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Post by Aintnothin on Nov 10, 2021 5:33:28 GMT
Gone in one sense, but back next year with his team and Academy riders. Hopefully a DVD or two will be coming containing highlights and historical background. Saw him a few times at Laguna Seca and twice at Mugello, and recently at CoTA. Right/wrong, loved/hated, a multiple WC and a champion of the sport. Outlasted so many of his rivals.
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rf
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Post by rf on Nov 11, 2021 10:58:44 GMT
For me, definitely a career of two halves. First half (superhuman) was the prolific win ratio that was spectacular at the time, as were the funny celebration laps. Starting off winning 500cc WC with a satellite team, no one has done it since. His switch to Yamaha and his rivalries with Biaggi, Gibernau, Stoner and Lorenzo forged his primetime as a twenty-something. Second half (human) is as a thirtysomething, is diminishing results, the injuries, losing #Sic58, the Ducati years, starting the rider Academy, the Ranch project, the merchandising venture, fan club, museum, restaurant as well as the Moto3 & Moto2 projects, it’s the move back to Yamaha, sacking JB, remaining competitive and of course the #MM93 rivalry. The second half in many ways has been more interesting than the first but at the same time those ‘ventures’ undoubtedly all individually played parts in sacrificing his own results and extra World Championships whilst boosting Italian riders and Tavullia’s employment. He leaves the sport in a much stronger position, he brought fierce racing, a lot of laughs and it’s never been dull…..well, last couple of seasons have been I suppose!
These Dorna stats speak for themselves. Not a bad effort to look back on when he's changing nappies.
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)
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Post by wosideg on Nov 11, 2021 11:34:50 GMT
A significant moment, when a final link to the old 2T 500 era will be broken..
I think the impact of his departure will certainly have an effect on the landscape, not just on circuit attendance where The Sea of Yellow will be missed, but also on social media where Rossi has a following larger than the rest of MotoGP riders put together. The banter between Rossi fans and his detractors in the ever decreasing number of free-speaking racing forums is bound to dwindle.
There's been controversy, though it sure has been entertaining. Rossi's celebrations weren't everyone's cup of tea and some fans didn't like him for being a show-off, but most clapped and cheered and a lot more people started watching..
It was around the period that Rossi slapped Biaggi the knockers started a sustained campaign, and by the time he'd proved them wrong about leaving Honda and told Gibernau he'd never win another race, they'd formed themselves into a disrespectful little gang.
Unhappy their vitriol had been fronted up by regular 46ers who responded by taking the piss out of Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo, The Left Footed Club went apoplectic at the end of 2015 when Rossi sorted Marquez out for interfering in the championship. Things have been more toxic than ever since, as the disrespectful little gang members morphed into ultra's..
Saying this, and as we know, there have been lighter hearted moments with some real comedy gold coming from both sides during exchanges, which in reality is what kept us all coming back.
The sport will continue, life will go on.. but will it really ever be the same again?
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Post by wosideg.. on Nov 12, 2021 7:42:52 GMT
Emmett and Hodgson at BT Sport have been truly awful this season - I'll be chucking my subscription after the weekend - so I'm hoping they're saving the best until last with Casey Stoner joining the team for Valencia. There's bound to be plenty of whining and moaning, and I'm looking forward to writing up all the juicy bits for Bob, cos I know he's out there lurking..
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Post by Aintnothin on Nov 12, 2021 15:33:13 GMT
Emmett and Hodgson at BT Sport have been truly awful this season - I'll be chucking my subscription after the weekend - so I'm hoping they're saving the best until last with Casey Stoner joining the team for Valencia. There's bound to be plenty of whining and moaning, and I'm looking forward to writing up all the juicy bits for Bob, cos I know he's out there lurking..
Awesome photo. |
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Post by wosideg.. on Nov 13, 2021 8:30:57 GMT
Bless.. Casey wasn't very happy there. I really enjoyed his input on the tele yesterday and the chip seems to have finally fallen off. Stoner admitted he was more mature and could now look back with pride at racing the way he did against Rossi and Lorenzo.
I agreed with his take on Binder's blunder last week. Casey pointed out Foggia didn't take into consideration other riders behind him when he almost stopped mid-corner and cut back onto the racing line, after Acosta overtook and rattled his cage. To my mind, some people are brandishing woke credentials and virtue signalling by their demands for a super licence, and Darren Binder is the fall guy.
