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54-618: It was developed as a direct result of major changes to the regulations for the World Championship motorcycle road racing 500 cc (30.5 cu in) class for the 2002 season. The name of the class was modified to MotoGP , and while two-stroke engines remained limited to 500 cc (30.5 cu in) and four cylinders , four-stroke engines were now allowed to be as large as 990 cc (60 cu in) and from three to six cylinders – which led many teams to switch to four-stroke designs. The model name designates

108-480: A 2006 bike with a special chassis for Pedrosa, and a 2006 bike to be ridden by Melandri, Elías, Stoner, and Tamada; Melandri and Stoner eventually got the special Pedrosa chassis. Hayden's RC211V was modified to put the crankshaft higher, the clutch and gearbox lower, and to lengthen the swing arm; the goal was to centralize mass and improve stability. After the Jerez round, Hayden was the fastest Honda rider in testing. At

162-451: A 250cc race; he won his first and only race in the 2001 German Grand Prix . The 250cc entry list also included three former 125cc World Champion : Haruchika Aoki , Roberto Locatelli and Emilio Alzamora . The season started with a wet race at Suzuka which was won by Japanese wildcard rider Osamu Miyazaki , who was riding for Daytona Yamaha team. Honda 's wildcard rider Daisaku Sakai and Aprilia 's Randy de Puniet completed

216-503: A double at Brno , to move within 21 points of the championship lead held by Max Biaggi . On 16 July 2020, it was announced that Melandri would replace Leon Camier at the Barni Ducati Racing Team for the remainder of the season 2020. Camier was not recovered from a shoulder injury during winter testing at Motorland Aragon after fracturing his shoulder and wrist. In September 2020, another retirement announcement

270-1582: A good launch at the start but also work well throughout the race. Hayden eventually won the rider championship and Honda reclaimed the constructors' championship. The RC211V was retired when rules dictated a switch to 800 cc (49 cu in) capacity; Honda's bike for 2007 was the RC212V . In five seasons of MotoGP racing the Honda RC211V won 48 races out of 82 (58.5%) contested. It also won three-rider world championships (Rossi 2002, 2003 and Hayden 2006) and four constructor titles (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006). Specifications as per manufacturer: Title won Rider: ( Valentino Rossi 2002 , 2003 ) ( Nicky Hayden 2006 ) Constructors: ( 2002 , 2003 2006 ) Race Won: 48 2002: Rossi 11, Barros 2, Ukawa 1 (14 in total) 2003: Rossi 9, Gibernau 4, Biaggi 2 (15 in total) 2004: Gibernau 4, Tamada 2, Biaggi 1 (7 in total) 2005: Melandri 2, Hayden 1, Barros 1 (4 in total) 2006: Melandri 3, Pedrosa 2, Hayden 2, Elias 1 (8 in total) Poles: 46 2002: Rossi 7, Barros 1, Kato 1 (9 in total) 2003: Rossi 9, Biaggi 3, Sete Gibernau 1 (13 in total) 2004: Gibernau 5, Tamada 2, Biaggi 1 (8 in total) 2005: Gibernau 5, Hayden 4, Barros 1 (10 in total) 2006: Pedrosa 4, Hayden 1, Stoner 1 (6 in total) ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) (the teams are bold indicate factory teams;

324-481: A mechanical failure on the first lap, while Nieto won the race to reduce the gap to 27 points. Melandri finally clinched the 250cc title in the Australian Grand Prix with a close win over Nieto. They fought until the last lap and Melandri won the race with just 0.007 second gap at the finish line. Melandri became the youngest 250cc world champion at the age of 20 years and 74 days. Melandri ended

378-536: A race. Among other changes in 2003, power was increased from about 200 to 240 bhp. Traction control was also added. For 2004, a new, inverted rear suspension link was added, and a new exhaust was introduced at the Sachsenring round. The RC211V riders were unable to keep Rossi (now on a Yamaha YZR-M1 ) from winning his fourth premier-class championship, and no clear candidate appeared to take over Rossi's role of lead development rider for Honda. 2005 would be

432-434: A regular. He rode Honda 125cc bike under Benetton Honda Team. He went on to impress many as he earned his first podium in the fourth race of the season, where he finished second in his home Grand Prix at Mugello , Italy . His brilliant debut season continued when he won his first grand prix at Assen TT , Netherlands . He won this race at the age of 15 years and 324 days which made him the youngest ever Grand Prix winner, at

