title: Gallipoli campaign

text: The significance of the Gallipoli campaign is felt strongly in both Australia and New Zealand, despite their being only a portion of the Allied forces; the campaign is regarded in both nations as a "baptism of fire" and had been linked to their emergence as independent states. Approximately 50,000 Australians served at Gallipoli and from 16,000 to 17,000 New Zealanders. It has been argued that the campaign proved significant in the emergence of a unique Australian identity following the war, which has been closely linked to popular conceptualisations of the qualities of the soldiers that fought during the campaign, which became embodied in the notion of an "Anzac spirit".


title: Gallipoli campaign

text: The landing on 25 April is commemorated every year in both countries as "Anzac Day". The first iteration was celebrated unofficially in 1916, at churches in Melbourne, Brisbane and London, before being officially recognised as a public holiday in all Australian states in 1923. The day also became a national holiday in New Zealand in the 1920s. Organised marches by veterans began in 1925, in the same year a service was held on the beach at Gallipoli; two years later the first official dawn service took place at the Sydney Cenotaph. During the 1980s, it became popular for Australian and New Zealand tourists to visit Gallipoli to attend the dawn service there and since then thousands have attended. Over 10,000 people attended the 75th anniversary along with political leaders from Turkey, New Zealand, Britain and Australia. Dawn services are also held in Australia; in New Zealand, dawn services are the most popular form of observance of this day. Anzac Day remains the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in Australia and New Zealand, surpassing Remembrance Day (Armistice Day).


title: Gallipoli campaign

text: Along with memorials and monuments established in towns and cities, many streets, public places and buildings were named after aspects of the campaign, especially in Australia and New Zealand. Some examples include Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera in Queensland, and the Armed Forces Armoury in Corner Brook, Newfoundland which is named the Gallipoli Armouries. Gallipoli also had a significant impact on popular culture, including in film, television and song. In 1971, Scottish-born Australian folk singer-songwriter Eric Bogle wrote a song called "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" which consisted of an account from a young Australian soldier who was maimed during the Gallipoli campaign. The song has been praised for its imagery, evoking the devastation at the Gallipoli landings. It remains widely popular and is considered by some to be an iconic anti-war song.


title: Gallipoli campaign

text: In Turkey, the battle is thought of as a significant event in the state's emergence, although it is primarily remembered for the fighting that took place around the port of Çanakkale, where the Royal Navy was repulsed in March 1915. For the Turks, 18 March has a similar significance as 25 April to Australians and New Zealanders, it is not a public holiday but is commemorated with special ceremonies. The campaign's main significance to the Turkish people lies in the role it played in the emergence of Mustafa Kemal, who became the first president of the Republic of Turkey after the war. ""Çanakkale geçilmez"" (Çanakkale is impassable) became a common phrase to express the state's pride at repulsing the attack and the song "Çanakkale içinde" ("A Ballad for Chanakkale") commemorates the Turkish youth who fell during the battle. Turkish filmmaker Sinan Cetin created a movie called "Children of Canakkale".


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: Detroit: Become Human is a 2018 adventure video game developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The plot follows three androids: Kara (Valorie Curry), who escapes her owner to explore her newfound sentience and protect a young girl; Connor (Bryan Dechart), whose job is to hunt down sentient androids; and Markus (Jesse Williams), who devotes himself to releasing other androids from servitude.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: "Detroit: Become Human" is based on Quantic Dream's 2012 technology demonstration "Kara", which also starred Curry. To research the setting, the developers visited Detroit, Michigan. Writer and director David Cage completed the script in over two years. An engine was built to complement the game and hundreds of actors were cast before shooting and animation. Philip Sheppard, Nima Fakhrara, and John Paesano served as composers for Kara, Connor, and Markus, respectively. It was released for the PlayStation 4 in May 2018 and Microsoft Windows in December 2019.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: "Detroit: Become Human" was met with generally favourable reviews from critics, who praised the setting, visuals, story, main characters, their voice actors, the impact choices had on the narrative, and flowchart feature, but criticised the motion controls, mishandling of historical and thematic allegories, and aspects of the plot and characters. In addition to being Quantic Dream's most successful launch, the game is also the company's best-selling game, with sales exceeding 6 million.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: "Detroit: Become Human" is an adventure game played from a third-person view, which is subject to a set and controllable perspective. There are multiple playable characters who can die as the story continues without them; as a result, there is no "game over" message following a character's death. The right analogue stick on the DualShock controller is used to interact with objects and observe one's surroundings, the left is for movement, and R2 scans an environment for possible actions; the motion controls and touchpad are also employed. Via quick time events and dialogue decisions, the story will branch out depending on which choices are made. These can be viewed in a flowchart during and immediately after a given chapter; the player can rewind to certain points in the story to reshape decisions in the event of regret. Certain scenes feature countdowns, which force quick action. Levels abound with magazines for players to read. The playable characters are:


