Valentino Rossi Leaves Honda

[tekwar]

Current MotoGP champion and winner of 3 championships at the top level has announced his separation from Honda, who will likely join Yamaha in the near future. He stated that he needed a challenge, and being with a top ride at honda didnt provide him with it. What a heart of racer if that is true, i totally respect him even more now and cant wait to see him race next year. With so many people now in racing just wanting to stay with the "top" team, here is champion willing to go to an underdeveloped team and help them win a championship, my hat is off to this bloke.

here are some articles if youre interested to read more....

Rossi and Honda confirm separation
http://moto.racing-live.com/en/index...02193652.shtml


Rossi quits Honda
Valentino Rossi and Honda today made a joint announcement to confirm that they will not renew their contract for the 2004 MotoGP World Championship.

After a relationship spanning four seasons which has yielded three world titles and 33 premier-class victories, the Japanese factory and the reigning World Champion confirmed their separation to a packed press conference just hours after the Italian's final victory on the RC211V at Valencia.

Rossi revealed that he felt he had achieved everything he possibly could on the V5 machine and added that he was looking forward to racing against it next season.

“I am here to say thank you very much to Honda and that next year we will not race together. I have had four fantastic years which are truly unforgettable. We won three World Championships and more or less 50% of the races. I have won in normal conditions, in the wet, in the dry, at my favourite track and, today, at my least favourite track. My work on this bike is finished.

I am a HRC rider until the 31st December so I cannot comment yet on which bike I will be riding, but I can say that it will be a big challenge – it maybe even seems a little crazy right now! I think all the journalists, fans and everybody involved in this sport is very happy because next year will be a great fight.”

Carlo Fiorani, Sporting Manager for HRC, declared: “Everybody knows that Honda have been in negotiations with Valentino Rossi for much of the season. Honda have done everything in their power to convince him to stay, but in the end the decision was nothing to do with money, sponsorship or any other standard contractual situation. The only area of difficulty is that we cannot offer Valentino the challenge he is looking for and we understand that he should look for that challenge elsewhere.”



Fortuna Yamaha confirm Rossi interest
http://moto.racing-live.com/en/index...02201757.shtml


Rossi's future bike ?
The following is a statement issued on behalf of Fortuna Yamaha Team director Davide Brivio.

"We welcome this evening's news that the Honda - Valentino Rossi relationship has drawn to a close. As many people know, when it became clear that there was a possibility that Valentino would not renew his agreement with Honda we made contact with his management team. I can confirm that our discussions with Valentino's management are proceeding well. With the confirmation that he shall not renew with Honda we shall proceed with our negotiations and hope to conclude an agreement within the immediate future.”

"This is obviously a very exciting prospect for us. However, until we have one hundred percent finalised an agreement with Valentino we shall not be able to comment further on the situation and on our Team's final line- up for 2004.”

"We fully appreciate that there is enormous media interest in Valentino's future and so we shall endeavour to be as open as possible. However, at the present time I can say no more than this. Our joint aim is to make a full announcement as soon as all the details have been finalised." [/b][/quote]

[Minacious]

Yep, a much talked about topic among riders.

[stracing]

he really needs a challenge.
just like schumacher in 1996. if he stayed with benetton no doubt he would of beaten fangios record by now.

now we have to see if rossi can beat agostinis record number of wins.

[cho_888]

he should go to ducati, they are new and rossi should be the one to make them teh best.

[tekwar]

Originally Posted by cho_888 he should go to ducati, they are new and rossi should be the one to make them teh best.

yeah it would had been a dream to see an italian on the legendary ducati, but as i see it, its a bit hard to get rid or loris or troy bayliss. But im sure there are other reasons behind it that we arent aware of.

Cant wait for next season already. and with colin edwards joining sete at honda, its hopefully going to be a great 3 way team battle for the championship next season. And if either suzuki, kawasaki or even (*cough) proton, can muster some performance, it will be an even more exciting season.

[TT]

IMO that's good. That show Valentino likes new challenges

[tekwar]

Biaggi and a few of the other honda riders have been quoted as saying that if they had the support from honda that valentino got, that they could have won the championship as well.

Now imagine if valentino goes to yamaha and wins on his debut race with them next year. What a slap in the face to both them and honda.....im so counting the days till that first race....hah

[stradale]

I hope he will. Biaggi isn't as good as Rossi. Too bad Biaggi is the only person in the world who thinks otherwise.

[tekwar]

yeah poor thing, living in his own little fantasy.

But if the yamaha performs poorly next season, it will be a level playing field, and what a blast that will be for the spectators. And it will really give Rossi the chance to shine like the superstar we all know he is. Im not even a true "fan" of Rossi, but i adore his passion for the sport, and I love his character, he brings so much to the sport. No wonder F1 wants him there as well, he is the most colorful racer in a long while. not like boring schumacher

[noosee]

Looking forward for the next season
I hope Yamaha will be not as fast as Honda and we will see some real racing from Rossi.
This year he was just cruizing

[tekwar]

Ill be really really surprised if yamaha is faster than honda next season. I mean honda has so many people developing for them, they make yamaha look like a budget team. But Rossi has the experience to really push the development forward, so it will be really interesting to see. Lets not forget that ducati were only in their first season this year and they finished 2nd! Thats outstanding, and theres no doubting that they will be a force to be reckoned with next season.

[RC45]

If he wanted a challenge, why not just pull off a plug wire? I think he is going to struggle to find another organization with the backing of HRC - and might just struggle to get back to the top.

But only time will tell.

[vsusan]

Rossi could ride on a unicycle and he could still win the championship. Give him a Buell cruiser and he could kick anyone's ass on a Ducati or Suzuki.

[kawa22]

new sponsor of Biagi :roll:

[stracing]

haha
now he can wipe his tears when rossi still kicks his ass