486-557: A second place in the season-opening race at Phillip Island , having started 13th on the grid. Mixed results followed at Imola , Assen and Monza , but Melandri achieved BMW's first Superbike World Championship victory at the European round at Donington Park , leading home teammate Leon Haslam in a 1–2 finish. Melandri and Haslam collided in the meeting's second race, denying a weekend sweep for BMW. From that point, Melandri won races at Miller Motorsports Park , Motorland Aragón and

540-423: A single point difference. Failure in securing his first world championship did not stop his rise to 250cc world championship in 2000. Melandri was signed by Aprilia in 2000 to replace another Italian Valentino Rossi who left the team and 250cc class for 500cc class . He was highly expected to take over Rossi's shoes and to win the 250cc world championship . However, his debut season did not start as well as

594-443: A year with Honda, won the opening race at Suzuka under wet condition. He then extended his lead in the championship with two second places in the second and third race behind Manuel Poggiali and Lucio Cecchinello respectively. In the following race at Le Mans , Cecchinello won his second successive race ahead of Poggiali, while Vincent finished fourth. Poggiali then took over the championship lead from Vincent after winning

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648-454: Is an Italian retired motorcycle road racer who is a five-time premier class race winner. He is the 2002 250 cc World Champion and runner-up in 125 cc, MotoGP and Superbike World Championship . He competed in the MotoGP class from 2003 to 2010 and then a brief return with Aprilia in 2015. Melandri's best years in MotoGP came in 2005 and 2006 with these two seasons being

702-457: The 2006 season . With Rossi struggling to find consistency, he was a major challenger, along with Ducati 's Loris Capirossi and Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa . He again won at Istanbul, despite starting from fourteenth on the grid. He managed further wins at Le Mans , France and Phillip Island , Australia . He finished the season in fourth position, just one point behind Capirossi. In 2007, Melandri and Elias remained in

756-509: The 2009 MotoGP season to ride alongside his new teammate John Hopkins on 19 August. He then ended the season in a lacklustre 17th position. Kawasaki pulled its factory involvement for 2009, leading to fears that Melandri would not have a ride, however a rescue package was agreed to allow Melandri to run the bike for a one-bike semi-works Hayate Racing team, despite his concerns over the bike's poor rear traction. In 2009 Melandri achieved his first podium since 2007 with his 2nd-place finish at

810-504: The 250cc world title . He became the youngest 250cc world champion at the age of 20 years and 74 days until Dani Pedrosa broke his record in 2004. After securing the 250cc world title in 2002, Melandri moved up to MotoGP class to spearhead Yamaha factory team alongside Carlos Checa in 2003 replacing the departing Max Biaggi . The Yamaha was less competitive than Honda and Ducati, and although Melandri at times showed good speed, he struggled to turn this into good results. He finished

864-629: The Dutch TT . Melandri continued his streak to six consecutive wins and extended his lead in the standings to 37 points after the Czech Republic Grand Prix . Nieto won the Portuguese Grand Prix for Aprilia's tenth consecutive victory. Nieto, who crashed in lap 13, recovered from seventh position to win the rain-soaked race over Melandri. Aprilia's winning streak was broken when Yamaha 's Sebastián Porto won

918-535: The Honda Gresini team, now sponsored by Hannspree . Honda 's 800cc machine was not competitive. Melandri finished on the podium at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Le Mans  – at this point he and works rider Dani Pedrosa were the only Honda riders with multiple podiums. He ultimately finished fifth overall, second only to Pedrosa among the Honda riders. Immediately after Melandri's 3rd-place finish in

972-593: The Italian Grand Prix . Poggiali won the following race at Catalunya with a late overtake at the finish line over Spanish teenager Daniel Pedrosa . Two weeks later, Pedrosa bounced back to win his first ever race in the 2002 Dutch TT , with Poggiali finishing in second place. Vincent, who led the championship in the first four races, returned to the top of the podium with two consecutive wins at Donington Park and Sachsenring . After finishing third behind Cecchinello and Pedrosa at Brno , Vincent won

1026-546: The Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix under wet race condition. Rookie Toni Elías won the following race at Motegi after a last-lap battle with Melandri. Melandri finished second and increase his lead over Nieto in the championship standings to 52 points. With 52 points lead and three races to go, Melandri only need to finish in front of Nieto in the Malaysian Grand Prix to clinch the championship. However, he suffered

1080-803: The Superbike World Championship from 2011 with the Yamaha World Superbike Team, replacing Cal Crutchlow , who moved to the Tech3 team in MotoGP. On 2 October 2011, Melandri signed a contract to ride with the BMW World Superbike team for the 2012 season, after Yamaha elected not to continue with a factory team after the 2011 season. Melandri achieved BMW's best result, at the time, in the Superbike World Championship, with