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: Obtaining clues by highlighting and analysing the environment with augmented vision allows Connor to reconstruct and replay events that occurred before. The more information Connor collects within an allotted time, the greater the chance of success in deciding a course of action. Markus has the power to grant androids free will and calculate the outcomes of certain acts.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: Caretaker android Markus and his owner return home and alert the police of a suspected burglary. In confronting the perpetrator, Markus bypasses his programming, thereby becoming a deviant android with full autonomy and sentience, leading the police to shoot him at arrival. Markus awakes in a landfill of broken androids and, after escaping, discovers Jericho, a wrecked ship and safe haven for deviants. There, Markus rallies the others to fight for their rights. They perform several acts of civil disobedience, which catch the public's attention and get more androids to join. This may culminate with the FBI attacking Jericho depending on Connor's actions. If he survives, Markus and the others set up a final march to an android recycling centre, resulting in either a war breaking out or the president opening peace talks.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: Police investigator android Connor is sent by the CyberLife corporation to assist Lieutenant Hank Anderson, an alcoholic who hates androids. In the course of their investigation into an outbreak of deviants, they either develop a bond or enmity , potentially resulting in Hank committing suicide. During his hunt for Markus' group, Connor starts to deviate, but can also preserve his programming. He eventually locates Jericho, where he can become a deviant himself. If he defects, Connor infiltrates CyberLife Tower and attempts to convert all androids there into deviants. This will result in an altercation with another "machine" Connor model, named Connor-60, who may potentially have Hank hostage depending on if he is alive or not. This can result in either Hank, Connor, or Connor-60's death. If not, he attempts to snipe Markus during the final protest, but is stopped by a SWAT team or Hank. If peace is achieved, Connor can choose whether or not to shoot Markus during a speech.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: Kara, a housekeeper android for Todd Williams and his daughter Alice, escapes with her after he attacks them resulting in Kara becoming a deviant. The two travel across Detroit, intending to enter Canada, which has no specific laws involving androids and where they will be safe. Kara and Alice befriend another android named Luther along the way, who joins them on their journey. They seek the aid of an android sympathizer, who points them to Jericho to obtain passports. They may get caught up in the potential FBI attack on Jericho, which may result in Luther, Kara, and Alice's deaths. Kara also learns that Alice is in fact an android, replacing the daughter taken away by Todd's wife who left him due to his drug addiction. They can reach Canada by bus or boat, survive an android recycling centre in which Markus may attack if the player chooses to fight a war, or in either case die trying.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: "Detroit: Become Human" had a development budget of . The game is based on Quantic Dream's 2012 PlayStation 3 technology demonstration "Kara", which received strong reactions and an award at the LA Shorts Fest. It starred Valorie Curry, who would reprise the title role. Writer and director David Cage wanted to make the demo into a full game, despite not originally having planned to, because he was curious as to what would happen next. He took inspiration from Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity Is Near". Androids were designed with reference to artificial organs, how their energy would be generated, and human eye movement. An android's abilities were determined by each of their given profession. Experts in artificial intelligence were consulted to discern which technological advancements were the most feasible. Detroit was chosen as the setting to revitalise a city that had succumbed to economic decline after a historical contribution to American industry. The developers travelled to Detroit to conduct field research, taking pictures, visiting abandoned buildings, and meeting people.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: In late 2013, Cage was in preproduction on "Detroit: Become Human". Cage's script – between 2,000 and 3,000 pages – was first relayed to the design team while programmers created the graphics as well as a new game engine with advancements in features like rendering, dynamic lighting, shading, bokeh, and physical cameras. Quantic Dream improved their game engine's depth of field after Mark Cerny, lead architect of the PlayStation 4, came to evaluate it. In October 2016, the screenplay was completed after more than two years. Writer Adam Williams was hired to help finish and flesh out the story. Cage used charts and diagrams to see where the choices would end up; penning "five or six thousand pages of notes", he likened the story to a Rubik's Cube. Two scenes were cancelled for how violence was portrayed. The casting extended to Los Angeles, London, and Paris in search for more than 250 actors to portray 513 roles. The actors were scanned in 3D, whose models were then made into characters. Shooting and animation followed, and on 8 September 2017, the performance capture was finished after 324 days. "Detroit: Become Human" was worked on by the 180 staff members at Quantic Dream and also outsourced to the Philippines, China, Vietnam, and India. The game has 35,000 camera shots, 74,000 unique animations, and 5.1 million lines of code.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: The characters Connor and Markus are played by Bryan Dechart and Jesse Williams, respectively. Clancy Brown, Lance Henriksen, and Minka Kelly portray supporting characters Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Carl Manfred, and North, respectively. There are three different composers, one for each playable character: Philip Sheppard for Kara, Nima Fakhrara for Connor, and John Paesano for Markus. Sheppard's cello sequence in Kara's theme was inspired by the flames of a log fire, whereas the motif layered over it came from the two syllables in her name. Fakhrara created custom instruments and used vintage synthesizers in order that the sound could represent the robotic nature of Connor. Paesano's music was made with the idea that it would be "like a church hymn", personifying Markus' transformation into a leader. Sheppard recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the English Session Orchestra; Paesano was at Synchron Stage Vienna with the Synchron Stage Orchestra. Director of photography Aymeric Montouchet used "thick grain and shaky long lens" with shallow depth of field for Kara, "small, tight grain" and a blue palette for Connor, and orange and white colours for Markus. The game was released to manufacturing on 23 April 2018, after four years.