The 2005 MotoGP season started in April in Jerez and was dominated by Valentino Rossi who stood on the Podium 16 times (from 17 races). Marco Melandri took second place in the championship but despite his strong performance he was still 147 points behind Rossi when the season was over. Despite Rossi’s domination, the 2005 season was full of drama and some thrilling battles on the racetrack, most notably between Rossi and Sete Gibernau.
Location: Grand Prix of Italy (Gran Premio d’Italia Alice ), Mugello
Date: Sunday, June 5, 2005
Race position: 1st
The Mugello MotoGP of 2005 was full of drama, in a race that saw Rossi take his 4th consecutive win at the Mugello circuit. It was by no means an easy win, and Rossi was forced to battle with bitter rival Max Biaggi until the very end. Rossi started the race in pole position but swiftly slipped down to 4th place - he quickly forght his way back up the field and engaged in a thrilling battle with Marco Melandri and Biaggi, until Rossi, with two laps to go, managed to grab the lead for good.
Aside from the thrilling racing, Rossi also made the news by wearing a special helmet for the race to celebrate him becoming a genuine, real Doctor. Earlier in the same week, Rossi was awarded the “láurea ad honorem” in communications and publicity by his hometown University in Urbino. University Rector Carlo Bo, Giovanni Bogliolo made the presentation to Rossi citing it was a special award for the positive influence that he had set as a role model, and also in recognition of his achievements as a rider.
The helmet design was in a cartoon style and featured Rossi on the top of the helmet holding his doctorate, with the caption ‘Valentino dottore per davvero’ (translated as: “Valentino, truly doctor”). The colours of the Italian flag are wrapped around the helmet, with the sun and moon featured just under the visor. The rear of the helmet featured the words “Il Laureato”, with a small gold coloured number ’1′ above it.
Location: Laguna Seca, USA
Date: Sunday, July 10th, 2005
Race position: 3rd
The race at Laguna Seca in 2005 marked the first time that the twisty and challenging circuit had been on the MotoGP calander, and almost all the riders, apart from the Americans, had never raced there before. When the race started Nicky Hayden powered his Repsol Honda from pole position to lead for the entire race and take first place. Rossi ended in third place after being overtaken by teammate Colin Edwards, who put on a brave move to pass Rossi at the top of the corkscrew.
Laguna Seca also marked the first time in the 2005 MotoGP season that Yamaha raced without any sponsorship on the bikes from their team-sponsor Gauloises. The reason behind this change was to celebrate Yamaha’s 50th birthday; Yamaha Motors was founded on July 1st 1955, so the Laguna Seca round was only a few days after the official birthday. To mark the occasion Rossi and Edwards raced in retro American Yellow and Black Molly graphics to acknowledge the contributions and achievements that American riders, such as Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey, and Eddie Lawson, had made to Yamaha’s history. Roberts used to race in similar livery in the 1970s.
Rossi’s helmet design for the race was a simple, but bold graphic based around the sun and the moon and maintained the Yellow and Black colour scheme consistent with the rest of the Yamaha 50th Year Celebration livery. The design featured a large yellow sun on a black background that started on the lefthand side of the helmet and stretched around to the back. The righthand side featured a black crescent moon on a yellow background.
Lin Jarvis (Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing) said:
“We chose to race in Yamaha USA’s historic colours as a tribute to the American riders who have played such an important part in Yamaha’s history. It is also right that we should celebrate the return of Grand Prix racing to the USA, which is great for the American fans and also very important for the future of MotoGP. Of course, this isn’t the first time that our YZR-M1 has carried the yellow, white and black colours. Some of you may have noticed the seat graphics on Valentino’s M1, which since last year have featured his dog Guido wearing an old-school Yamaha USA T-shirt! It will be fantastic to see Valentino racing in yellow, which is his favourite colour. And this is also a big weekend for Colin, his first US Grand Prix, plus he is the first American GP rider in 25 years to race in Yamaha USA’s traditional colours. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our 2005 title sponsor Altadis for their cooperation in permitting Yamaha to race in Yamaha-only livery for this special event.”
Location: Grand Prix of Malaysia, Sepang
Date: Sunday, September 25, 2005
Race position: 2nd
Rossi secured his 7th World Championship title with 4 races still left to go in the 2005 season by taking 2nd place in Malaysia. Rossi tried to challenge for first position, but Loris Capirossi and Ducati had made some huge progress in the performance of his Ducati over the previous few races, and Capirossi proved to be unstoppable. Second place for Rossi was enough to make him untouchable on points and he claimed his 7th World Title. Rossi celebrated by having members of his fan club dress up as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with each of the dwarves representing each of the years that Rossi had won a world title (each dwarf wore a year on the front of their costumes for each year). Rossi was also presented with a celebratory helmet that featured a large black number seven on a white background, with each of the racing classes listed on the back of the helemt that Rossi had won a world title in.
ocation: Grand Prix of Community of Valencia, Valencia
Date: Sunday, November 6th, 2005
Race position: 3rd
Rossi had already secured his world championship title prior to the Valencia round of the MotoGP 2005 season, and he found himself starting the race in 15th position on the grid due to a qualifying incident. In typical Rossi fashion he staged a rapid comeback and cut through the field, but it wasn’t enough to catch the leaders Nicky Hayden and Marco Melandri. Melandri went on to win the race with Hayden coming in second, and Rossi third.
To celebrate retaining his world championship title, Rossi had a custom designed helmet created by Aldo Drudi that featured a cartoon ‘zoo’ of exotic animals, as well as his trademark sun and moon motifs. A bright red phoenix can be seen on the rear of the helmet rising towards the sun, and a hippo sits on the top facing forwards. Various other cartoon birds can be see towards the top of teh helmet, while the basefeatures sea-life like fish and dolphins.
Location: Philip Island, Australia
Date: February, 2005
Position: 1st (unofficial fastest lap time of the 3 days)
Straight after Rossi’s vworld championship 2005 season, the Gauloises Yamaha team went out to Philip Island in Australia for testing in preparation for the 2006 season. Rossi took the overall fastest lap time over the course of the three day testing session, and the test also marked he beginning of Rossi fruitful partnership with Colin Edwards who had become his team-mate at Yamaha.
Valentino Rossi said:
“This morning we tried some different settings from yesterday and they worked better. We found more agility in the bike. Then we continued testing tyres for Michelin, which were good. The test has been quite positive and we have collected some useful information which we’ll continue to work with when we return here soon.”
As usual, Rossi came out for testing with a new helmet design. Staying with his usual Sun and Moon motif, Rossi had a striking, bright neon-yellow and black helmet, featuring a black moon and a jaggard yellow sun that dominated the left-hand side of the helmet and stretched around to the back.
Subject: 2005 motogp class 
Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:19 am
