MotoGP Star of the Year vote - 6th: Valentino Rossi

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6th – Valentino Rossi 

Average score out of ten: 6.91 

Team: Yamaha Factory Racing 

Bike: YZR-M1 (Factory) 

Wins: 1 

Podiums: 6 

Poles: 0 

Fastest Laps: 1 

Championship points: 237 (13.2 points per start average) 

Championship position: 4th out of 27 

Valentino Rossi's return to Yamaha netted his first MotoGP race victory since 2010 and his highest Crash.net Star of the Year ranking since that same season - but the Italian legend was still voted two places below his championship position.

The only double winner of the Crash.net vote, in 2008 and 2009, Rossi didn't even make the top ten last year, with viewers awarding an average ranking of just 5.11 out of 10 for his final season at Ducati. That improved to 6.91 and sixth place in this year's poll, after a season of highs and lows for the seven time MotoGP champion.

A feisty ride to the podium during the Qatar season opener proved Rossi had lost none of his fighting spirit, but thereafter he often struggled to get on terms with the 'top three'. Indeed, the number four summed up Rossi's season - The Doctor finished in fourth place on no less than eight occasions, on his way to fourth in the world championship.

An emotional victory at Assen - a race you voted as the most entertaining of the season - proved the high point of Rossi's year, while six podiums doubled his total rostrum score at Ducati and the #46 showed he had lost none of his racecraft by regularly thwarting his nearest opponents in final lap battles.

But more ultimate pace was needed and the lowest point arguably came at the Valencia finale, when - even with his race leading team-mate Jorge Lorenzo attempting to slow down the field - Rossi was unable to join the victory fight.

By then, news had already broken that Rossi had decided to split from crew chief Jerry Burgess as the 34-year-old seeks to get on terms with Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo in 2014.

Never previously beaten by a MotoGP team-mate in the world championship standings, barring his 2010 leg breaking injury, Rossi finished this season 93 points shy of title runner-up Lorenzo.

About the vote:
Over 30,000 votes were cast for the 2013 Crash.net MotoGP Star of the Year poll, where viewers were asked to award each of this year's full-time participants - only Ben Spies and Karel Abraham, injured for large parts of the season, were not included - with a mark out of ten.

The average score for each rider was then used to determine the final ranking, which will be revealed in full once the winner is announced.

Orignal post: http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/199155/1/motogp-star-of-the-year-vote-6th.html

Five-time World Champion Mick Doohan is convinced Valentino Rossi still has a lot to offer in MotoGP.

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Nine-times Champion Rossi is coming off a disappointing 2013 season where he finished third in the standings behind Marc Marques, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

While his Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo won eight races despite battling injury midway through the season, the Italian's victory at Assen was his only one of the campaign. It has naturally led to question marks over his future not only at Yamaha, especially with his contract running out at the end of 2014, but also in MotoGP.

Doohan is confident Rossi can return to the front if he gets the right machinery, but he concede that the 34-year-old is probably no longer prepared to push himself too hard.

"He can't like not winning although the sport needs him and he has still got as many fans as ever. The sport will be a poorer place without him. I'm sure fourth is not good enough in Valentino's mind, but it is a hell of a lot better than where he was last year," Doohan told motorcyclenews.com.

"I think his experience is against him in terms of how far he is prepared to push himself and how long he wants to stay in the sport. But you never doubt Valentino. I have no doubt if they could get the bike to exactly his liking he could push more but he knows if he pushes any further he will go down the road.

"Valentino's experience though may mean he is not prepared to push as hard as those top three guys. They are still in the 'want and need' part of their careers rather than in the 'it would be great to do that again' part of their careers."

Lorenzo and Rossi poised for Sepang challenge

Jorge Lorenzo heads to Sepang with the knowledge that he collected his first premier class world title at the Malaysian circuit in 2010. On this occasion, the task is to out-score championship leader Marc Marquez by as many points as possible.

With four Grands Prix remaining and a maximum of 100 points left on offer, newcomer Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) heads reigning World Champion Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) by 39 points. With a difference of five between first and second positions (25 and 20 points, respectively), Lorenzo is aware that he must aim for victories while hoping that his chief rival runs into trouble.

"Now we start the big trip, with three races in a row, and face the last part of the championship - the crucial part," Lorenzo acknowledges ahead of back-to-back races in Malaysia, Australia and Japan.

"After Aragón, where we fought so hard, we now visit a special circuit. Sepang is a track everybody knows really well. I guess all the riders will be strong there because we did a couple of pre-season tests. Sepang is a long and technical circuit with two great straights but also some nice corners. The worst thing is it’s always stormy and you never know when it is going to rain.

"I have some good memories there but we need to keep focus now on the race and try to recover a little bit to Marquez. The championship is difficult, but we want to fight until the end. Let’s see what happens!"

Lorenzo could be assisted by former arch rival and Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi, who has won at Sepang on no less than six occasions since 2001.

"The Sepang circuit is a track that I like a lot - I have had many great victories there," begins the Italian, who last time out at MotorLand Aragón picked up his fifth rostrum finish of the 2013 campaign.

"I think it suits the Yamaha quite well. It's very demanding physically, because it’s very hot, but it's also a great track and challenge because of that. I want to try to have a good weekend and work hard on the setup in order to be competitive in the race."

For Constructors’ honours ahead of the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, Yamaha trails Honda by 26 points, whereas Yamaha Factory Racing is second in the Teams’ standings and 73 points in arrears of Repsol Honda Team.