1134-483: The Superbike World Championship in 2011, earning 22 wins in his first six seasons finishing among the top five every time. Melandri retired from racing after the 2019 Superbike World Championship . After a brief return to Superbike in 2020 and racing in four rounds Melandri retired again. Melandri was born in Ravenna . He was introduced to racing by a former rider Loris Reggiani at the age of six. He came through

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1188-478: The following race at Phillip Island while Vincent finished in fourth to reduce the lead back to eight points. In the last race of the season at Valencia , Vincent finished second behind Pedrosa to clinch the 125cc title while Poggiali finished in seventh place. Vincent ended the season with 273 points and five race wins, 19 points ahead of defending champion Poggiali who scored 254 points and four race wins. Pedrosa and Cecchinello finished third and fourth in

1242-529: The 2007 USA's MotoGP round, Ducati announced that he would join its factory team alongside Casey Stoner for 2008 and 2009. But 2008 proved disastrous, with a run of uncompetitive runs often leaving him behind the semi-works Alice Team bikes of Toni Elías and Sylvain Guintoli . At Assen he qualified last and ran there throughout. A rumoured mid-season move to Kawasaki did not occur, however Melandri announced that he would be joining Kawasaki Racing Team for

1296-534: The British GP, HRC gave Hayden a new chassis, but Hayden complained that he didn't have enough time to test it. Hayden had started the year with the same clutch as Pedrosa, but four rounds later it was shelved in favor of a clutch Hayden had used in previous years; at the Brno round, he had a problem with the clutch that contributed to a 9th-place finish. Honda and Hayden had difficulty finding a clutch that would allow

1350-505: The FIM confirmed the 2002 calendar. On 4 December 2001, the FIM confirmed that the dates of the Rio and Valencian Community Grands Prix had swapped places. The following sixteen Grands Prix were scheduled to take place: The following changes are made to the regulation for the 2002 season: FIM released a 20-rider entry list on 13 March 2002. Àlex Crivillé , who was listed on the entry list,

1404-609: The RC211V bike. In that race, Kawasaki returned to the world championship after 20 years absence. Kawasaki, with their four-stroke Ninja ZX-RR , raced as wildcards in the last four races of the season as a preparation before entering the championship full-time in the following season. In the following race at Sepang , Yamaha expanded their four-stroke presence by providing the YZR-M1 bikes to Tech 3 pair Olivier Jacque and Shinya Nakano . Another Yamaha rider, Norifumi Abe , raced

1458-522: The Rookie of the Year. All races were won by the four-stroke bikes, while the two-strokes only managed to record five podiums finishes. Honda won the constructors championship with 390 points and 14 wins, followed by Yamaha who won the other two races. Repsol Honda team won the teams championship by winning 12 races and scoring 564 points from Rossi and Ukawa. Marlboro Yamaha and Honda Pons who won two races each

1512-583: The championship. In doing so, he was the first Honda rider to win back-to-back races for nearly two years, winning the final two rounds of the MotoGP Championship at Istanbul and in Valencia . Although he never really challenged his best friend Valentino Rossi for the title, he finished the season strongly as runner-up, with a total of two wins and five other podiums. Melandri rode for Gresini's Fortuna Honda team alongside Toni Elías in

1566-436: The expectation. He struggled to adapt to bigger bike and higher competition. He failed to win any Grand Prix in 2000, managing only 4 podiums, all came late in the season. Despite these problems, he still finishes the season at 5th position overall. In 2001, his performances were improving. He managed to win his first 250cc Grand Prix at Sachsenring , Germany . However, it was his only win in 2001. Despite managing to appear on

1620-407: The fifth YZR-M1 on the grid for the last two races of the season. Rossi ended the season with 355 points from 11 wins and four second places. Biaggi finished second to Rossi with 215 points and two race wins. Ukawa and Barros completed the top four with 209 and 204 points respectively. Previous year's 250cc champion Daijiro Kato finished in seventh position with two podium finishes and was named as

1674-422: The first time in four years Honda lost the constructors' championship in the premier class. The RC211V chassis underwent frequent revision and rewelding, with reversions to the 2003 design. After the race at Brno, Honda tested a new bike which both Hayden and Biaggi said was an improvement, and was thereafter known as the "Brno bike". In 2006, the RC211V came in three flavors: the "Brno bike" to be ridden by Hayden,