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Post by Aintnothin on Nov 14, 2021 18:18:17 GMT
Bless.. Casey wasn't very happy there. I really enjoyed his input on the tele yesterday and the chip seems to have finally fallen off. Stoner admitted he was more mature and could now look back with pride at racing the way he did against Rossi and Lorenzo. I agreed with his take on Binder's blunder last week. Casey pointed out Foggia didn't take into consideration other riders behind him when he almost stopped mid-corner and cut back onto the racing line, after Acosta overtook and rattled his cage. To my mind, some people are brandishing woke credentials and virtue signalling by their demands for a super licence, and Darren Binder is the fall guy. I don't know if Binder was in the wrong, but definitely agree on Foggia not taking the crowd behind him into account. According to the Moto3 write-up on Crash, Oncu did the same trick as he did at CoTA, without the carnage. Perhaps part of what Moto3 matriculation needs is a Sunday afternoon panel that reviews the knucklehead moves made by their respective riders. These kids still need schooling and the occasional ruler slapped across their knuckles. |
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rf
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Post by rf on Nov 14, 2021 18:36:06 GMT
Great to see Remy get the championship, it's been a load of hard work to get the title.
Funny old weekend eh? Nice to see all the Rossi bikes in a line, sadly no way Honda will be giving him the NSR or RCV even now. Good to hear nothing but positive things said from even his most ferocious rivals. Old fella did alright, top 10 finisher at 42.
Reckon that'll be me finished watching Motogp for now...unless it gets back to being a full fat prototype series.
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Post by wosideg on Nov 15, 2021 19:08:02 GMT
How time flies, it only seems 20 years ago I watched Rossi's first win at a wet Donny on a 500? Chiselled and in my prime, almost as handsome as I am today I was.. but hey, let's not talk about me, yesterday was about Val.
Pretty decent effort all things considered.. 42 years of age and he was lapping as fast as the new world champ on the same bike at the end. A terrific send-off too from the Spanish fans decked in yellow. The small fucker must've been gutted..
Squeaky bottom time for Remy for a while, but the kid has shown composure and kept his eye on the big prize. A well deserved winner. A few years back, just after Casey went fishing, I took the piss out of Bob saying, "Who you got coming through now?". I should have kept my mouth shut.
No Brits in the top class. Rossi retired.. I'm of the same mind as RF and will pay attention from a distance next season. World Supers has been brilliant 2021, and I might take in a few BSB rounds as well.
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Post by Aintnothin on Nov 16, 2021 1:33:21 GMT
What a great send off. I've been without a Yank in the top class since Nicky, and after he left I suppose I picked Rossi as my favorite as I enjoyed seeing the ageing master battle with the young 'uns. But I'll keep watching, with Frankie as my new fave. Need to watch Moto2 to see if either of those two Yanks start improving. Have hopes for Gerloff. This pic is Assen, not sure what year. Looks like the Prosecco was starting to kick in!  |
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rf
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Post by rf on Nov 16, 2021 10:53:25 GMT
I don’t care that there’s no Brits on the grid, I’ll support Jack. I wish Suzuki would field a satty team, would love to see Kawasaki or BMW would join the party too. Eight Ducati’s is tipping it to be an even less diverse and interesting grid. 4 stroke - 1,000cc is just too similar to WSBK which has achieved better racing on a fraction of the budget. IMHO Dorna’s changes/rules/regs have wrecked the series over past few years. Habit and loyalty to Rossi was all that kept me watching. Rev limits, engine limits, fuel limits, testing limits, generic ECU, no engine development etc and worse of all…..the single tyre supplier. Everything about these decisions has retarded to series, the bikes and the riders. The aim was to save cash and reduce team budgets but at the same time frame they have all been allowed to spend ludicrously on aero wings and shapeshifting holes hot devices. It’s a prototype series which is supposed to be about trick bits and developing new stuff that might filter down onto the road bikes we all buy to support the industry. From a tech/development series I actually find more curiosity in the series with enel energia battery bikes, will be interested to see what the e-Ducati is like. *I’m quite tempted to stick my name down and get one of these, very impressed with how Victor is handling the project. Finally a cool looking electric! blackteamotorbikes.com/products/bonfirex |
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Post by saturn on Nov 21, 2021 20:53:53 GMT
