Rossi becomes the most successful motorcycle rider in history

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Valentino and Giacomo Agostini pictured together in 2005 - without doubt the two greatest of all-time

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September 15, 2008 Italian Valentino Rossi wrote himself into the history books yesterday when he took his 69th victory in the premier class of motorcycle racing and almost certainly won himself an eighth world title. His victory took him past the 68 MotoGP wins of countryman Giacomo Agostini and gives him a credible hold on the title of the greatest motorcycle road racer in history. Though he is already credited with being the youngest rider to have won championships in all three classes (MotoGP, 250 and 125), Rossi has effectively won in four, soon five classes as he conquered both the brutal 500cc two strokes and the smoother, more controllable four-stroke 1000cc machines which replaced them in 2002. He is now within a few points of also having won a championship on the new 800cc machines which suit the high cornering speeds of 250cc riders, as witnessed by the number of riders (Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso, Elias, De Angelis etc) who became immediately competitive in the switch to the premier class – very few riders were able to make the switch to 500cc two-strokes and become immediately competitive. Rossi is also an accomplished Rally driver and briefly contemplated a career with Ferrari in F1. Congratulations to the Doctor and his mentor Jeremy Burgess.

After five consecutive world MotoGP titles, a series of poor choices of tyres, mechanical breakdowns and crashes, and the rise of Ducati’s Desmosedici and Casey Stoner’s equally sublime talents saw the championship title go elsewhere in 2006 and 2007, but Rossi’s performances this year have seen him rise to new heights.

Firstly, his win at the Indianapolis Brickyard was a fitting location for the young Italian to take the win that took him to the top of the historical winning list. His hat trick of pole position, fastest lap and race victory made for a perfect first Indianapolis Grand Prix for the Italian and the Fiat Yamaha Team.

Extremely bad weather in the early afternoon led to the 250cc race being abandoned and the early part of the MotoGP race was run on a very wet track. Rossi dropped to fourth at the start and then surrendered another place to Lorenzo on the next lap, but he soon found his rhythm and made his way back past Casey Stoner, Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso into second behind Nicky Hayden by lap six. Passing Hayden was no mean feat and it took the seven-time world champion another eight laps to finally get by the American, at which point he quickly began to pull away. Hurricane Ike was not finished with Indianapolis however and on lap 16 of 28 it started to rain heavily once again, accompanied by strong gusts of wind which became very dangerous. The race was eventually red-flagged after 20 laps and, after a few minutes confusion as to whether there would be a restart, Rossi was confirmed as the first ever MotoGP winner at the Brickyard.

Rossi’s 69th win takes him ahead of his fellow countryman Giacomo Agostini to the top of the all-time premier class winners list, a record which has stood for more than 30 years. Agostini claimed the 1975 500cc title with Yamaha though 62 of his 68 victories were aboard the fabled Italian MV Agusta marque.

Rossi is now 87 points clear of Stoner, who finished fourth at Indianapolis – with just 100 points still on offer, he can win the championship at the next round in Motegi by finishing fourth or above. Significantly, he was 80/1 ON with the bookies to win the title prior to the event.

Not surprisingly, the Italian, who turned 29 in February this year and remains the youngest rider to have won World Championships in all three classes, was elated. “This is fantastic because it’s been a long time since I won in the rain and even longer since I won four in a row,” said Rossi.

“To win the first race here at Indianapolis is a great emotion and to beat Agostini’s record is also incredible, now I hope my record will stand for 30 years like his! It was an amazing race and, once I was able to pass Stoner, I knew I had the chance to win so I pushed very hard.

“I had a great race with Nicky; he was really hard to pass so congratulations to him. When the wind and rain came it became very hard, I think I could have kept going for another eight laps okay but there were things flying through the air – beer cans, plastic glasses – so really I think it was the right decision to stop the race!

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