Valentino Rossi

Nationality
Italian
Date of birth
February 16, 1979 (1979-02-16) (age 28)[1]
Place of birth
Urbino, Italy
MotoGP Record
Current team
Fiat Yamaha Team
Bike number
46
World Championships
125cc - 1997250cc - 1999500cc - 2001MotoGP - 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Race starts
192
Race Wins
88
Podium finishes
135
Pole positions
49
Fastest laps
72
Championship Points
3347
2007 Championship position
3rd (241 pts)
Valentino Rossi (born February 15, 1979[1] in Urbino) is an Italian professional motorcycle racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion. He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with 7 Grand Prix World Championships to his name. In 2006, he narrowly missed an 8th title by scoring a second place in the Championship, and with one race to go in the 2007 season, he lost out again, this time to Australian Casey Stoner. According to Sports Illustrated, Rossi is the 7th highest earning sports personality in the world (2nd outside the United States), earning an estimated $30 million a year.[2]
Following his father, Graziano Rossi, Rossi started racing in Grand Prix in 1996 for Aprilia in the 125cc category and won his first World Championship the following year. From there, he moved up to the 250 cc category, again with Aprilia, and won the World Championship in 1999. He won the 500 cc World Championship with Honda in 2001, the MotoGP World Championships (also with Honda) in 2002 and 2003, and continued his streak of back-to-back championships by winning the 2004 and 2005 MotoGP World Championship after leaving Honda to join Yamaha.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)