Yamaha MotoGP Videos
In these YouTube videos, Valentino Rossi talks about each generation of the Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP machinery he used from 2004 through 2009.
These Yamaha motorcycles are very significant to Rossi; in 2004, Rossi grabbed the first MotoGP title in his first Yamaha year, and in 2009 he clinched his fourth MotoGP World Championship with Yamaha.
As everyone knows, after seven years with Yamaha Rossi left the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer and joined the Ducati Team. For 2011, Rossi will ride next to Nicky Hayden, the second American the Italian has partnered with besides Colin Edwards.
Rossi won four MotoGP Championships (out of nine world championships) aboard the Yamaha M1. During the 2010 MotoGP Championship, his final season with Yamaha, which was plagued by a hurt shoulder and broken leg, Rossi still finished the season in third position overall.
The Valencia race was Rossi’s 117th and final appearance on the factory Yamaha, bringing their seven-year relationship, which included four world titles and 46 wins, to an end. At Valencia, Rossi finished third behind then-Ducati Team rider Casey Stoner and the winner, 2010 World Champion Jorge Lorenzo.
During his cool-down lap, Rossi stopped, leaned the Yamaha M1 against a the guardrail, and gave it a farewell kiss on the windshield. This affectionate kiss was similar to what the 31-year-old Italian did back in 2004 after his first win with Yamaha at Welkom in Africa.
Valentino Rossi says: "Arriving on the podium was my way to say thank you to my bike, to Yamaha and to all the people who have worked with me in these seven seasons. It’s been a great experience and I have enjoyed it so much. Forty-six is a great number of wins – of course I wanted more but I think I can be happy with what I have done here."
"We have finished the season strongly with five podiums in a row and after such a difficult season we can feel happy about how we have ended. It’s been a wonderful seven years, great fun with a special atmosphere, many fantastic victories and four world championships. I stopped with my bike after the race today just like I did at Welkom when this story began, it was the right way to say goodbye to ‘her’. Thank you to everyone, we have wonderful memories."