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: "Detroit: Become Human" was announced on 27 October 2015 at a Sony press conference during Paris Games Week. It appeared at E3 2016 and E3 2017, showing trailers of additional playable characters and gameplay. Following E3 2017, Cage confirmed that the game would be released in 2018, later specified as the first or second quarter therein. The game was released on 25 May 2018 for PlayStation 4. If pre-ordered, "Detroit: Become Human" would come with a dynamic theme and digital soundtrack, while the digital deluxe edition included a copy of "Heavy Rain", a digital art book, digital soundtrack, two dynamic themes, and ten avatars. The soundtrack was available for streaming on 22 June 2018.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: After the 2017 Paris Games Week, a new trailer was criticised for its portrayal of child abuse, specifically a scene in which a 10-year-old girl named Alice is attacked by her father. Dechart defended the trailer, saying the story "elicits empathy". A demo of the first scene, "The Hostage", was made available on the PlayStation Store on 24 April 2018, accompanied by an Amazon Alexa skill that guides the player through the demo. The game was promoted in Japan with the live action short film, "Tokyo: Become Human". This was followed by a launch trailer and two animated English-language shorts introducing Elijah Kamski, the creator of the androids and CEO of the CyberLife corporation, and Chloe, the first android to pass the Turing test. During the March 2019 Game Developers Conference, video game and software developer Epic Games announced that Quantic Dream would release "Detroit: Become Human", along with "Heavy Rain" and "Beyond: Two Souls", for Microsoft Windows, to be self-published by Quantic Dream and exclusively available on the Epic Games Store for one year. Pre-orders opened in November 2019, and the game was released on the Epic Games Store on 12 December. Following the release on Epic Games, on 18 June 2020, "Detroit: Become Human" was released on Steam.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: "Detroit: Become Human" received generally favourable reviews. "Destructoid"s Chris Carter said that, despite tiring of Quantic Dream's penchant for detective stories, he enjoyed its execution and Connor's "calm demeanor and android origin". Carter praised the setting, calling it "believable" and "captivating", while also noting that the "smaller moments" were among its strengths. Michael Goroff of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" favoured the fact that the playable characters were androids because their second-class citizenship status created an "effective viewpoint". The controls and quick-time events were also subject to approval. Goroff lauded the "incredibly satisfying and sometimes unexpected" impact of the collective decisions and declared this the game's "biggest accomplishment". Writing for "Game Informer", Kimberley Wallace agreed with Carter's assessment of the "little moments" and said the character development was "fun to watch", well-handled, and the "highlight of the game". She appreciated how the branching narratives affected the latter parts and complimented Quantic Dream for the "impressive" achievement. Paul Tamburro at "Game Revolution" wrote that "Detroit: Become Human" boasted a "compelling world ... enriched by fantastic performances and state-of-the-art motion-capturing". He commended Curry, Dechart, and Williams for their "engrossing performances" and said the game was among "the most well-acted" around. He also felt the choices "drastically" changed the story. Peter Brown of "GameSpot" welcomed the variety of cycling between characters for ensuring player engagement. The game's "most dreadful and horrific scenes" made a considerable impression on Brown, some of which he found to be "truly unforgettable". Additionally, he remarked that the visuals were beautiful and "captivating to behold". "GamesRadar+"s Andy Hartup praised Quantic Dream for making "an interactive story capable of provoking genuine, honest, and varied emotions". He thought the consequences of the decisions were "utterly delightful", albeit rarely, and saw the setting as "beautiful". Hartup liked the character models, calling them "the most remarkable you’ll see in gaming", and favoured the eyes in particular. On the decision-making aspects, he proclaimed "Detroit: Become Human" "the new gold standard ... for meaningful choice in gaming". Lucy O'Brien at "IGN" wrote that the game "manages to be a frequently moving melodrama that bends to your choices with meaningful results". She also praised the acting of Curry, Dechart, and Williams, observing different benefits to each character. O'Brien appraised the general plot as "big, ambitious fun" and the environments as "beautifully detailed". Like Goroff, Wallace, Tamburro, and Hartup, O'Brien found the "branching paths to be multiple and deep", while also complimenting the flowcharts, a feature Colm Ahern of "VideoGamer.com" singled out as one of the game's few redeeming qualities.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: Conversely, Carter criticised the game's "surface level exploration" of the Ship of Theseus, questioning the director's subtlety. He blamed the weakness of Kara's story on Cage's writing, called the portrayal of domestic and substance abusers "cartoonish", and complained about occasional "wooden acting". Goroff's only annoyance with the controls concerned its motion-sensitive feature, especially disparaging its use in quick-time events. Wallace thought Markus' story was the worst of the three, citing "predictable speeches" and "black-and-white decisions" as the primary problems. She suggested that the narrative suffered "heavy-handed" attempts at historical parallels, and noted, as Carter did, that its representation of abuse seemed "exploitive due to the over-the-top antics". She felt the use of the motion controls and touchpad was "unintuitive" and wanted more variety from the gameplay. Tamburro faulted the opening act for its "slow" and "dull" interactions, the quick-time events for their abundance, and occasional story paths for being "highly questionable". Brown viewed Markus as "remarkably lacking in nuance" and historical allegories as "on-the-nose" and "distracting". He commented that the flowchart exposition was "ultimately detrimental" to immersion and wished there was a way of disabling it. Hartup disliked the moments in which themes were either "fumble[d]" or "pushed too far". O'Brien observed multiple plotholes and found the exposition and dialogue to be "clumsy". Ahern wrote in his verdict, ""Detroit: Become Human" wants to move you. ... The thing is, it really doesn't. ... when the narrative is as cringey and ham-fisted as it is you won't want to play through it multiple times".


