Moto GP News
Following his crash at Mugello, Valentino Rossi missed out on starting a Grand Prix for the first time in his career. This brings to an end a record sequence of 230 successive Grand Prix starts.
As shown in the following table, the only other rider who has had an unbroken sequence of more than 200 Grand Prix starts is Rossi’s great rival Max Biaggi, who competed in 201 successive GP events starting with the 250cc race at Donington in 1992 and ending with his last GP race at Valencia at the end of 2005.
Third rider on this list is MotoGP rider Randy de Puniet, who has the longest currently ongoing sequence of successive GP events. De Puniet is on target to reach the milestone of 200 races without missing by the end of this season, if he competes in each of the MotoGP races in 2010.
The sequence of successive race starts by Rossi included 170 in the premier-class, which is also a record as shown in the second table.
Following Rossi’s accident at Mugello the current rider with the longest still ongoing sequence of successive starts in the premier class is Colin Edwards, who has not missed a race since making his Grand Prix debut at the first race of 2003.
Riders with longest sequence of starts at successive GP events
1.Valentino Rossi 230 (125cc, 250cc, 500cc, MotoGP)
2.Max Biaggi 201 (250cc, 500cc, MotoGP)
3.Randy de Puniet 186 (125cc, 250cc, MotoGP)
4.Alex de Angelis 165 (125cc, 250cc, MotoGP)
5.Alex Barros 158 (500cc/MotoGP)
Riders with longest sequence of successive starts in the premier-class
1.Valentino Rossi 170 South Africa/2000/Welkom France/2010Le Mans
2.Alex Barros 158 Brazil/1992/ Interlagos Dutch TT/2003/Assen
3.Max Biaggi 127 Japan/1998/Suzuka Valencia/2005/Ricardo Tormo
4.Shinya Nakano 124 Portugal/2001/Estoril Valencia/2008/Ricardo Tormo
5.Colin Edwards 123 Japan/2003/Suzuka Italy/2010Mugello
