Rossi hits 100 at the Cathedral
Added on Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Rossi celebrates landmark win
Valentino Rossi secured his 100th Grand Prix win in Assen on Saturday to move to the top of the MotoGP world championship.
The Fiat Yamaha rider was rarely troubled as he romped home to victory at the so-called Cathedral of motorcycling to become only the second rider in history to take 100 career chequered flags.
In a somewhat processional race in Holland, Rossi finished more than five seconds ahead of teammate Jorge Lorenzo to break the deadlock at the top of the championship, with Ducati’s Casey Stoner completing a familiar looking podium line-up.
After taking the victory Rossi celebrated in typically flamboyant style, unfurling a giant montage of his previous 99 victories in front of his supporters, and set his sights on closing the gap between him and Giacomo Agostini’s all-time record of 122.
“This is a very emotional moment and for sure I will remember this 100th victory for the rest of my life,” said Rossi. “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!”
Elsewhere, it was a strong weekend for Tech3 Yamaha as Colin Edwards finished fourth and Britain’s James Toseland equalled his previous best MotoGP finish, capitalising on last-lap errors from Mika Kallio, Toni Elias and Loris Capirossi to take sixth.
It was a less positive weekend for the Repsol Honda team, with first Dani Pedrosa and later Andrea Dovizioso both crashing out at the same corner.
In the 125cc championship, Bradley Smith moved back up to second in the rider’s standings after a third place finish behind Sergio Gadea and Julian Simon.
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