How time flies, it only seems 20 years ago I watched Rossi's first win at a wet Donny on a 500? Chiselled and in my prime, almost as handsome as I am today I was.. but hey, let's not talk about me, yesterday was about Val. Pretty decent effort all things considered.. 42 years of age and he was lapping as fast as the new world champ on the same bike at the end. A terrific send-off too from the Spanish fans decked in yellow. The small fucker must've been gutted.. Squeaky bottom time for Remy for a while, but the kid has shown composure and kept his eye on the big prize. A well deserved winner. A few years back, just after Casey went fishing, I took the piss out of Bob saying, "Who you got coming through now?". I should have kept my mouth shut. No Brits in the top class. Rossi retired.. I'm of the same mind as RF and will pay attention from a distance next season. World Supers has been brilliant 2021, and I might take in a few BSB rounds as well. I'm with you mate - Rossi's input put MotoGP on the map and appealed to racing fans and casual watchers alike (although myself I've watched all forms of bike racing and competed in some). Rossi's departure may not cause the downturn that many suspect. My guess is that the majority of the yellow army will turn their attention to his VR46 MotoGP team. I certainly will. I've always watched the major series and watched them develop from humble beginnings to the slick entertainment packages that they are today. I even watched the European and German championships on the original Eurosport channel before British Eurosport came along. AMA as well when they started televising it back as far as when Anthony Gobert was there. Sad to see Davis retiring from WSBK today - had it not been for Jonny Rea he would have had multiple championships like Phil Read would if it had not been for Hailwood. Sykes and Haslam also leaving the WSBK paddock tight lipped about their futures. I hope they get decent rides. Chaz is being rumoured that he'll return to AMA - I hope he does he's got unfinished business there. . Still Davis can still bask in the light of his Supersport WC title. |
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Post by wosideg on Nov 24, 2021 13:32:46 GMT
It will be interesting to see how many Rossi fans turn up at races. VR46 merchandise is bound to be in evidence, but I can't see there being dedicated stands filled to overflowing with yellow smoke everywhere? Attendance is likely to take a hit, and Carmelo may have to rethink how much he charges circuits for the privilege of hosting MotoGP. Silverstone's contract with Dorna ended this year for example, in a new deal going forward will they be happy to pay more given the landscape? Revenue from TV deals may well be negatively impacted, especially with the likes of BT Sport whose audience don't have a home rider to cheer on. Could this be the start of history repeating itself, when SBK became more popular than GP in the Doohan era? Of course, things are different now with both series under Spanish control, and Dorna would do anything to prevent it happening again. They would love Toprak in their paddock, but he doesn't seem interested. This is great news for fans of the production based series, who can again look forward to rivalry and bar banging aplenty 2022. If Marquez is fucked, Yamaha fail Fabio, and Pecco continues a roll on Gigi's new masterpiece, MotoGP could quickly become a snoozefest and lose interest, which SBK is bound to benefit.. www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/silverstone-new-five-year-deal-dorna/6656290/www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/cost-host-motogp-race/ |
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Post by Aintnothin on Nov 25, 2021 21:38:09 GMT
Agree on WSBK; of the few races I saw it was refreshing to see 3-4 riders fighting at the front.
Seems like, although haven't checked, that 2020 was a bit more interesting in GP as to "who is going to win?" than 2021 was.
Next year will be a Ducati-fest, and very well could be "which Ducati will win", not "if". Perhaps Suzuki and Yamaha will bring some power; perhaps Guidotti will fix KTM in time; perhaps Marc will return to single vision and not re-injure himself with a crash-fest. Nevertheless I think there is enough momentum from this year to get things through at current levels at least until the summer break. The VR46 team will bring a lot of attention. After a near 10 year break I started watching GP again in 2003, and knew no one, so if I can be dragged back into this there is hope for all.
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Post by wosideg on Nov 27, 2021 9:37:38 GMT
DAZN is a global sports subscription streaming service. They are rumoured to be buying BT Sport as I type, and to mark Rossi's retirement put together a documentary with the likes of Biaggi, Stoner, Lorenzo and Melandri lifting the lid on their rivalries with him. The program, RiVale, was aired last Sunday, during which Lorenzo talked about Marquez' mindset of revenge against Rossi, motivated by the clashes at Termas and Assen in 2015. He went on to say that in his opinion, after Assen, The SFB decided he would do anything to prevent Rossi winning the title. Now.. this is big news, and I can't wait to hear what Marquez has to say, but have you read anything on English speaking website's the last week? Me neither.. Of course, it could be that journalist who told us Rossi was just playing mind games - because he wasn't fast enough to beat Lorenzo - want to sweep it under the carpet and avoid criticism of a spin agenda by not reporting the story.. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkGod185yFE |
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