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: "Detroit: Become Human" reached fifth place on the UK chart after two days of release. In its first week, the game topped both the overall sales and console sales charts. Though it sold fewer copies than "Beyond: Two Souls" and "Heavy Rain" in that region, Cage and executive producer Guillaume de Fondaumière claimed "Detroit: Become Human" was the studio's most successful launch yet. The NPD Group later confirmed it had a sales growth in excess of twenty percent over "Heavy Rain". It was the third best-selling video game overall, generating the third-most revenue in the US, and sold the most out of any title on the PlayStation Store in May 2018, having been available for six days. The game released in Japan with 39,548 units (which rose to 56,480 after two weeks), second to "". In the UK, the second week also saw it become the second best-selling video game (behind "FIFA 18").


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: The game sold one million copies after the first two weeks. For the week ending 10 June, its physical sales fell to fourth place in the UK. Its Japanese sales hit 74,458 copies on 17 June, but dropped from the country's console chart one week later, when the game was placed ninth on the UK individual formats chart. Two months after release, a total of 1.5 million people had played the game. It had sold more than 2 million copies by that December, approaching 3 million the following month. In October 2019, worldwide sales had reached 3.2 million copies on PlayStation 4. A press release from Quantic Dream reported in August 2020 that it had sold over five million copies across all platforms. It surpassed 6 million copies by July 2021, making it the company's best-selling game.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: In 2017, "Detroit: Become Human" won the award for "Best of E3" at "GameSpot"s Best of E3 Awards, and was nominated for "Best PlayStation 4 Game" and "Best Adventure Game" at "IGN"s Best of E3 Awards, and for "Adventure Game" at "Hardcore Gamer"s Best of E3 Awards.


title: Detroit: Become Human

text: On 20 July 2022, it was announced that the game would receive a manga spinoff, titled "Detroit: Become Human Tokyo Stories." Set in Japan, the manga follows an android idol named Reina during the events of the game. According to Kotaku, the series is written under the supervision of Quantic Dream. It was released on 22 July 2022.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Susan Denise Atkins (May 7, 1948 – September 24, 2009) was an American convicted murderer who was a member of Charles Manson's "Family". Manson's followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969. Known within the Manson family as Sadie Mae Glutz or Sexy Sadie, Atkins was convicted for her participation in eight of these killings, including the most notorious, the Tate murders in 1969. She was sentenced to death, which was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment when the California Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences issued prior to 1972. Atkins was incarcerated until her death in 2009. At the time of her death, she was California's longest-serving female inmate, long since surpassed by her fellow murderous Manson family members Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins was born on May 7, 1948 in San Gabriel, California. She was of English, Irish, Scottish, and German descent. The second of three children, she grew up in northern California. According to Atkins, her parents, Jeanne (née Jett) and Edward John Atkins, were alcoholics. Her mother died of cancer in 1964. Over the next three years, Susan's life was disrupted by the gradual breakup of her family, frequent relocations, and her leaving home to live independently. Until she was 13 years old, Atkins and her family lived in a middle-class home in the Cambrian Park area of San Jose, California. She was described by those who knew her as a quiet, self-conscious girl who belonged to her school's glee club and the local church choir. Two weeks before her mother was hospitalized for the final time, Susan arranged for members of the church choir to sing Christmas carols under her bedroom window. After Jeanne Atkins' death, relatives were asked to help look after Susan and her two brothers.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Edward Atkins eventually moved to Los Banos, California, with Susan and her younger brother Steven. When he found work on the San Luis Dam construction project, Edward left the two children behind to fend for themselves. Susan took a job during her junior year in school to support herself and Steven. Atkins had been an average student in Leigh High School in San Jose, but her grades deteriorated when she entered Los Banos High School. During this time, she lived with various relatives.


