but first I want to finish this year and try to win the final three races!

“As I said, there are many strong riders but of course I hope that in the future nobody will win like Valentino Rossi! Maybe my brother Luca will be as strong as me…I wanted to take him on my bike on the celebration lap, but they did not allow it. Maybe I will wait for him to be a MotoGP rider before quitting, then I will beat him in the first year, and then I will stop riding!

“When you are 20 or 22 yrs old, you live everything in a different way. It’s different… In 2000, maybe, I could have won on my debut, but I underestimated myself! In 2001 it was the last chance for me to win in 500, so I gave it my best and did that. In 2001 it was the year of the battle with Biaggi, in 2002 it was the year when everybody said that I won because of my bike, then 2003 was the year of Gibernau, it was hard until the end. They were fantastic years but with Yamaha it is different. I enjoy it more.

“During 2003 I started thinking about Yamaha. Of course I was scared about the new challenge, it was a big question mark. This year, when I tested the new bike and the new tyres, I understood that I could win. In 2004, however, when I tested the new bike I understood we had to work a lot. Sincerely, the feeling of winning in Welkom in 2004 was the strongest emotion of my career; more so than in Laguna Seca this year. The 2005 the M1 was very fast and that one and the 2008 one are the best Yamaha bikes ever.

“I think Stoner next year will be back stronger again, so maybe he is the hardest rival I have ever had, more than Gibernau and all the others I fought against in the past. Last year I was sorry that after so many successful years, some people thought Valentino was finished and Casey was the new Valentino. As I said, until I stop riding a bike, my objective will always be to win. I like this life and I always try to do my best in it.”

Statistiscs on Valentino Rossi's career
In becoming only the second rider ever to win the MotoGP World Championship following a two-year gap, Valentino Rossi has cemented his place amongst the legends of motorcycle racing. A return to the form that won him five consecutive premier-class titles between 2001 and 2005 has seen the Italian reinstated at the very pinnacle of the sport, with a host of career milestones reached along the way.

Here is a full list of Rossi’s historic MotoGP achievements in 2008:
Rossi has joined Giacomo Agostini as one of only two riders to have taken six or more premier-class World Championships.

Rossi is only the second rider to regain the premier-class title after a two year gap – the other rider to do this was also Agostini.

This is Rossi’s eighth world title across all classes. Only Agostini with 15, Angel Nieto, with 13, Mike Hailwood and Carlos Ubbiali, with nine each, have won more.

Rossi is the first rider to win the premier-class title on four different types of motorcycle: 500cc 4-cylinder two-stroke, 990cc 5-cylinder four-stroke, Yamaha 990cc 4-cylinder four-stroke and a Yamaha 800cc 4-cylinder four-stroke.

It is eleven years since Rossi’s first World Championship success in the 125cc class in 1997. The only rider with a longer period between his first and last titles is Angel Nieto, who won the 50cc crown in 1969 and the 125cc equivalent in 1984.

With his 69th career MotoGP win at Indianapolis, Rossi broke Giacomo Agostini’s record for the most premier-class victories; a record that has stood since the legendary Italian’s final victory at the West German Grand Prix in 1976.

With 37 wins, Rossi has had more success with Yamaha than any other factory in his career

Rossi is also Yamaha’s most successful rider, having scored 13 more premier-class wins for the factory than Kenny Roberts.

With three races to go he is the only rider to have scored points in every round of the 2008 season.

Rossi’s sequence of five straight race wins since Laguna Seca is his longest run of wins since 2005, when he also scored five successive victories.

Other facts about Rossi’s career.
In 1997 Rossi became the second youngest ever 125cc World Champion after scoring 321 points and eleven wins.

Two years later, he became the youngest ever 250cc World Champion with nine wins.

In 2001 Rossi joined Phil Read as one of only two riders ever to win the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc titles.

Rossi’s debut victory for Yamaha at the opening race of 2004 in South Africa made him the first rider in history to take back-to-back wins for different manufacturers.

After winning the MotoGP World Championship three times with Honda, Rossi took his fourth premier-class title with Yamaha in 2004 and became the only rider other than Eddie Lawson to win consecutive premier-class titles for different manufacturers.

