Rossi, thanks for the memories champ

78jotadave

78jotadave

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Rossi, it feels like I have been watching and cheering for Vale forever his records are going to be around even longer. Thanks for the thrills Vale! GOAT
Valentino Rossi bids farewell to MotoGP this weekend having taken part in 44% of all grand prix events held since 1949!
Ahead of Valentino Rossi's final appearance as a MotoGP rider in this weekend's Valencia Grand Prix, Dorna has released the following official stats to illustrate the remarkable longevity of his world championship career, which began in 1996...

  • Valentino Rossi has taken part in 431 of the 974 Grand Prix events staged since the start of the World Championship series back in 1949. This means that he has taken part in around 44.2% of all Grand Prix events.
  • Rossi has finished in a point-scoring position a record 372 times in the 431 GP races he has started.
  • Rossi has won GP races on seven different motorcycles: 125cc Aprilia, 250cc Aprilia, 500cc Honda, 990cc Honda, 990cc Yamaha, 800cc Yamaha and 1000cc Yamaha.
  • He is the only rider to have won on 500cc two-stroke, 990cc four-stroke, 800cc four-stroke and 1000cc four-stroke machines.
  • During his career, Rossi has competed at 38 different Grand Prix circuits. Of these 38 circuits, he has taken at least one GP win at 29 of them. No other rider in the history of motorcycle Grand Prix racing has won at as many different circuits as Rossi. His closest rival is Mick Doohan with 24.
  • The circuits at which Rossi has had most GP wins are Catalunya and Assen, where he has taken victory 10 times at each.
  • Rossi’s victory at the Dutch TT back in 2017, 20 years and 311 days after his first GP win in the 125cc class at Brno in 1996, made him the rider with the longest winning career across all classes.
  • There are 16 years 351 days between his first premier class win (Donington/500cc/2000) and his latest (Assen/MotoGP/2017) (record) ahead of Alex Barros (11 years 204 days) and Dani Pedrosa (11 years 182 days).
  • At the Andalusian GP last year, Rossi set the record of the longest time between first and last premier class podiums to 20 years and 87 days, becoming the first rider to reach the milestone of 20 years.
  • He also extended the record of the longest time between first and last podium in GP racing to 23 years and 355 days.
  • Aged 38 years 129 days old at the 2017 Dutch TT, Rossi is the oldest four-stroke MotoGP winner, ahead of Troy Bayliss (37 years 213 days).
  • In addition, Rossi is the seventh-oldest premier class winner behind Fergus Anderson (44 years 237 days), Jack Findlay (42 years 85 days), Les Graham (41 years 21 days), Jack Ahearn (39 years 327 days), Harold Daniell (39 years 240 days) and Frantisek Stastny (38 years 247 days).

Valentino Rossi - Grand Prix Results Summary:​

World Championships: 9 (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 7 x MotoGP)
 
Well done for starting this thread Dave.

Rossi has been one of my favourites for many years.

I remember when I first saw him in person at Phillip Island in 2000 when he was a rookie in the 500cc MotoGP. A mate and I had pit passes so we got to meet some of the riders including Rossi, but I wasn't a fan then. I actually thought he was a bit of a juvenile tosser who was fast, but fell off a lot. He was only 20. I remember being surprised at how tall he was. When I stood face to face with him, he was a wee bit taller than me, and I'm 180cm. Most GP racers are little guys.

I soon changed my opinion of him over the next couple of seasons. His post race interviews revealed him to be an intelligent bloke with a cheeky sense of humour. It was as though racing to him was just a bit of fun not to be taken too seriously. But he blitzed the competition, winning the championship for year after year with Honda then Yamaha.

I dunno whether he's the greatest racer of all time though. Giacomo Agostini would be hard to beat, but Rossi is up there with him.
 
And he ran laps today at the pace of the leaders to finish tenth - not bad for an old guy!
More seriously, I too hold Valentino in high esteem and think he has done a great job of making motorcycle racing more visible to a wider audience and in helping a group of new riders be ready to step into the role.
 
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Grazie Vale - it was a great time!
:D
 
tribonnie said:
My all time favourite is when Rossi stuffs Stoner at Laguna Seca
Seems to sum him up, tremendous skill and bravado with sense of humour
Bit like Barry ShRene waving to Kenny Roberts
Click to expand...
The interview after the race and his comment on this overtaking maneuver will not be forgotten:
"There was a lot of grip in the gravel ..." -and this in his typical italian English!
(y):cool:
 
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