In 2002 the Yamaha was at more or less the same level as the Honda, better in some ways, worse in others. But in the winter of last year between 2002 and 2003, Honda made a big step forward and it seemed as if Yamaha couldn't quite match that improvement.

It was the first time that Rossi had missed a race in his Grand Prix career. Stoner picked up his bike to finish second while Rossi took the win. Both Valentino and Graziano had started looking at moving into the Italian 100cc series as well as the corresponding European series which most likely would have puValentino Rossid him into the direction of Formula One.

He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time with nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name – seven of which are in the premier class. From there he moved up to the 250cc category with Aprilia and won the 250cc World Championship in 1999. He won the 500cc 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 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha before regaining the title in 2008 and retaining it in 2009.