Valentino Rossi - Career
Nationality: Italian
Born: 16th February 1979 in Urbino, Italy
World Championships: 8 (6 x MotoGP/500cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc)
GP victories: 96 (70 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
GP podiums: 148 (112 x MotoGP/500cc, 21 x 250cc, 15 x 125cc)
GP Pole Positions: 51 (41 x MotoGP/500cc, 5 x 250cc, 5 x 125cc)
First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc)
First GP win: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc)
GP starts: 207 (146 x MotoGP/50cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)

Fourth place for Rossi after dissapointing US Grand Prix Laguna Seca

Valentino Rossi took fourth place in the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca today, after a spirited ride in difficult conditions from fifth on the grid. Team-mate Edwards was unable to fulfil his dream of a home-race success and crossed the line in eleventh after a race led from flag-to-flag by series leader Casey Stoner.

Rossi lost some ground at the start and found himself behind Edwards for the first part of the lap. He quickly moved ahead of his team-mate however and the pair crossed the line for the first time in fourth and fifth respectively. On lap five Marco Melandri took Edwards and set off after Rossi, overtaking the Italian a few laps later and relegating him to fifth. After Melandri had in turn passed Dani Pedrosa, Rossi quickly began to close the gap on the Spaniard until he was able to strike at the end of lap twenty to claim fourth. For several laps he then looked to be closing the gap to Melandri but a lack of grip forced him to slacken off and he eventually crossed the line 30.664 seconds behind Stoner.

Edwards looked comfortable in sixth for much of the race but as his tyres too lost performance in the latter stages he was caught by a collection of riders and relegated to eleventh. Rossi and Edwards hold on to second and seventh respectively in the championship but the gap from Rossi to Stoner is extended to 44 points, with seven rounds remaining. The MotoGP paddock now embarks on a well-deserved summer break before action recommences at Brno in the Czech Republic in late August.

Postmatch
"Today was incredibly disappointing because, with the tyre situation like this, it was like our rivals were in a different race. My team and I worked very hard, especially after yesterday's crash, and we did the maximum we could to have our bike in the best possible condition. However without grip it was impossible to fight with the leaders. I rode the best race I could and I was very happy to pass Pedrosa, but I couldn't catch Melandri; we just didn't have the right rhythm or grip today. I'm very sad for last weekend in Sachsenring because there Michelin was strong and we missed a chance to make up some important points there. After today we can see just how important! It seems that tyres are the deciding factor for this season and this is a pity for the fans and for the show. We are not giving up; there are seven races left and we know that Michelin are going to work as hard as they possibly can in order to make the situation better for the second part of the season, but Stoner is very strong and we know it will be very hard. Anyway, we have some holidays now and we will be back in Brno to fight as hard as we can until the end."

Feeling bad after crash

Valentino Rossi's 2007 title aspirations took a dent on Sunday at the Sachsenring, when the Italian suffered his first non-score of the season after falling from his Fiat Yamaha.

Rossi started from sixth on the grid, slipped to ninth at turn one, then passed Shinya Nakano and Alex Barros to reach the rear of Randy de Puniet's Kawasaki by lap 3 of 30.

The Italian initially struggled to find a way around the ZX-RR rider, before making a creative lunge through a long low-speed right hander on lap five. Whilst Rossi made the pass stick, he fell just seconds later when he lost the front of his M1 as he tried to complete the turn.

"Unfortunately I made a mistake today and I want to say sorry to everyone - my team, Yamaha and of course all my fans," said a downbeat Rossi. "I lost some places at the start and had to wait a lap before I could start to push, but everything was feeling very good.

"Getting past de Puniet was hard because in the part of the track where it's best to overtake he was very fast. Finally I made my move and I made a great pass but I made a mistake and lost the front," he confirmed.

To make matters worse, Casey Stoner's late race tyre problems meant that the Italian could have gained valuable ground on the young Australian. Stoner began the event 21 points ahead of Rossi, but left Germany 32 points clear - despite limping home in fifth position, his joint worse finish of the year.

"I'm so disappointed because today our package was working very well and we missed the chance to make up a lot of points on Stoner," stated former five times MotoGP world champion Rossi. "We know from Pedrosa and Colin [Edwards'] performance that the Michelin tyres worked well until the end and I'm sad that we weren't there to fight.

"Luckily Stoner was only fifth so the points situation is not as bad as it could have been. I'm very glad we only have seven days until the next race because right now I'm feeling quite bad, but very determined for America!" he concluded, referring to next weekend's US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, the last event before the MotoGP summer break.