title: Susan Atkins

text: In December 1966, Atkins asked two classmates to go to San Francisco with her over the Christmas school break. In 1967, Atkins met Manson when he played guitar at the house where she was living with several friends. When the house was raided several weeks later by the police and Atkins was left homeless, Manson invited her to join his group, who were embarking on a summer road trip in a converted school bus painted completely black. She was nicknamed "Sadie Mae Glutz" by Manson and a man who was creating a fake ID for her at the time. Atkins later claimed to have believed Manson was Jesus. The growing "Manson Family" settled at the Spahn Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in southern California, where, on October 7, 1968, Atkins bore a son by Bruce White, whom Manson called Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz. Atkins' parental rights were terminated once she was convicted of the murders, and no one in her family would assume responsibility for the child. Her son was adopted and renamed from the time of her incarceration in 1969. She had no further contact with him.


title: Susan Atkins

text: During the summer of 1969, Manson and his commune at Spahn's Ranch were attracting the attention of the police, who suspected them of auto thefts and were suspicious of the high number of underage runaways. In an attempt to raise money to move away to the desert, Manson encouraged drug dealing. Purportedly, a botched drug scam by Family member Charles "Tex" Watson led Manson to confront and shoot a man named Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe. Manson believed he had killed Crowe, and he further believed Crowe was a Black Panther. Neither was true. Nonetheless, Manson feared retaliation from the Black Panthers and pressured his followers for more money. During this time someone suggested that Family acquaintance Gary Hinman had just inherited a large sum of money. Manson hoped Hinman could be persuaded to join the commune and contribute his purported new inheritance.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Manson sent Atkins, Bobby Beausoleil, and Mary Brunner to Hinman's home on July 25, 1969. When Hinman said that he had not inherited any money, Beausoleil beat him severely. When Hinman still insisted that he had no inheritance, Manson showed up in person and swung at his head with a sword, slicing his face and severely cutting his ear. Manson directed Atkins and Brunner to stay behind and tend to Hinman's wounds. Two days later, and after a phone call from Manson, Beausoleil had Hinman sign over the registrations to his cars and then fatally stabbed him twice. Beausoleil left a bloody hand print on the wall along with the words "Political Piggy" reportedly placed there in hopes of implicating the Black Panthers. Beausoleil was arrested on August 7, 1969, when he was found asleep in one of Hinman's vehicles. He was still wearing the bloodstained clothing he wore during the crime. The murder weapon was hidden in the tire well of the car's trunk.


title: Susan Atkins

text: On the evening of August 8, 1969, Manson gathered Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel in front of Spahn's Ranch and told them to go with Charles "Tex" Watson and do as they were told. In Atkins' grand jury testimony, she stated that while in the car, Watson told the group they were going to a home to get money from the people who lived there and to kill them. Atkins wrote "PIG" on the front door in Sharon Tate's blood.


title: Susan Atkins

text: The following night, August 10, 1969, Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, Watson, Linda Kasabian, Leslie Van Houten, and Steve "Clem" Grogan, went to the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Manson and Watson entered the home and tied the couple up. He then went back to the car and sent Krenwinkel and Van Houten inside to do as Watson said.


title: Susan Atkins

text: In later years, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi stated that he believed the murders had numerous, disparate motives, all of which he believed served to benefit Manson.


title: Susan Atkins

text: On August 16, 1969, the police raided Spahn's Ranch in connection with auto thefts. The charges were later dropped and everyone was released. Soon after their release, Manson and his followers left Spahn Ranch for Barker Ranch, another isolated location. However, the authorities were still suspicious of the group, raided the new location in October 1969, and arrested the group again on auto theft charges. It would be the last time many of them would be free. Just after this arrest, another member of the group implicated Atkins in the Hinman murder and she was charged with that crime.


title: Susan Atkins

text: While in jail, Atkins befriended two middle-aged career criminals, Virginia Graham and Veronica "Ronnie" Howard, to whom she confessed her participation in the Tate/LaBianca murders (for example, telling the women that she had stabbed Tate and tasted Tate's blood). They subsequently reported her statements to the authorities. This, combined with information from other sources, led to the arrests of Atkins and others involved in the Tate/LaBianca murders (Van Houten, Krenwinkel, Kasabian, and Watson).


title: Susan Atkins

text: Virginia Graham and Ronnie Howard later received the bulk of the $25,000 award offered by Roman Polanski for solving the murder case. Their testimony was corroborated by extensive forensic evidence, the testimony of Linda Kasabian, and the grand jury testimony of Atkins herself.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins agreed to testify for the prosecution, in exchange for the State of California not seeking the death penalty against her. Atkins appeared before a grand jury, and provided extensive testimony concerning the events on the nights of August 8 and 9, 1969.


title: Susan Atkins

text: When asked if she were willing to testify, knowing that she was not being given immunity, and might incriminate herself in her trial testimony, she responded, "I understand this, and my life doesn't mean that much to me. I just want to see what is taken care of."