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1728-440: The following: The RC211V was replaced in 2007 by the RC212V . In 2002, the debut year of the RC211V, Honda and Valentino Rossi dominated by winning the constructors' championship by more than 100 points over their nearest rival. The bike underwent small modifications over the season, but it did not as yet have traction control so much as a handlebar-mounted power management system with three settings for different needs during

1782-602: The four-stroke Yamaha YZR-M1 its first win in the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno , while Rossi had to retire due to tyre problems. In that race, Honda also expanded their four-stroke presence by providing the RC211V bike for Honda Gresini rider Daijiro Kato . Rossi then won two consecutive races in Portugal and Brazil , clinching the world championship in the latter. In the Pacific Grand Prix , Honda Pons rider Alex Barros won his first race riding

1836-486: The new four-stroke bikes while all the satellite teams raced with the 500cc two-stroke bike. The season also marked the return of Dunlop and the entry of Bridgestone to the premier class. Dunlop supplied the tyres for Suzuki, Aprilia, Yamaha WCM and Pramac Honda . Bridgestone supplied the tyres for Team Roberts and Kanemoto Racing . Michelin supplied the tyres for the remaining six teams. However, after only two races, Suzuki switched back to Michelin tyres for

1890-579: The only seasons he won races in MotoGP, the same as title rival Nicky Hayden . Melandri finished runner-up in 2005 to Valentino Rossi with two wins. The 2006 season is regarded as his best ever as he won three races and finished 24 points behind eventual champion Nicky Hayden. In both these seasons he won more races than title rival Hayden, finishing ahead of Hayden in 2005 and just behind him in 2006. Melandri has 22 race wins in Grand Prix motorcycle racing including five in MotoGP. Melandri switched to

1944-492: The podium on 9 occasions, he never really challenged for the championship. He finished the season in 3rd position behind champion Daijiro Kato and runner-up Tetsuya Harada . 2002 proved to be Melandri's chance to shine. With 2001 champion and runner-up, Kato and Harada moved to MotoGP class, he became the strongest contender for the championship. He dominated the season by collecting 9 wins and 3 additional podiums. After challenging for world championship for years, he finally won

1998-488: The podium. In the following race at Welkom , Aprilia's Marco Melandri took his second career 250cc win. Fonsi Nieto then took his first ever race win in the Spanish Grand Prix . Nieto also took the lead in the championship standings from de Puniet and Franco Battaini . Nieto then won the following race at Le Mans before Melandri won the next three races and overtook the championship lead from Nieto after

2052-410: The previous year's 500cc two-stroke bikes. Defending champion Valentino Rossi won his second premier class title by winning 11 races and scoring 355 points. He clinched the title at the Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix , with four races left in the season. The 250cc title was won by Marco Melandri who won nine races and scored 298 points. He clinched the title at the Australian Grand Prix and became

2106-532: The ranks from minibikes, motocross and then the Italian and European 125cc championship. In 1997, Melandri won the Italian 125cc championship, also finishing 4th in European 125cc championship. In addition to his European success, he made his debut in 125cc world championship at Brno , Czech Republic as a wild card rider. After impressing in Italian and European championship in 1997, Melandri finally got his chance to compete in 1998 125cc world championship as

2160-458: The remainder of the season. Valentino Rossi , riding the four-stroke Honda RC211V bike, won the first race of the season at Suzuka under wet conditions. Suzuki's test rider Akira Ryō , who raced as a wildcard entry, and Yamaha's Carlos Checa completed the all four-stroke podium. Rossi's teammate, Tohru Ukawa , won the second race before Rossi went on to dominate the championship by winning seven consecutive races. Max Biaggi handed

2214-697: The riders are bold indicate the rider rode a factory bikes in the satellite teams) 2002 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season The 2002 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 54th F.I.M. Road racing World Championship season. The season consisted of 16 races, beginning with the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix on 7 April 2002 and ending with the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix on 3 November. The premier class , now renamed MotoGP, introduced new rules and regulations which allowed 990cc four-stroke bikes to race alongside

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2268-412: The season in fifteenth position without collecting any wins or podiums. He joined Yamaha's satellite team, Tech3 in 2004 alongside Norick Abe in order to make way for the incoming Valentino Rossi . This season, he again struggled to get top results. Although he managed to collect two consecutive podiums, a series of crashes and retirements kept him out of the top 10 in overall standings. He finished

