Asked recently to list the absolute best motorcycles he has raced in his career, newly-crowned world champion Valentino Rossi says that the current 800cc M1 Yamaha MotoGP racer makes his short list.
Rossi has raced a wide variety of motorcycles in his GP career, from Aprilia 125s and 250s to the Honda NSR500 two-stroke and both Honda and Yamaha's flagship MotoGP machines. He also raced a Superbike--of sorts. Rossi teamed with American Colin Edwards II to race and win the Suzuka Eight Hours endurance race in 2001, sharing a Honda RC51-based endurance bike for that race.
In no certain order, Rossi says that three bikes top his own personal "best of" list: the final version of the '01 NSR500 Honda two-stroke 500 he raced in the last season "Grand Prix"; his 2003 RC211V Honda V-5 and the current Yamaha 800cc racer which features pneumatic valvetrain.
The 2003 RC211V V-5 is the bike that legend has it drove a wedge between Rossi and Honda. Rossi wrote in his book that he requested the bike for his collection, but Honda would not give it to him, a point that in the end led to Rossi meeting with Yamaha and signing with HRC's rival for 2004.
Rossi dramatically silenced any remaining critics in 2004 when he won races and the MotoGP title on the previously thought to be uncompetitive Yamaha M1 990cc racer.
Any thoughts that Rossi would include the '04 M1 Yamaha on his best of list are dismissed with Rossi rolling his eyes and smiling momentarily at the memories of the '04 machine.
"No, many many problems with the 2004 model Yamaha. The 2005 Yamaha was better but the best was this year, 2008 model," he said.
by Dean Adams from superbikeplanet.com
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