Valentino Rossi equals Giacomo Agostini's win record
Valentino Rossi's win at Misano was his 68th victory in the premier-class of Grand Prixracing which equals one of the most coveted and long standing records in the sport- Giacomo Agostini's total win tally. This record has stood since Agostini took his finalvictory, at the West German Grand Prix in 1976 at the Nurburgring riding the legendaryMV Agusta machine.
The following table shows the career statistics for Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi.The figures shown for Agostini are for his full race career in the premier-class and this iscompared with Valentino Rossi's current statistics following the San Marino Grand Prix.It must be remembered that there are more races per season in the modern era of thesport.
Valentino Rossi levels with Mick Doohan
Valentino Rossi's victory at Misano came more than eight years after his first premierclassGP victory at the British GP in 2000. The length of his winning career in the premier-class is now 8 years and 53 days, exactly the same length of that of five times worldchampion Mick Doohan. This places these two riders equal 6th in the following table ofriders with the longest winning careers in the premier-class:
Italy take 700th Grand Prix win
Valentino Rossi's victory at Misano was the 700th Grand Prix win across all solo classesby Italian riders. Italy are by far the most successful nation in Grand Prix racinghaving taken 318 victories more than Great Britain, who are the next most successfulnation, even though only 3 British riders have taken GP wins in the past 20 years.
Grand Prix racing in the USA
This will be the 13th occasion that there has been a motorcycle Grand Prix held in theUSA. The first two events in 1964 and 1965 were held at the famous Daytona circuit;the other 10 taking place at Laguna Seca. This year for the first time there will be twoGrand Prix events held in the USA, with Indianapolis being introduced to the calendar asan addition to the traditional Laguna Seca event held in July. Below is a brief history ofprevious Grand Prix races held in the USA:
- 1964/Daytona - The first US Grand Prix featured four classes; 500cc - won by Mike Hailwood (MV Agusta), 250cc - AlanShepherd (MZ), 125cc and 50cc both won by Hugh Anderson (Suzuki). Mike Hailwood's victory in the 500cc race came after abattle with Argentinean Benedicto Caldarella riding a Gilera, but when Caldarella's machine expired late in the race Hailwoodended up two laps ahead of second placed rider Phil Read on his Matchless. The main home interest was in the 250cc racewhere Ron Grant (Parilla) and Bo Gehring (Bultaco) finished 2nd and 3rd, becoming the first American riders to finish on thepodium in any class of Grand Prix racing.
- 1965/Daytona - Mike Hailwood again lapped the rest of the field twice in taking the 500cc race victory at Daytona fromBuddy Parriott who became the first American rider to finish on the podium in the premier-class of Grand Prix racing.
- 1988/Laguna Seca - Following a 22 year break, Grand Prix racing returned to the USA at Laguna Seca with races for 500ccand 250cc machines. American riders finished on the top of the podium in both races - Eddie Lawson (Yamaha) in the 500ccrace and Jim Filice in the 250cc race. This was the one and only Grand Prix victory for Filice, who was racing as a replacementrider for Masahiro Shimizu on the factory Honda.
- 1989/Laguna Seca - Once again American riders took the honors with Wayne Rainey (Yamaha) earning victory in the 500ccrace in front of Kevin Schwantz and Eddie Lawson. John Kocinski (Yamaha) won the 250cc race as a wild-card entry.
- 1990/Laguna Seca - Both Wayne Rainey and John Kocinski repeated their success of the previous year; both riders went onto take the respective world titles.
- 1991/Laguna Seca - Wayne Rainey won the 500cc race for the third year in succession while in the 250cc race LucaCadalora (Honda) became the first European rider to win a Grand Prix race at the Laguna Seca circuit.
- 1993/Laguna Seca - The Grand Prix returned to Laguna Seca after a year's absence. John Kocinski took the first ever dryweather Grand Prix victory for Cagiva in the 500cc race. Loris Capirossi won the 250cc race and Dirk Raudies won in the125cc class which was run for the first time at the Laguna circuit.
- 1994/Laguna Seca - Luca Cadalora (Yamaha) became the first non-American to win the premier-class Grand Prix at LagunaSeca. This was the last time before this current event at Indianapolis that the 250cc and 125cc classes were held in the USA.
- 2005/Laguna Seca - After an absence of ten years the Grand Prix returned to America featuring just the MotoGP class. Thehome riders dominated once again with Nicky Hayden taking his first Grand Prix victory in front of Colin Edwards. This wasalso the first victory in the premier-class for Honda at the Laguna Seca circuit.
- 2006/Laguna Seca - Nicky Hayden repeated his victory of the previous year on his way to becoming the first American riderto win a Grand Prix world championship on a four-stroke machine.
- 2007/Laguna Seca - Casey Stoner dominated the event by qualifying on pole, leading the race from start to finish andsetting a new lap record. This was the first GP win in the USA for both Ducati and Bridgestone.
- 2008/Laguna Seca - Valentino Rossi won for the first time in the US after a tremendous battle with Casey Stoner.