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins' grand jury testimony was extremely lurid, and provides remarkable details concerning the Tate murders. Atkins told the grand jury that she stabbed Frykowski in the legs and held Tate down while Watson stabbed her. She also testified that Tate had pleaded for her life and that of her unborn child. In response, Atkins replied, "Woman, I have no mercy for you." She told the grand jury that her words were intended to reassure herself, and not addressed to Tate. Atkins also denied her earlier statement to Howard and Graham that she had tasted Tate's blood.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Prior to the trial, Atkins repudiated her grand jury testimony in a written statement filed with the court, and discontinued her cooperation with the prosecution. As a result, the State of California sought the death penalty in her case.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins alleged that the reason that she repudiated her grand jury testimony was that "Manson sent his followers to suggest that it might be better for me and my son if I decided not to testify against him".


title: Susan Atkins

text: There is an ongoing debate as to the exact details of the killings, and the accuracy of Atkins' grand jury testimony. In the book, "Helter Skelter", the prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi wrote that he viewed Atkins' testimony as "substantially truthful," with a few omissions concerning the events of the second night.


title: Susan Atkins

text: However, Atkins herself later gave a slightly different account of the crimes. In a 1976 interview, after she had become a born-again Christian, Atkins claimed that she did not actually stab anyone during the Tate murders, and that Tex Watson was responsible for the murder of Sharon Tate. In his 1978 memoir, Watson declared himself responsible for all of Tate's injuries, characterizing Atkins' initial confessions as exaggeration, jail house bragging, and a bid for attention.


title: Susan Atkins

text: From the early 1970s onward however, Atkins had told parole boards that her original grand jury testimony was truthful and accurate as to what transpired in the Tate home; however, it didn't completely match the forensics and autopsy reports. Atkins may have done this in order to obtain favor with the parole boards.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Manson, Krenwinkel, Van Houten, and Atkins went on trial on June 15, 1970. Watson was later tried separately as he was at the time in Texas fighting extradition. Kasabian, who had no direct involvement in the murders, was offered, and accepted, legal immunity.


title: Susan Atkins

text: During the sentencing phase of the trial, Atkins testified that she stabbed Tate. She stated that she had stabbed Tate because she was "sick of listening to her, pleading and begging, begging and pleading". Little credibility was given to Atkins' testimony in general, as it frequently contradicted known facts. She claimed "(Manson) told us that we were going to have to get on the stand and claim we had deliberately and remorselessly, and with no direction from him at all, committed all the murders ourselves".


title: Susan Atkins

text: Throughout the trial, Atkins and her co-defendants attempted to disrupt proceedings and were noted for both their lack of remorse for their victims and lack of concern for their own fate. They sang Manson-penned songs while being led to the courtroom. All four defendants were sentenced to death on March 29, 1971. Atkins was transferred to California's new women's death row in April 1971.


title: Susan Atkins

text: After the Tate/LaBianca trial, Atkins was convicted for the Hinman murder. She pleaded guilty to the charges against her. She testified she had not known Hinman was to be robbed or killed, although Atkins subsequently contradicted herself on this point in her 1977 autobiography.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins arrived on California's death row on April 23, 1971, but her death sentence was automatically commuted to life in prison the next year following the California Supreme Court's "People v. Anderson" decision, which invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972. In 1977, Atkins published her autobiography, "Child of Satan, Child of God", in which she recounted the time she spent with Manson and the family, her religious conversion, and her prison experiences.


title: Susan Atkins

text: From 1974 onwards, Atkins said she was a born-again Christian after seeing a vision of Jesus Christ in her cell. She became active in prison programs, teaching classes and received two commendations for assisting in emergency health interventions with other inmates, one of which was a suicide attempt.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins married twice while in prison. Her first marriage was to Donald Lee Laisure on September 2, 1981. Atkins became Laisure's 35th wife, but the two divorced after he sought to marry yet again.


title: Susan Atkins

text: She married a second time, in 1987, to James W. Whitehouse, a graduate of Harvard Law School who was 15 years her junior who represented Atkins at her 2000 and 2005 parole hearings. He maintained a website dedicated to her legal representation.


title: Susan Atkins

text: During Atkins' 2000 parole hearing, Sharon Tate's sister, Debra, read a statement written by their father, Paul, which said in part, "Thirty-one years ago I sat in a courtroom with a jury and watched with others. I saw a young woman who giggled, snickered and shouted out insults; even while testifying about my daughter's last breath, she laughed. My family was ripped apart. If Susan Atkins is released to rejoin her family, where is the justice?"


title: Susan Atkins

text: In April 2002, Atkins told a "Los Angeles Times" reporter of her work to discourage teenagers from idolizing Manson and her hope of someday leaving prison to live in Laguna Beach, California.


title: Susan Atkins

text: In 2003, Atkins filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that she was a "political prisoner" due to the repeated denials of her parole requests regardless of her suitability.


