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

Valentino Rossi to launch 'VR46' Moto3 team in 2014

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Valentino Rossi is to start a Moto3 team, running Romano Fenati and possibly half-brother Luca Marini on KTM machinery in 2014.

Rumours that Rossi would become involved in a Moto3 team have been circling for months.

But in August the seven time MotoGP champion insisted the plan was just to start a 'VR46 Riders Academy', to help support young Italian racers, rather than an actual team.

However Italy's SportMediaset reports that the Italian Federation will no longer field the San Carlo-backed Team Italia squad next year, leaving 2012 race winner Fenati in need of a team.

Italy's Sky TV will sponsor the new VR46 project, while KTM machines are also confirmed - and an obvious choice, having won every Moto3 grand prix so far this year.

"We have joined forces with Sky in order to give the Italian riders the opportunity to be competitive and reach the highest levels," said Rossi.

The identity of Fenati's team-mate is not yet known, but Rossi's half-brother Marini is unsurprisingly being tipped as a possibility. Marini - currently second in the Italian Moto3 championship - made his grand prix debut as a wild-card last time at Misano, but fell at the first turn.

Teams wishing to enter next year's Moto2 or Moto3 World Championships submitted their requests at the San Marino Grand Prix. Further details on the 2014 entries will be made available after the next selection meeting at the Malaysian Grand Prix, in October.

However the official MotoGP website has confirmed that the new VR46/Sky team "has already forwarded an official entry application to MotoGP governing body the FIM and commercial rights holder Dorna Sports in order to participate in the Moto3 class."

ORIGINAL POST found on: http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/196127/1/valentino-rossi-to-launch-vr46-moto3-team-in-2014.html

‘Half and half’ race for Rossi in Malaysia

Rossi referred to the positives and negatives, meaning that he was pleased to have close the gap somewhat on his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who he trailed across the line by 3.7s, but disappointed to see the advantage his Repsol Honda rivals had over him.

Valentino Rossi dropped initially to fourth off the line from his second place grid position, tucked in behind Marc Marquez on the first lap.

The nine-time World Champion made a move on Marquez at turn 10 but was unable to pass and settled back into fourth. Rossi spent several laps holding off the advances of Alvaro Bautista, narrowly escaping an incident when the Spanish rider overshot turn one, just missing Rossi as he ran wide.

The rest of the race proved to be a lonely one as he held his position in fourth, crossing the line just over ten seconds behind winner Pedrosa. It is his seventh fourth place finish of 2013 and he has now finished in the top four at the last ten races.

"Today was half and half for me," Rossi explained. "For sure we improved and made another step, improving the setting of the bike and I was able to be very close to Jorge. It looks like today our competitors had an advantage here; they were able to keep a better rhythm than us."

"Starting from second I hoped to arrive on the podium but I knew the top three guys were very strong. At the beginning of the race I lost some time as I had a problem with the front brakes. We continue to work and push and fight to be in with the top three."

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Factory Team Director added, "The weekend didn't go as we expected. We suffered a drop off in tyre life and the riders couldn't ride as they needed to. We tried hard to make the best setting to be fast and consistent but unfortunately we still needed something more. We won’t give up until the end and fortunately there is one race in a week’s time. We would like to have our revenge so we are really looking forward to Phillip Island."