"It's a great disappointment with Valentino because we lost the chance to recover some points," admitted team director Davide Brivio. "However this is racing and we know that our package is working very well now and we will get the chance to try again in just one week's time. Today gives us double motivation for Laguna."

Incredible come back !

Valentino Rossi, riding a Yamaha, made an incredible comeback to win the Dutch Grand Prix here on Saturday. It was a remarkable victory for Rossi who started 11th on the grid but had already risen to third with a quarter of the race run.

Rossi snatched victory 1.909-seconds ahead of championship leader Casey Stoner of Australia with American reigning champion Nicky Hayden jumping from 13th position to third at 6.077 after 26 laps on the TT track.

"Waouw, amazing! What a great race! Everything worked like a dream," said Rossi.

"The motorcycle was perfectly adapted and the Michelin tyres were perfect. I adopted an aggressive tactic and they were worn at the end of the race but they held up.

"It's a great result and important for the championship. I didn't really expect to have such an achievement," said Rossi.

Stoner quickly passed pole-sitter and countryman Chris Vermeulen and he was soon followed by American John Hopkins.

Hopkins failed to exert much pressure on Stoner but that came soon enough as a storming Rossi passed the American just before the halfway mark in the race.

The battle for victory raged with Rossi hounding Stoner until three laps from the end when he passed the 22-year-old on a long corner and comfortably eased away to reignite his championship bid.

It was the sixth win at Assen for Rossi, having won four times in MotoGP, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2002, once in 250cc in 1998 and once in 125cc in 1997.

Stoner now leads Rossi by just 19 points at the top of the standings.

But Rossi's confidence is building at the half-way stage of the 18-leg world championship series.

"It's not a slim margin by any means against a rider of Casey's calibre. But if we succeed in improving the motorcycle and above all the tyres, everything remains possible."

Rossi has room to work on the improvements he needs as the next round takes place in Sachenring, Germany on July 17.

6 in a row at home race

Valentino Rossi set yet another record in his extraordinary racing career today, becoming the first rider in the history of the sport to take six consecutive wins at his home circuit. The 85,480 adoring fans who had braved the threat of rain and turned the green hillsides of the Mugello valley bright yellow were rewarded in style as the Italian scored an emphatic and emotional victory, his fourth here for Yamaha and eighth in total from twelve years of racing.

Under miraculously dry skies, the Fiat Yamaha Team rider got a poor start from third on the grid and found himself down in eighth position at turn one. Once he had built up enough heat in his Michelin tyres however he set out in earnest, picking off riders one-by-one and moving up to second behind Dani Pedrosa by lap seven of 23.

Two laps later Rossi made his move on the Spaniard and from then on the pair were racing just a few tenths of a second apart, with Rossi extending the advantage around the twistier parts of the circuit and Pedrosa closing it slightly down the long home straight.

Little by little however Rossi began to pull away and he eventually crossed the line 3.074 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. A late pass by Alex Barros on series-leader Casey Stoner for third place helped Rossi's points deficit and he now lies just nine points behind Stoner in the standings, with some of his favourite races coming up in the next few weeks.

Rossi's postmatch

Position: 1stTime: 42'42.385

"To win in Mugello once again is an incredible emotion for me and I am very happy at this moment. Racing in front of the fans here is always something unbelievable and they give me an extra motivation.

It's an incredible feeling to see so much yellow around the track, the fans were 'coming crazy' today and it was a wonderful race! As we had hoped it stayed dry, the sun came out and everything went to plan! My team have worked brilliantly, my bike was perfect and I could ride it exactly how I wanted, I need to say a huge thank you to them and also to Michelin.

I didn't get a very good start but once my tyres had warmed up my M1 really flew and I was able to fight back to the front. From the very beginning everyone was pushing at 100% and it was great fun in those first few laps!

It was really a perfect race for me today and I felt like I had everyone on my side; Mugello is a magical track for me and this victory gives us a lot of power and confidence for the next races. I had a special helmet for this race with a big heart on it and today I think we showed that we really have a lot of heart at Yamaha. This is a great, great moment for me."

I don't settle for second

Valentino Rossi was making no apologies for his minor mistake late in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, which handed victory to championship leader Casey Stoner.

As at round one in Qatar, where the pair had also battled, Rossi's Yamaha was blown away by the Ducati along the straights - with Shanghai's enormous 1200m back stretch suiting Stoner's Desmosedici perfectly.