title: Susan Atkins

text: On June 1, 2005, Atkins had her 17th parole hearing; this resulted in a three-year denial. She was given less than six months to live and subsequently requested a "compassionate release" from prison. In June, Atkins' attorney, Eric P. Lampel, stated that Atkins' condition had deteriorated to the point that she was paralyzed on one side, could only talk "a little bit", and could not sit up in bed without assistance. The hearing was attended by various family members of the victims, including Debra Tate and members of the Sebring family, and they requested that her parole be denied. She received a four-year denial.


title: Susan Atkins

text: In April 2008, it was revealed that Atkins had been hospitalized for more than a month with an undisclosed illness that was subsequently reported to be terminal brain cancer. Her left leg had been amputated.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Atkins, said he was not opposed to her release given her current condition, adding that she had paid "substantially, though not completely, for her horrendous crimes. Paying completely would mean imposing the death penalty." Bugliosi stated he supported her release to save the state money. The cost for Atkins' medical care since she was hospitalized on March 18, 2008, "reportedly surpassed $1.15 million with additional cost of over $300,000 to guard her hospital room." Bugliosi stated he was challenging the notion that "just because Susan Atkins showed no mercy to her victims, we therefore are duty-bound to follow her inhumanity and show no mercy to her."


title: Susan Atkins

text: Former prosecutor Stephen R. Kay, who prosecuted Manson supporters, opposed Atkins' release, stating:


title: Susan Atkins

text: Kay also stated that he had attended about 60 parole hearings related to the murders and spent considerable time with the victims' families, witnessing their suffering.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley stated that he was strongly opposed to the release, saying in a letter to the board it would be "an affront to people of this state, the California criminal justice system and the next of kin of many murder victims." Cooley wrote that Atkins' "horrific crimes alone warrant a denial of her request" and that she "failed to demonstrate genuine remorse and lacks insight and understanding of the gravity of her crimes." Suzan Hubbard, director of adult prisons in California, also recommended against granting Atkins' request. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger opposed Atkins' release, stating:


title: Susan Atkins

text: Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas also opposed Atkins' release, stating that "It would be a grave miscarriage of justice to burden the citizens of Orange County by paroling her to Orange County, where she can enjoy the comforts of her husband, home and mercy she did not show Sharon Tate [or] her unborn baby."


title: Susan Atkins

text: The Board of Parole Hearings considered Atkins' request for compassionate release during its monthly meeting on July 15, 2008. During the 90-minute hearing, emotional pleas were made by both supporters and opponents of Atkins' release. The public hearing limited speakers' comments to five minutes each. After the board heard the case (as well as other agenda items), it retired to closed session for final deliberations. Due to her failing health, Atkins herself did not attend the hearing.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Debra Tate, by this point the only surviving immediate relative of murder victim Sharon Tate, spoke in opposition to a compassionate release for Atkins, stating, "She will be set free when judged by God. It's important that she die in incarceration." Pam Turner, a niece of Sharon Tate, also opposed Atkins' release, stating, "If she were capable of comprehending what our family's been through, she would be ashamed to come before this parole board and ask such a request." Anthony DiMaria, the nephew of murder victim Thomas Jay Sebring, also opposed Atkins' release, stating, "You will hear various opinions with respect to this today, but you will hear nothing from the nine people who lie in their graves and suffered horrendous deaths at the hands of Susan Atkins."


title: Susan Atkins

text: Gloria Goodwin Killian, director of ACWIP (Action Committee for Women in Prison) and a Pasadena legal researcher and prisoner advocate, spoke in support for Atkins' compassionate release, arguing, "Susan has been punished all that she can be. Short of going out to the hospital and physically torturing her, there is nothing left anyone can do to her. The people who are suffering are the people you see in this room today." In July 2008, Atkins' husband, James W. Whitehouse, told the board, "They tell me we're lucky if we have three months. It's not going to be fun. It's not going to be pretty."


title: Susan Atkins

text: Ultimately, after final deliberations the 11 members of the California Board of Parole Hearings unanimously declined to refer Atkins' request for compassionate release to the sentencing court. The decision—posted on its website—meant that Atkins' request would not be forwarded to the Los Angeles Superior Court that sentenced her, which would have had the final say as to whether she would be released. On September 24, 2008, Atkins was transferred back to the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California to the facility's skilled nursing center.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins' minimum eligible parole date was October 6, 1976. Her initial parole consideration hearing was on September 14, 1976, at which time she was denied parole. Between 1976 and 2009, she was denied parole a total of 13 times. Prior to her 2009 parole hearing, a website maintained by Atkins' husband claimed that she was paralyzed over 85 percent of her body and unable to sit up or be transferred to a wheelchair. For the final time, Atkins was denied parole on September 2, 2009.


