Valentino Rossi was born in Urbino 16/7/1979. His first time on a bike was at the age of two, from there h progressed rapidly.Valentino first started with go- karts since his mother was sounsure about the safety of motorcycles. Through out his early life he enjoyin many other hobbies such as football and playing the guitar, but no one coul keep him fom motorcycle GP.Valentino won the regional kart championship in 1990. But by then the new latest craze "mini moto" bikes had appeared and he went on to win 16 regional races by the end of 1991.Over the next two years Rossi continued to race mini moto bikes.In 1993, Rossi acquired a Cagiva Mito 125 cc motorcycle, which was damaged in a first-corner crash no more than a hundred meters out from pit lane. Rossi hd a 2nd think about motorbike racing and was unsure whether it was the write thing for him, but he stuck at it.In 1994, Aprilia by way of Sandroni had found a new young talent in Valentino Rossi and proceeded to use him to improve its RS125R and in turn allowed Vale to learn how to handle the fast new pace of 125 cc racing. At first he found himself on a Sandroni in the 1994 Italian championship and continued to ride it through the 1995 European and Italian championships.Valentino had very lttle success in 1996, he ended up having to retire in 5 races. But in august he won his first race at Brno in the Czech Republic on an AGV Aprilia RS125R. Rossi finished ninth that season, he was considered as a learning progress. 1997 was a better year for Rossi as he ended up winning 11 out of the 15 races.Valentino stuggled through out the 250cc despite having Loris Capirossi and Tetsuya Harada along side him. And having Rossi loose two of his friends rally brang his confidence down to a minimum level. Again, he found himself learning the ways of his new bike in the first season, concluding the 1998 250 cc season in second place, only three points behind the champion Loris Capirossi. In 1999, however, he won the title, collecting 5 pole positions and 9 Grand Prix wins along the way.Valentino was rewarded in 2000 have being offered a ride with Honda after his thrilling 250cc riding Rossi had many people along side him such as Jeremy Burgess, part of Honda Racing's brains trust and Mick Doohan a former 500cc world champion. They claimed that with Valentino riding a Honda would bring nothing but success. It took him nine races to get top spot on th podium but Valentino finished finished 2nd in the championship behind Kenny Robets Jr and Max Biaggi in 3rd position.Rossi stormed home to an overwhelming World Championship in 2001, winning 11 races, including the first three and the final four of the season. It would be the final 500 cc season for Rossi and most of the premier class. Also in that year he teamed up with american Colin Edwards.2001 was the killer year for 500cc motorbike racing given the new name "Moto GP". 500cc two stroke engines were replaced with 990 cc four stroke engines.2002 was a tough year for all riders but Valentino stormed home with winning eight out of nine races and eventually took the title agian that year.Rossis dominance continued to form in 2003 as he gained 9 pole positions and 9 race victories. However Rossi was given a 10 second penalty after overtaking during a yellow flag caused by Troy Bayliss crashing. Yet he went on to finish 15 seconds ahead of the field therefore he had cancelled out the ten second penalty by a clear five seconds.In 2004 after some debate Rossi moved from Honda to Yamaha. Many critisisms were made that Yamaha could not raise to the past performances of the Honda. But Valentino went on to win eight races and throughout the season having to battle with rival Sete Gibernau. The fight for first place in the championship was becoming a real drama between Valentino and Sete. Later Rossi went on to take the title form Gibernau by 47 points.Again in 2005 Valentino wet on to take his fifth straight Moto GP title with a tremendous lead of 147 points over Marco Melandri.2006 was a up and down for Rossi as before the half wy stage in the season he finished 14th at Jerez. Nicky Hayden led through out the champoionship, it was in in the 2nd half of the season thathe started to make a come back. The portugeese Grand Prix was a boost for Rossi as Nicky was taken out by his own team mate (Dani Pedrosa). Rossi went on to win the race. Valentino crashed in Vlencia and went on to finish in 2nd place.
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