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Valentino Rossi wrote another chapter in his
extraordinary career in the MotoGP Assen TT race
in Holland yesterday, becoming only the second
rider in history to reach 100 Grand Prix wins.
And so 13 years after his very first victory in
125cc, the Italian took the hat-trick of pole
position, fastest lap and race win with a
perfect display in front of a huge Assen crowd
to pass the century mark. It was his 40th win
since joining Yamaha in 2004, meaning that over
half of his premier-class wins have come with
the Japanese factory.
His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished a very
strong second yesterday and had a milestone of
his own to celebrate as it was the fiftieth
podium of his career. Like Rossi, The Mallorcan
has now finished on the podium in all but one
round this season. Yamaha Tech 3 riders Colin
Edwards and James Toseland made it four Yamahas
in the top six after finishing fourth and sixth
respectively.
The eight-time World Champion got a strong start
from pole and was second at the end of the first
lap, passing Casey Stoner soon after to take a
lead which he never relinquished. With his M1
and Bridgestone tyres working perfectly
throughout, his race pace was even better than
he had shown in practice and he gradually
stretched his lead from Lorenzo in the latter
stages of the race to seal his historic victory.
The 30-year-old Italian and his fan-club joined
forces on the slow-down lap to unroll a 25-metre
banner which pictured every one of his 100 wins,
spanning a career which began when he was 17
years old.
Lorenzo had a poor start and lost several
positions in the early melee, leaving him to
fight his way back to the front in the early
laps. It took him until lap five to come through
to second but by then Rossi had opened up a gap
of nearly 1.5 seconds. The 22-year-old looked to
be closing on his team-mate a little at mid race
distance but in the latter stages he began to
lose a bit of confidence in the front and was
happy enough to settle for second and an
important 20 championship points.
With Stoner finishing third today the
championship standings remain tight at the top –
Rossi leads on 131 points, Lorenzo is second on
126 and Stoner is hard on his heels with 122.
The MotoGP paddock now heads directly to
California and Laguna Seca for round eight in a
week’s time.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 1st Time:
42'14.611
“This is a very emotional moment and for sure I
will remember this 100th victory for the rest of
my life. When I reached 70, 100 seemed a long
way away but here I am and it has been great,
great fun getting here. It is down to so many
people, like Jeremy and my guys who have been
with me for ten years and all of the team who
always give 100% and always give me the best
bike possible. Especially however I have to
thank the friends who have been with me my whole
life and my father Graziano, who won here in
Assen 30 years ago when I was a baby, and my
mother Stefania, because they have always
supported me. It’s great to reach this moment
here at Assen because it’s the ‘Cathedral’ of
motorcycle racing and the most historic track we
go to. Today was a perfect race – I got a great
start and my bike was incredible which meant
that my pace was very strong. In fact I think it
was better for everyone’s hearts not to have
another last-lap battle like in Barcelona! I had
a good advantage from Lorenzo in some parts of
the track and it was a great ride for me. Now I
have 100 wins and I’m only the second rider to
arrive at this number, but Agostini still has 22
more and for me he is still the greatest. 100 is
a great result but the atmosphere in our team is
wonderful and the motivation is still as high as
ever – we want to win a few more races together
yet!”
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2nd Time: +5.368
“First of all I have to say congratulations to
Valentino because this is an incredible thing to
achieve and this day belongs to him.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a good start today
and I had to take a few risks to pass people and
come back to the front. Once I did I tried to go
after Valentino but in some places I just wasn’t
as fast as him; he was riding 36.5s every time
and I didn’t really have quite enough confidence
to push that hard today because the bike didn’t
feel perfect. As the race went on I started to
feel the front tyre ‘close’ a bit and I decided
that it was safer to come home in second!
Another podium is a great result; it’s my
fiftieth and we continue to be very strong this
season so I am happy. I am only five points from
the lead and we are in a good position going to
Laguna, which I am very excited about.”
Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“100 victories speak for themselves! For all of
us in this team it’s a huge honour and pleasure
to work with Valentino because for sure he is
one of the greatest in history, something he’s
shown again today. Furthermore, working with him
is always great fun and we enjoy every weekend.
This is a very important piece of history for
Yamaha as well because 40 of these wins have
been here with us, more than with any other
manufacturer and the majority of his wins in
this class. When we started together in 2004 it
was impossible to think of targets like this and
I know that everyone involved and all of
Yamaha’s employees will always remember this
time. I think I speak on behalf of everyone by
saying thank you to Vale for these memories and
thank you for joining Yamaha!”
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
“Today we were able to get a great podium, which
is very important for our championship with
Jorge showing once again that he is very
competitive. Unfortunately we had a small
problem at the start and then, while trying to
recover, Jorge put a lot of pressure on the
front tyre. Anyway, he rode a very clever race
and was able to manage the package until the end
and get an excellent second place. Now we fly to
Laguna Seca, where we are confident we will be
able to put in another good performance. Yamaha
has the best bike on the track and this gives us
strong motivation for the future.”
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