Through the years of Grand Prix - TheYellowCommunity.com - Valentino Rossi

Jossik · *Last edited by Jossik; 28.06.2008 at 01:59.*

Attending the public unveiling of the silver prize were FIM President Vito Ippolito and Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, alongside former 500cc world champions Kevin Schwantz and Alex Criville.

Both of the ex-riders have their own spot on the trophy with their names engraved, as do the other 57 winners of the top prize in motorcycle competition - including 2007 title winner Casey Stoner.

The previous MotoGP trophy, launched in 2004, had a more 'risky' design (third picture below) that divided opinion, but Ezpeleta explained that the motive behind the replacement was the change in engine capacity for this season.

ROSSI RECEIVED NEW CHAMPION'S TROPHY:

4 times world champion Valentino Rossi received the inaugural " RIDE THE WORLD" trophy during the official IRTA pre-season test at Barcelona (March 27, 2004). The trophy designed by Lorenzo Quinn will be awarded to world champion (MotoGP) each season. It is 70cm high and weighs 30kg. A detailed bronze carving depicts the history of motorcycle Grand Prix, while the titanium/carbon-fibre base represents the state-of-the-art technology.

ROSSI: "... I like the trophy and I hope to have my name inscribed on it many more times ... It reminds me of the Indy Car trophy and I think it's a good idea. Hopefully I will have a few more of these replica models to fill my house before the end of my career"

ROSSI WINS 2003 CHAMPIONSHIP ***
" ...I'm very, very happy .... It was a good fight throughout the year, winning some and losing some ... We were quite consistent and so we were able to finish first .."

ROSSI: "... When I was winning at Honda everybody was saying it was because I had the best bike. But my wins on the Yamaha allowed me to lose those stereotypes. My aim was to win for Yamaha, but 2004 also gave me huge satisfaction as I could take revenge on Honda ... I've always said the rider makes the difference and I believe my victory proves this"

Sepang 2005

“I am very happy because I gave more than 100% in the race today. We have been in trouble all weekend and this morning I wasn’t sure if I would finish on the podium. But I got a good start and rode a clever race whilst other riders seemed nervous and made mistakes. Little by little I moved to the front and I felt comfortable with the bike. I passed Hayden and then swapped positions with Capirossi a couple of times. In the last seven laps he changed gear and I couldn’t go with him. Anyway, I am World Champion for the seventh time, which is incredible! Last year was a bit of a surprise but this time everybody was out to beat me. I want to thank all my mechanics, Jerry, the engineers… everybody who works for Yamaha!”

The first of these ceremonies took place at the Donington Park circuit today. Receiving the awards were Phil Read (Champion in 1973-1974), Mike Hailwood (1962-1963-1964-1965) represented by his son Dave, and the first ever MotoGP World Champion Les Graham (1949) represented by his son Stuart.
Presenting the awards were Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, and the FIM Road-racing Commission President Claude Danis.
Mr. Ezpeleta explained, `For us, much of the success of MotoGP is down to its tradition and history and in the 60th season of the championship we wanted to honour the former champions who have shaped the sport we know today. We chose Britain as the first place to do this as it is the spiritual home of the sport, where the first 500cc race took place on the Isle of Man Mountain course on June 17th, 1949.´
Meanwhile, Phil Read commented, `It´s a real honour for me to receive this trophy. It´s great that the heroes of the past can be recognised in this modern age, and to see all those names together on the trophy is a reminder of the great history of this sport.´
Other British winners, John Surtees (1956-1958-1959-1960) and Geoff Duke (1951-1953-1954-1955) were unable to attend but will still receive the trophy. The trophy for Barry Sheene (1976-1977) will be presented to his family now resident in Australia.

MotoGP 500 Legends - The Golden Decade - Part 1/2:

YouTube - MotoGP 500 Legends - The Golden Decade - Part 1/2

Àlex Crivillé #28 (Campió del món 1999):

YouTube - Àlex Crivillé #28 (Campió del món 1999)

46vrossi · 28.06.2008, 11:58

Thanks for this it was a good read

**Angela O** · 28.06.2008, 20:17

I was talking to Phil Read for ages on the Sunday night after the race when watching the football on the TV in our hotel. Some interesting things he had to say but he said the same of me too (how cool was that!) He's a bit of a dirty old sod though on the sly!
He signed my t-shirt too and I got a signed card off him (I got the signed card for a friend of mine)

Jossik · 29.06.2008, 00:07

Fresh From The Crate: Team Roberts

by dean adamsWednesday, June 18, 2008Do they even make photos like this today? Roberts eats grapes and ponders his new team. Wayne Rainey's hollow face reveals how hard the 1984 GP season was for him. Alan Carter looks on, hopefully not smelling the shoes just laying in the Roberts pit.

