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Tuesday October 27, 2009

Sensational Rossi still pushing hard to remain on top

SEPANG: Italian Valentino Rossi captured his fourth MotoGP world title with Yamaha with a third-place finish in the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix here and it was the best achievement for any of the manufacturers he had ridden for in his career.

Rossi is also the most successful Yamaha rider of all time with 44 wins from 102 races since joining the Japanese factory outfit in 2004. He now has 21 wins more than Kenny Roberts, the next most successful Yamaha rider.

But it is still not enough to satiate the Italian’s hunger to chalk up more milestones in his sensational career.

Bubbly joy: Valentino Rossi showers himself with champagne as he celebrates winning the world MotoGP title in Sepang on Sunday.

Rossi, who sealed a seventh premier class title with one round to spare after finishing behind Ducati’s Casey Stoner and Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, let down his hair with his Italian friends for a well-deserved party at a famous nightspot in the city hours after his triumph on Sunday.

But he will soon be back to doing what he does best.

The world champion flew out of Kuala Lumpur today for Valencia where he is scheduled to test out the new Yamaha machine for next year.

And Rossi does not need any further motivation to remain at the top of his game than his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

The 22-year-old Spaniard has turned out to be one of the strongest team-mates in years for Rossi and it was underlined by their total of 10 races out of the 16 thus far this year.

“We will try the new model and I am looking forward to working on the new M1 (bike) but I have the greatest rival in my team, so it won’t be easy,” said Rossi.

“I think next year will be very, very hard. We’re all on the same bikes and I think it will be between me, Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa again.

“This season, we have a mono tyre rule but we have still improved on the lap record in many laps and this shows that we’ve all been on the limit all season.

“This is why we all make mistakes. This is to be expected when you have four riders fighting together.”

Rossi added that he still felt just as motivated as ever despite being the third oldest rider on the MotoGP grid behind Colin Edwards (35) and Loris Capirossi (36).

“I still have a great passion to ride better and better, to be on my bike and to win. I enjoy always trying to improve and to work with my team to do this,” he said.

“I am 30 but I still feel great emotion and great satisfaction from success. My passion for motorcycles is what keeps me enjoying every race and helps me to keep pushing even though I am the oldest of these first top guys.

“I have to train harder and work harder to stay focused now, but I still enjoy the challenge as much as ever.”

Rossi beat the record of 68 races won in the premier class achieved by fellow Italian Giacomo Agostini in Indianapolis in July last year. And he will certainly be out to stretch his tally of 77 victories in the final round in Valencia.

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