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With the weather looking favourable
following heavy rain this morning, Rossi was
confident that he would be able to mount a
strong challenge for honours in this
afternoon's Czech Grand Prix but it was not
to be for the Italian today. He had felt
strong all weekend despite sliding off
yesterday but he never had the same
confidence in the race and was unable to
ride as he would have liked. He had dropped
from fifth on the grid in Brno to eighth by
the end of the first lap before rallying to
pass Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden to move
to fifth by lap six, but from then on he
could make no further headway and rode a
lonely race to the flag. |
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At the end of the Czech Grand
Prix this afternoon the Fiat Yamaha Team and
Valentino Rossi have announced that the Italian star
will quit the Yamaha team, after seven seasons, at
the end of the year leaving the way free for the
Italian to join Ducati Corse from 2011. Rossi, who
raced to fifth place this afternoon at Brno, having
started from fifth on the grid, had previously
announced he would reveal his plans for next year
following the race and end months of speculation.
"Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. would
like to announce that the partnership between Valentino
Rossi and Yamaha will come to an end at the close of the
season, when Valentino will move on to new challenges,"
read a statement issued by Yamaha soon after the race
finished. "Yamaha and Valentino have enjoyed seven
fantastic seasons of racing, during which time they have
won four MotoGP World Championships together. Valentino
has played a huge part in the history of Yamaha and he
will always remain an important part of Yamaha's
heritage. Yamaha is extremely grateful for Valentino's
contributions to its racing successes over the past
seven years and it would like to wish him the very best
in his future racing endeavours. Yamaha will be putting
all its efforts into ensuring a successful and happy end
to the partnership over the remaining races."
Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing,
said: "On behalf of the Yamaha Motor Group, I would like
to express our sincere gratitude for the amazing seven
years that we have spent together. Valentino joined
Yamaha in 2004 at a moment when Yamaha was struggling in
road racing after eleven seasons without a championship
victory. Valentino's victory at his first GP race for
Yamaha in South Africa in 2004 was an incredible moment
and was just the first of many more race wins that have
thrilled MotoGP fans and Yamaha fans around the world.
His unsurpassed skills as a racer and a development
rider enabled him to win four MotoGP world titles to
date with us and helped Yamaha develop the YZR-M1 into
the ‘the bike of reference' for the MotoGP class. There
have been so many wonderful experiences and victories
and we are very proud to have been able to make history
together. Whilst we regret Vale's decision to move on,
at the same time we fully respect his decision to search
for a new challenge and we wish him the very best for
2011 and beyond. For the remaining eight races of 2010
Valentino will remain a Yamaha Factory rider. As such he
will continue to benefit from our full support and we
hope and expect to see some more race wins with him ‘in
blue' before the season is over!"Valentino Rossi,
said: "It is very difficult to explain in just a few
words what my relationship with Yamaha has been in these
past seven years. Many things have changed since that
far-off time in 2004, but especially ‘she', my M1, has
changed. At that time she was a poor middle-grid
position MotoGP bike, derided by most of the riders and
the MotoGP workers. Now, after having helped her to grow
and improve, you can see her smiling in her garage,
courted and admired, treated as the ‘top of the class'.
The list of the people that made this transformation
possible is very long, but I would like to thank anyway
Masao Furusawa, Masahiko Nakajima and ‘my' Hiroya Atsumi,
as representatives of all the engineers that worked hard
to change the face of our M1. Then Jeremy Burgess and
all my guys in the garage, who took care of her with
love on all the tracks of the world and also all the men
and women that have worked in the Yamaha team during
these years. Now the moment has come to look for new
challenges; my work here at Yamaha is finished.
Unfortunately even the most beautiful love stories
finish, but they leave a lot of wonderful memories, like
when my M1 and I kissed for the first time on the grass
at Welkom, when she looked straight in my eyes and told
me ‘I love you!'"
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