image by Leo VogelzangEx-racer and magazine guy Ken Vreeke has shot some amazing photographs in his career and he turned us on to one of the most epic racing images we've ever seen.
The accompanying photograph was shot by Leo Vogelzang in 1984. It features the then fledgling Team Roberts Grand Prix team in one of their first races. The 1984 season was an illustrious and difficult season for Team Roberts. Kenny had decided late in the off-season to do a 250 team and the first part of the season was patched together and planned about a day at a time. Wayne Rainey, then the US Superbike champion, had lost his ride at Kawasaki when Team Green pulled out of racing after the '83 season. Roberts essentially built the 250 team around Rainey, with Briton Alan Carter as his teammate.
This photo was taken, Kenny Roberts believes, at the South African round of the 1984 season. The hardscrabble duty the team were enduring is clear just looking at Rainey's face in this picture. Rainey was thrown into the deep end of the pool by Roberts in just attempting to race the 250 world championship after having never stepped foot in Europe previously. Roberts had retired after the 1983 season and seems to be wondering here, over a few grapes, if he didn't cut out one season too early. Alan Carter, then the youngest-ever GP winner, looks on.
Great photos tell a story in themselves and this one is not short of details. From Roberts' briefcase laying on top of the shipping crate, to the shoes under Carter's legs to Rainey drinking out of a plastic cup, in one shutter-click this photo tells the story of what may very well be the hardest season of racing in Wayne Rainey's life.
ENDS

Jossik · 11.07.2008, 17:12

Julian Ryder's MotoGP In Camera

As quoted in the Forward section of the book by Nicky Hayden: Nicky Hayden's MotoGP In Camera Foreword: When I was riding in the early days it used to be a big deal to get an action picture of yourself. I had this vision of how I thought I looked on the bike and it wasn't until people started taking pictures of me that I could really see my style, critique it and see how I might improve it. I'd look at guys who won a lot of races and study what they were doing on the bike-breaking it down from every angle. Wayne Rainey was someone you could always study as an example of riding position and body weight, how he put his feet on the pegs and how he held the bars. I'd also look at guys who crashed a lot and try to work out what they might be doing wrong. That's one of the reasons I love books like this.
I look back on the 990s as a really special era. The future is four-strokes and these are the machines that brought four-strokes back to Grand Prix racing. I loved the 990s because they were very physically demanding bikes and that suited my riding style. It wasn't hard to do a single fast lap, but to handle one of those beasts for thirty laps at a race pace definitely separated the riders, and I miss that, even though I enjoy riding the new 800s too.
A book like this is one of the best ways to tell the whole story of the 990s. When you see some of these pictures I don't think you need a lot of words. Motorcycle racing can be the most rewarding experience in the world and it can also be a cruel game. And this book does a good job of capturing both sides. That's what I like about the sport. Sure, there are days when it's frustrating, but bike racing isn't for everybody and I think you can see perfectly in this book why some people race them and others are by the side of the track taking pictures. Enjoy it.
Nicky Hayden

In 2002 the premier class of motorcycle racing underwent the biggest change in its history. Out went technologically irrelevant Grand Prix 500cc two-strokes and in came MotoGP and 990cc four-strokes.
The new 'monsters', as Valentino Rossi called them, instantly overpowered every race and lap record on the calendar.
Halfway through the 2005 season it was announced that the following season would be the last for the 990s and from 2007 on the capacity limit would be 800cc.
MotoGP In Camera's Contents page.
This book is primarily a photographic record of the five years when these 'monsters' roamed the race tracks of the world.
The chapters on each year's racing include a short history of the season, a timeline, and of course pictures of the major players and significant events. These mini-histories are interspersed with chapters themed to reflect different aspects of the MotoGP World Championship from Danger, Among the hundreds of pictures is this great image of Rossi in the rain.
illustrated not just by crash shots but also more subtle but just as scary images, to Places (looking at the tracks rather than the racing).
Our intention has been to use photographs that would not necessarily get printed in regular newspaper and magazine reports of the racing.
239 pages of dramatic images and with results from the 2002-06 seasons, MotoGP In Camera is a large 9x11 hardcover book.
While there is a sprinkling of straightforward action shots, especially in the chapters reporting the individual seasons, emphasis has been placed on the more unusual images, such as Valencia from the air, Japanese security guards forcing back overenthusiastic Rossi fans, or a close-up of a crashed Ducati's tank.
Photographers from the UK, Italy, Germany, Italy, Poland, France, Australia, Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands contributed their work, while Julian Ryder made the final choice and provided the words. Nicky Hayden, the last man to win a title under the 990cc formula, has written the foreword and provides the best possible argument for adding this book to your library.