However, in terms of overall lap time the pair were all but equal; Rossi closing the gap through the twisty sections, where he frequently passed Stoner, but then losing any ground gained down the straight.

The pressure of battling so closely with Rossi has caused many an opponent to crack in the past. But Stoner was rock solid and a thrilling showdown looked in store until the Italian missed his braking point into the hairpin on lap 16 of 22. That let Suzuki's John Hopkins into second and by the time Rossi retook the runner-up position Stoner was out of reach.

"I enjoyed today a lot, it was a great race, a really exciting battle and my Yamaha was fantastic to the end," claimed Rossi, now 15 points behind Stoner. "We knew that this track would be difficult for us so to be able to fight with Stoner at 100% for the entire race was a great feeling. Of course it's not a win, but I think second place is a very good result for us here.

"I didn't want to give up and just ride for second, I wanted to try to pass him and I made some good overtaking manoeuvres but wasn't able to stay in front down the straight. Then I made a mistake when I hit a bump when braking, had to release the brake and ran off track. It was a pity, but when you're riding on the limit lap after lap then things like this can happen; that's racing!

"Anyway I knew I couldn't give up, I had a nice battle with John and then was able to take second. I think these 20 points are really important and we're still second in the championship. I'm really more sad for what happened in Turkey because if we hadn't had the%

Disappointed again !

Valentino Rossi was at a loss to explain the tyre problems that he suffered in his disastrous Turkish Grand Prix.

The 28-year-old Italian led a Yamaha one-two in qualifying, but slipped back in the race to finish tenth – a result that saw his nine point advantage in the world championship turn into a ten point deficit to Casey Stoner – who won the race.

"We are very disappointed today because we had high expectations for this race,” said Rossi. “But instead we had some unexpected problems with the tyre and it's been a disaster for us.

Rossi lost the lead on the opening lap when he slid wide on the exit of turn 13, but instead of coming back at the Ducatis of Stoner and Loris Capirossi, he instead found himself falling down the field on his Michelins on a day when Bridgestone-shod bikes took eight of the top nine places.

“Something happened to it after some laps and I couldn't fulfil the potential we had here,” Rossi added. “We don't know the reason yet for the problem but now Michelin are trying to understand what happened.”

“The tyre started to lose all grip and I had to slow right down because I was quite scared. It felt like there was a big problem with the tyre and I had to go very carefully just to finish.”

The five-time world champion kept up his record of having never won at the Istanbul Park circuit, but at least he fared better than his team-mate Colin Edwards, who emerged bruised and battered after a first-lap pile-up that eliminated him, Dani Pedrosa and Olivier Jacque from the race.

Vale!

Get Your Rudebox!!

Valentino Rossi led start to finish to claim the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez and, with it, the lead in the MotoGP World Championship. Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was second with Rossi’s teammate Colin Edwards third.

"Today for me was a great emotion, back to the victory after September (in Malaysia),I think," Rossi said. "So the taste of first place is unbelievable. Is a great, great pleasure.

"We work very well, so I have to thank all my team from (crew chief) Jeremy Burgess to all the guys. Today my Yamaha work very, very well and also the tires go a lot faster to the end, so I am a lot, a lot happy. Win in front of this crowd is unbelievable. I like a lot this racetrack. Last year I had bad, bad luck and also today is a great battle with Dani (Pedrosa) and so I’m very happy, also for Colin (Edwards) and for all the team, because two Yamahas on the podium mean is a great work for us."

The order of the lead trio didn’t change from the first lap to the last. Pedrosa hung close until the 14th of 27 laps when Rossi broke the one second barrier. The lead starting the second half of the race was 1.286 secs. and Rossi would more than double it before backing off to win by 1.246 seconds.

The victory gives him 46 points to 36 for Pedrosa and Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner-fifth today-who share second.

"Is an important victory, because the championship is long and now we have two difficult racetracks for us, but now I just feel this moment and I have to thank you to everybody," Rossi said.

The victory, Rossi's 59th in the premier class and 85th overall, was notable for a number of reasons. It ended a five race winless streak, his longest drought since his first premier class win at Donington in 2000. It also ended a run of six different winners in six races, going back to Rossi's win last year in Malaysia. (Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias, Troy Bayliss and Casey Stoner were the other winners.) And it puts Rossi only nine wins behind all-time premier class leader Giacomo Agostini, his fellow Italian who finished his career with 68.