Selasa, 21 Juli 2009
Senin, 20 Juli 2009
| Valentino Rossi Juara Dunia MotoGP Kali Keenam, What's Next? | |
 Valentino Rossi mungkin pembalap terbaik dalam sejarah grand prix motor. Masih perlu kata "mungkin," karena karirnya belum berakhir. Masih ada satu atau dua lagi pencapaian yang harus dia raih supaya gelar terbaik itu diberikan secara mutlak.Saat ini "The Doctor" sudah menjadi juara dunia 125 cc, 250 cc, 500 cc, plus MotoGP 990 cc, dan 800 cc. Total delapan gelar sudah di kantongnya. Dia sudah pindah tim (Honda ke Yamaha) dan langsung jadi juara dunia lagi. Dia juga sudah meraih kemenangan terbanyak di kelas tertinggi, total 70 kali. Memecahkan rekor Giacomo Agostini yang 68 kali. Apa yang kurang? Ada satu yang besar, yang bisa mengamankan status Rossi sebagai pembalap motor terbaik dalam sejarah. Yaitu ,kemenangan grand prix terbanyak. Total, sejak 1996 di semua kelas, Rossi sudah menang 96 kali. Rekor Agostini adalah 123 kali. Berarti, Rossi masih butuh menang 27 kali lagi untuk menyamainya. Mampukah? Kenapa tidak! Jeremy Burgess, kepala mekanik Rossi, menegaskan bahwa Rossi berada di kelas berbeda. Rekor itu tinggal menunggu waktu. Yang jadi pertanyaan bukanlah kemampuan Rossi, melainkan dirinya dan Yamaha. "Kami tak boleh menyia-nyiakan bakat sebesar Valentino Rossi. Mungkin tidak akan ada Valentino Rossi lagi dalam 20 tahun ke depan. Dan, ketika dia muncul, belum tentu dia bersama Yamaha," tandas pria asal Australia itu. Untuk itu, Burgess memasang target supertinggi hingga akhir 2010 nanti. Yaitu, pada akhir kontrak Rossi bersama Yamaha. "Kami masih punya tiga lomba tersisa tahun ini, plus dua tahun. Berarti ada sekitar 39 lomba tersisa untuk mengejar 27 kemenangan itu," ucapnya. Burgess menegaskan bahwa Rossi mampu melakukannya. Sekali lagi dia menegaskan, beban ada di dirinya dan Yamaha. "Valentino masih 29 tahun. Dia punya waktu. Mick Doohan dulu mampu menang di usia 32 tahun. Agostini mampu menang di usia 35 tahun," ucapnya. "Kita tak perlu khawatir soal Valentino. Dia akan memotivasi diri sendiri. Dia berada dua kelas di atas yang lain," tandasnya. Apa pendapat Rossi? Pembalap berambut keriting itu lebih hati-hati dalam menyikapi masa depan. Dia bahkan mulai menyebut 29 sebagai usia yang tergolong tua. Yang pasti, kata Rossi, dia sudah malas pindah-pindah tim lagi. Sangat mungkin dia ingin mengakhiri karirnya bersama Yamaha. Apakah itu dua tahun lagi, atau mungkin ditambah beberapa tahun tambahan. "Saya punya tawaran baik untuk pergi ke Ducati atau kembali ke Honda. Dan saya punya hubungan baik dengan Honda dan Ducati. Tapi, saya sudah ganti motor sekali dalam karir saya. Jadi saya rasa itu sudah cukup," tuturnya. "Saya sudah 29 tahun. Saya sudah balapan sejak 1996. Saya butuh atmosfer baik untuk menjaga motivasi. Saya bukan lagi anak umur 20 tahun. Dan saya rasa, atmosfer di tim kami sekarang fantastis," lanjutnya. Rossi menambahkan, persaingan tahun-tahun ke depan, khususnya 2009, bakal lebih sengit daripada sekarang. Casey Stoner telah matang, Dani Pedrosa sangat lapar gelar, dan Jorge Lorenzo siap mengudetanya dari dalam garasi Yamaha. Karena itu, persiapan untuk tahun depan sudah dilakukan secepatnya. Kemarin, sehari setelah mengunci gelar, Rossi rencananya sudah turun uji coba lagi di Sirkuit Motegi. Pada uji coba itu, sejatinya Rossi akan menjajal motor prototype 2009. Tapi, uji coba itu dibatalkan karena hujan mengguyur Sirkuit Motegi sepanjang hari. Karena itu, Rossi dan kru Fiat Yamaha langsung bertolak ke Australia untuk melakoni seri berikutnya. Bisa jadi, uji coba itu dilakukan di Sirkuit Phillip Island pasca lomba pada 5 Oktober nanti. Apalagi, sebagian besar mekanik Rossi juga berasal dari sana. Termasuk Burgess. Dengan persiapan lebih panjang, besar peluang motor tersebut ekstragarang. Jika tahun depan -plus tahun berikutnya- Rossi punya motor yang lebih dahsyat lagi, mungkin apa yang ditargetkan Burgess benar-benar bisa jadi kenyataan. Rossi memecahkan rekor Agostini di penghujung 2010. Bisa dibayangkan, betapa dahsyatnya sambutan bila itu benar-benar terjadi. Rossi bakal langsung dinobatkan sebagai yang terbaik dalam sejarah, tanpa sedikit pun perdebatan. | |
| Rider | - Valentino Rossi |  Back |