dayangku · 13.07.2008, 02:47

Wowwwww..
This is a nice read.
Thanks for this...

viola_motogal · 13.07.2008, 12:42

brilliant read.... thanks guys

Jossik · 29.07.2008, 04:47

Jossik · **2004 Vale, something nice to read -** 31.07.2008, 18:16

April 3, 2004

Rossifumi

by Armed Liberal at April 3, 2004 3:03 AM

One of the things I do with my time is to ride motorcycles; not only for transportation here in congested Los Angeles, but for fun as well. I've spent some time on racetracks (Willow Springs, Sears Point, and Laguna Seca), and consider myself a good street rider (albeit a worse than mediocre racer), and have some appreciation for what it takes to sit on a vehicle moving pretty fast (in my case about 140).
The grown-up racers, the guys racing at the top of the sport, are running well over 210mph these days. Imagine that I'm tucked in going 140, all full of myself and how fast and daring I am ... and then one of them goes by me as though I was standing still on the side of the freeway.
The world champion last year (and the year before, and the year before that, and ...) is a young Italian named Valentino Rossi. Rossi is famous for three things:

His incredible skill on a motorcycle;

His outrageous antics - and I do mean antics. He once won a Grand Prix race, then pulled to the side of the track and ran into a portajohn set up for the track workers, and came out dressed as Robin Hood. He doesn't seem to take it quite as seriously as him competitors do;

His general joie de vivre - as opposed to the mechanical seriousness from most professional athletes, he comes across as a guy who just can't wait to wake up tomorrow and go do it some more. The pressure of a $17 million contract must have some effect, but it isn't an obvious one.

And this year, he's done the wildest thing of all.
After winning 125cc and 250cc World Championships for Aprilia, he went to the big leagues for Honda in 2000 - at the age of 21. In 2001, he won the World Championship, as he did in 2002 and 2003, all riding Hondas.
And this year, he changed brands and teams, and will be riding a Yamaha. Yamaha's best finish last year was, I believe, fourth place. Honda motorcycles dominated the series (with Ducati maintaining some presence, while Yamaha, Suzuki, Aprilia, Kawasaki, and Proton lagged behind).
So he left a team that would have essentially guaranteed him another World Championship for one that had not yet had a competitive motorcycle. An Australian journalist writes:

Why would a man who has just won his third world championship leave the team that had brought him such dominance in favour of an inconsistent, underachieving operation that had not produced a world champion in 11 years?The most recent time a Yamaha rider had dominated the tracks was back in 1992 (Wayne Rainey), and in the ensuing years, a succession of Hondas, ridden first by Mick Doohan and then Alex Criville, and finally Rossi himself, had taken the championship.
The only interruption to the Honda reign was Kevin Schwantz's 1993 title and Kenny Roberts jnr's triumph in 2000, both riding a Suzuki. Roberts' victory came in the year that a then 20-year-old Rossi was making his debut in the 500cc class, then motorcycling's top category.
Rossi finished second in the title race that year, but never again was Roberts, or anyone else for that matter, to give him much trouble as he became the last 500cc title winner in 2001 and the first man to take out the new four-stroke 1000cc MotoGP category in 2002 and 2003.
At the time of his departure last year, Rossi simply said he was bored with the domination he had achieved on his Honda, and needed a fresh challenge.
Some believed he was chafing at the demands being made on him by Honda. Others -- including his former mentor and boss of Honda Racing Corporation, Doohan -- suggest the reportedly $17 million a year pay cheque had prompted his desire to switch camps.
Rossi disagrees. In an interview on his personal website, he said: "There was nothing to prove. It was just that the motivation riding for Honda had finished, we won three world championships in a row, we won at favourite tracks, at my least favourite tracks, and in all conditions, so what was left to do?

Hemingway made a simple distinction between sports and games; a sport can kill you. I have a more than healthy respect for the risks racers like Rossi take; but to me the sportsmanship shown in his latest decision - to walk away from a sure thing and give himself a new challenge - is really far more wonderful than the daring he shows on the track.
Now for the Good News. Last weekend, the teams had a final shakedown before the first race of the season. April 17 in South Africa. On the track at Catalunya, Spain, all the leading teams came out to test their machines and setup.
The final results?
1. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, 1:44.571
2. Alex BARROS, Honda, 1:44.631
3. Nicky HAYDEN, Honda, 1:44.634
4. Colin EDWARDS, Honda, 1:44.653