Racing Motorcycles

Yamaha's YZR-M1 came to the track in 2002, with Max Biaggi who had arrived from Honda onboard. The YZR-M1 was thought to be the complete package, and able to take Yamaha back to winning races.

The Yamaha YZR 500 is equipped with a "Deltabox" aluminum frame, that weighs in at 131 kg. It is powered by a water-cooled four cylinder, two-stroke engine equipped with the "Yamaha Power Valve System" (Y.P.V.S.).

In the 2002 World Motorcycle Grand-Prix season, bikes with 2-stroke 500cc engines raced alongside bikes with 4-stroke 990cc engines. The result of this new format was as everyone expected it to be, 4-stroke engine bikes like Repsol Honda RC211V dominated.

Triumph's Scrambler 1200 XC and XE models try to plant a foot in two separate moto worlds, and they mostly succeed. By looks alone, you'd peg these as classically styled casual scrambler rigs, but dig deeper - and take a gander at the price tag - and you'll wonder if maybe they're meant more for the hardcore adventure crowd.

Born on February 16th, 1979, Valentino Rossi is an Italian professional motorcycle racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion. He is widely considered one of the best motorcycle racers of all time.