2002 motogp class

2002 was another ‘business as usual’ season for Valentino Rossi as he continued to dominate the series on his Repsol Honda RC211V and finished as World Champion without ever really being challenged too much by his closest rivals that year, Max Biaggi and (team-mate) Tohru Ukawa. Rossi finished the season with 355 points, which was 140 points more than Max Biaggi who finished in second place.

2002 also marked the start of a new era in MotoGP when teams could opt to race either a 500cc two-stroke bike, or a 990cc four-stroke bike. The four-strokes had a huge power advantage and dominated the season so much, that by 2003 no two-stroke bikes were competing in MotoGP and all teams were running four-strokes.

Location: SKYY VODKA Grand Prix of Japan, Suzuka, Japan

Date: Sunday, April 7th, 2002

Race position: 1st

The 2002 season opened in Japan in wet race conditions and was significant as it marked the debut of the new 4-stroke motorbikes. Rossi grabbed pole position on his RC211V Honda after a tricky qualifying session, with rival Max Biaggi close behind in second place. Rossi won the race and made history by becoming the first rider on a 4-stroke machine to claim victory in the new MotoGP category. Rossi´s victory at Suzuka on the RC211V was the first Grand Prix win by a 4-stroke machine since Giacomo Agostini claimed victory in the 1976 German Grand Prix at Nurburgring.

Suzuka is also a track where Rossi has a history of sporting new helmet designs, and 2002 was no different. Rossi’s helmet at Suzuka in 2002 was a variation on the previous season’s design and was made up by blending older images that Rossi has featured on helmets in the past, with the sun and moon as the dominant symbols on either side of the helmet. The right side of the helmet maintain’s the yellow colour that Rossi is associated with and featured a bold sun motif that almost resembles a flower. The left hand side is darker and features the moon. Rossi also had his initials featured inside a smaller sun positioned on the back of the helmet.

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Location: Grand Prix of Italy (Gran Premio d’Italia Alice ), Mugello

Date: Sunday, 2nd June, 2002

Race position: 1st

Valentino Rossi started the Mugello MotoGP 2002 round in pole position and from the moment the lights went out Rossi dominated the race to take victory, despite crashing in the early morning practice session. Max Biaggi and Rossi’s Honda team-mate Ukawa completed the podium.

Rossi said:
´It was a very good race for me, and I´m happy to have won in front of the Italian fans. It was a victory that I´d hoped for as I hadn´t been able to achieve it for the last two years. The fall in the warm-up actually helped, because it made me more cautious as I had to race on my second bike. I used softer tyres than my rivals and when I began to push hard I was able to get away from Biaggi. Everything went well.´

Rossi’s helmet for Mugello was a trbute to Italy, and his father Graziano, who also raced motorbikes in his youth. The helmet was modelled on Graziano’s helmet design when he was racing and featured a paint job based on his design. It was composed of a white background with the colours of the Italian flag that wrapped around the helmet. The number ’46′ is featured on both sides of the helmet (’46′ was also the racing number that Graziano Rossi used when he competed in the world championship). The base of the helmet featured 22 icons each representing apects of Rossi’s life and personality, such as pizza, a football, a plate of spaghetti etc…