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If Valentino Rossi started the 2008 MotoGP World Championship as one of the best riders the sport has know then with 9 wins, 16 podiums (both breaking records) and his eighth crown, his sixth in the category with a new conquering YZR-M1, he established himself as the greatest ever MotoGP racer. The Fiat Yamaha team and the charismatic Italian burst back to prominence after two dry seasons, and with epic performances such as his frantic duel with Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca and a masterful outing in the rain and hurricane condition at Indianapolis Rossi surged back to the very forefront of public consciousness. The 2008 riders, team and manufacturer’s titles – the triple crown – was won with a string of results that saw the 29 year old only drop off the podium twice in eighteen Grand Prix and a hot spell of 6 victories from 7 races. His career stats are now unparalleled with 97 total triumphs (71 in the premier class) and 151 rostrum trophies and he hasn’t missed a Grand Prix since his debut in 1996. Born in Urbino, Italy on 16th February 1979, Rossi was riding bikes from an early age thanks to the influence of his father Graziano, himself a former Grand Prix winner. Following an early start in go-karts, Rossi junior progressed to minimotos and quickly showed a talent for two-wheels, becoming regional champion in 1992. The next few years saw him quickly rise up through ranks of junior road racing, claiming the Italian Sport Production Championship in 1994 and the Italian 125cc Championship in 1995. The latter, twinned with an impressive 3rd place in the 125cc European championship, was enough to secure him a ride in the World Championship the following year. Rossi`s World Championship debut came at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 1996 and he finished his first international season in 9th place with one race win. The following year he became the youngest ever rider at that time to take the 125cc World Championship, winning eleven races along the way with Aprilia. The pattern continued when he moved into the 250cc class, taking second place in his first year before becoming World Champion in 1999, once again with Aprilia. In 2000 he entered a new phase of his career when he joined forces with Honda in the 500cc class. He proved his worth once again by finishing second, before becoming the last ever 500cc World Champion in 2001. Rossi subsequently took the MotoGP World title in 2002 and 2003, before moving to Yamaha and winning it again in 2004 and 2005. Rossi made history by moving to Yamaha in 2004 and winning the season-opening Grand Prix in South Africa, becoming the first rider in the history of the sport to win back-to-back premier class races for different manufacturers. He went on to win nine out of 16 races, finally clinching the World Championship, Yamaha’s first for 12 years, with victory at the penultimate Grand Prix in Phillip Island. The squad also wrapped up the Team title. He dominated the 2005 season, winning eleven races in total, taking five pole positions and only finishing off the podium once. In doing he became one of only five riders in the history of the sport to win the premier-class title on five occasions. He also helped Yamaha to win the Manufacturers’ and Team titles, ensuring Yamaha celebrated its 50th Anniversary with one of its best ever years in Grand Prix. 2006 saw him finish World Champion runner-up for only the second time in his premier-class career, having lost the title to Honda’s Nicky Hayden by just five points following a final-race showdown in Valencia. Despite this, Rossi still took five race wins and five pole positions in 2006, more than any other rider, and stood on the podium ten times. 2008 marked a significant improvement over 2007 in which Rossi took four race wins and several podiums, but his prodigious talents were limited by technical and tyre issues as well as plain bad luck. One of the most popular members of the paddock, ‘The Doctor` has a wide fan base all over the world and is arguably the recognisable face of MotoGP in the same way Schumacher was for F1, Jordan for Basketball and Beckham for football. A keen football fan and an accomplished rally driver he returned to live in Italy during 2008 after several years in the UK.
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