2322-569: The season in twelfth position. Released from his Yamaha contract after the 2004 season, Melandri was the surprise choice of boss Fausto Gresini to join Sete Gibernau in the Movistar Honda team for the 2005 MotoGP campaign. Melandri was successful with Movistar Honda in 2005, with a consistent run of podium finishes early in the season, ultimately taking his first two wins in the final two races of 2005 to clinch second place in

2376-502: The season with 298 points from nine race wins, three second-place finishes and one fourth-place finish. Nieto finished second in the standings with 241 points and four wins, followed Honda's Roberto Rolfo and rookie Toni Elías with 219 and 178 points respectively. Elías, who recorded one race win and four further podium finishes, was named as the Rookie of the Year. Aprilia won the constructors championship with 382 points and 14 race wins from Melandri, Nieto and Elías. Honda finished second in

2430-528: The standings with 244 points but failed to record any race win. Yamaha, who won two races courtesy of Miyazaki and Porto's wins in the wet, finished third with 211 points. The 125cc entry list was headlined by defending champion Manuel Poggiali and two-time championship runners-up Youichi Ui and Noboru Ueda . There were five other riders who have previously won a 125cc race: Masao Azuma , Lucio Cecchinello , Stefano Perugini , Simone Sanna and Arnaud Vincent . Arnaud Vincent, who returned to Aprilia after

2484-519: The standings with three wins each. The Rookie of the Year title was won by Finnish rider Mika Kallio who scored 78 points with the Red Devil Honda team. Aprilia won the constructors championship with 341 points and eight race wins from Vincent and Cecchinello. Honda finished second in the standings with 285 points and four wins from Pedrosa and Azuma while Gilera finished third with 254 points and three wins from Poggiali. On 18 October 2001,

2538-417: The time. Overall, he won two Grand Prix in his debut season and therefore he finished the season at 3rd position in overall standings behind champion Kazuto Sakata and runner-up Tomomi Manako . He remained on the same bike and team in 1999, where he bid to win the 125cc world championship . He went on to win 5 Grand Prix but failed to win the championship, finishing second behind Emilio Alzamora with just

2592-497: The top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points. Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points. Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points. Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap Marco Melandri Marco Melandri (born 7 August 1982)

2646-547: The wet French motorcycle Grand Prix . His only other top six finishes were in the first three races, as the team tailed off bike development and Melandri finished tenth overall. At Brno he battled Mika Kallio for sixth before a penultimate-lap collision between the two. For 2010, Melandri returned to Gresini Honda, with a factory-spec RC212V bike from the start. Full factory support had sometimes been promised, but not provided, during his first Gresini spell. The team made set-up errors in its initial testing. Melandri moved to

2700-440: The wet Portuguese Grand Prix and retook the championship lead from Poggiali. Honda riders, Masao Azuma and Pedrosa, won the following two races at Rio de Janeiro and Motegi while Poggiali reduced Vincent's lead to just eight points courtesy of two podium finishes and Vincent's mechanical problem at Motegi. Vincent extended his lead by winning the Malaysian Grand Prix while Poggiali finished in fourth. However, Poggiali won

2754-484: The youngest ever champion in the 250cc class. Arnaud Vincent won the 125cc title by 19 points difference over defending champion Manuel Poggiali . The title was decided in the last race of the season at Valencia with Vincent finishing in second place to secure the title. The season marked the start of a new era in the premier class with the arrival of 990cc four-stroke bikes. Four factory teams, Repsol Honda , Marlboro Yamaha , Suzuki and Aprilia , raced with

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2808-463: Was made midway through the season, due to Melandri's disappointing results and the hope of the Barni team finding better WSBK success with their younger rider Samuele Cavalieri, promoted from their entry in the Italian national CIV Superstock race class. In November 2014, it was announced that Melandri would return to Gresini, Aprilia 's factory team for the 2015 season. However, after failing to score

2862-484: Was replaced by Pere Riba at the Antena 3 Yamaha d'Antín team before the start of the season. For 2002 Michelin and Dunlop entered the sport as tire manufacturers beginning a 6 year Tyre war . The FIM released a 25-rider entry list on 13 March 2002. Alex Hofmann , who was listed on the entry list, withdrew before the start of the season. FIM released a 33-rider entry list on 13 March 2002. Points were awarded to

2916-424: Was second and third respectively. The 250cc class was certain to have a new champion as previous year's champion Daijiro Kato and 1993 champion Tetsuya Harada , who finished second to Kato last year, both moved up to the MotoGP class. Only three riders remained from previous year's top six: Marco Melandri , Roberto Rolfo and Fonsi Nieto . Melandri was the only rider in the 250cc class who has previously won

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