The Standpoint

Rossi champion again

By

Abhishek Mukherjee

Hailed as the greatest biker in motorsports, Valentino Rossi fought off a close competition from rival team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to claim his ninth world title.

The Italian finished third in the concluded Malaysian Grand Prix and captured seventh MotoGP title. Australian Casey Stoner won the race but the 30-year-old Italian secured the title by coming in third on his Yamaha. Spain's Dani Pedrosa was second.

Rossi said he was delighted to seal the championship title with one race to go - in Valencia on November 8.

Valentino Rossi’s acquisitions of world championships began with a win in the 125cc category of the world title in 1997 followed by a win in the 250 cc category in 1999. Rossi competed with an Aprilia bike during these races. Rossi stepped up to the 500cc category and took the 2001 World Championship for Honda. Inaugural year for the MotoGP bikes was 2002. Rossi captured MotoGP’s top title in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and with the latest, 2009. Valentino signed with Yamaha in 2004. There were rumors circulating several years ago that the motorcycle-riding great would make a move to driving Formula One cars.

Rossi is under contract with Yamaha until 2010 so it’s unlikely that Rossi will be making that transition. Rossi is a man of surprises, however. The motorbike giant has made appearances with green and orange and even appeared with his head shaved at one time. Rossi is a fan favorite with his charismatic and flamboyant public image.

This time, he pulled a wheelie over the finish line to celebrate his latest success.

Rossi did not fail to shower words of praises to his worthy rival Lorenzo, who throughout the championship snapped at his heels. The Spaniard was unlucky in numerous races, in some of them crashing out to give up his lead over Rossi and finish with no points.

“Throughout the season I had great rivals, at the end especially Jorge my team-mate, who stayed very close to me, and we had some great fights. He’s a great rival so congratulations to him”.

Comparisons have been drawn between Rossi and F1 legend Michael Schumacher. His crew chief Jerry Burgess believes Rossi could race till 2015 atleast. With the form and enthusiasm that he has, it would be unfair to think otherwise.