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins died on September 24, 2009, at the Central California Women's facility in Chowchilla. A prison spokesperson announced to reporters that her cause of death was listed as natural causes. Her husband, James Whitehouse, subsequently released a statement saying that "Her last whispered word was 'Amen'."


title: Susan Atkins

text: Atkins was portrayed by Nancy Wolfe in the 1976 made-for-TV film "Helter Skelter", and by Marguerite Moreau in that film's 2004 remake. She was played by Maureen Allisse in "The Manson Family" (2003), by Anjelica Scannura in "Manson, My Name Is Evil" (2009), by Devanny Pinn in "House of Manson" (2014), by Ambyr Childers in the 2015 TV series "Aquarius", by Sarah Paulson in "", by Kristine Hayworth in "Prettyface", by Marianne Rendon in "Charlie Says", and by Mikey Madison in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood".


title: Inside Job (2021 TV series)

text: Inside Job is an American adult science fiction animated sitcom created by Shion Takeuchi for Netflix. The series premiered on October 22, 2021. Takeuchi, a former "Gravity Falls" writer, acts as showrunner and is an executive producer alongside "Gravity Falls" creator Alex Hirsch and "BoJack Horseman" director Mike Hollingsworth. The series received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the animation, voice acting and social commentary. The second part of the first season was released on November 18, 2022. The series was renewed for a second season in June 2022.


title: Inside Job (2021 TV series)

text: "Inside Job" is a workplace comedy set in a world where many conspiracy theories are real. It is centered on an American shadow government organization Cognito, Inc., which is one of six organizations that control the world (the others being the Illuminati, the Atlantians, the Reptoids, the Catholic Church and the Juggalos). The series follows a team led by a tech genius and her new partner as they work in the organization alongside reptilian shapeshifters, a human–dolphin hybrid, and a sapient mushroom from hollow Earth.


title: Inside Job (2021 TV series)

text: In April 2019, Netflix ordered 20 episodes of the series. Billed as the first adult animated series produced in-house by Netflix Animation, it was announced in June 2021 that the regular characters in the series would be voiced by Andrew Daly, Bobby Lee, John DiMaggio, Tisha Campbell and Brett Gelman. It is the first series produced as part of a deal Takeuchi made in 2018 with Netflix to "develop new series and other projects exclusively for Netflix." A sneak peek of the series was shown at the Studio Focus Panel for Netflix at the Annecy International Animation Festival in June 2021. The series is the first series created by Shion Takeuchi, part of her deal with Netflix, with Hirsch saying he was inspired by 1990s shows like "The X-Files". Hirsch and Takeuchi were also inspired by pages of "Weekly World News".


title: Inside Job (2021 TV series)

text: In an interview with Petrana Radulovic of Polygon, Takeuchi said the idea for the show came from her days in college, said there isn't "anything too weird for the show" as long as it develops the characters, saying that there are subject matters which are a "little too adult for all-ages" that people her age deal with, saying it "feels good to be able to talk about" them in the show. She said that doing an adult animation is intimidating.


title: Inside Job (2021 TV series)

text: The series premiered on Netflix on October 22, 2021. Between October 24 to 31 the series was watched for 21,240,000 hours on Netflix globally. The second part of the first season was released on November 18, 2022. On June 8, 2022, Netflix renewed the series for a second season.


title: Inside Job (2021 TV series)

text: The series received generally positive reviews from critics. Charles Bramesco of "The Guardian" described the series as hewing close to "the surrealism-of-the-week format" while Nick Schager of "The Daily Beast" described it as a workplace comedy which "jovially mocks our brain-fried reality" with numerous "sharp jabs at corporate power/gender dynamics" while highlighting absurdity of conspiracy theories and argued that the show shared some similarities with "Futurama". Daniel Feinberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" was more critical, saying that conspiracy theories are played for laughs for "fitful results" and claimed that the show reduced Reagan's problems to issues with her father, but praised Brett for having a "believable" character arc and having a "lot of energy." Similar to Feinberg, Kevin Johnson of "The A.V. Club" criticized the show for limiting on how far things are taken, influenced by shows like "American Dad!", "The Venture Bros.", "Archer", and "Akira", but praised the premises and jokes in the series funny, and the "talented creative team." Chris Vognar of "Datebook" was more positive, saying that the series is "smart and fast on its feet," and noted it remains in the real world with "office politics, sexism, classism, jingoism, nostalgia" and more, while getting viewers to care about Reagan. Burkely Hermann of "The Geekiary" took a different view, pointing out that "weirdness and mature subject matters" are central to the show, comparing the show to series like "Mr. Robot", "Futurama", "Disenchantment", and described Reagan, as a character with social anxiety, as not unique, pointing to characters in "Cleopatra in Space", "The Owl House", "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power", and "Steven Universe", along with noting it doesn't "fall into the usual animated sitcom model" and pointing to "queer vibes" in the series. Aaron Pruner of "Inverse" noted similar themes, saying that the series is, at its core, a story about dysfunctional families at work and at home. Tracy Brown of "LA Times" said the series allows "audiences to laugh at conspiracy theories again" even as they provide a "backdrop to explore the characters and how they navigate the world."


title: Inside Job (2021 TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 79% approval rating with an average rating of 7.20/10, based on 14 critic reviews.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Valentino Rossi (; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed "The Doctor", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest , with some labelling him as the greatest ever. He has nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name, seven of which were in the premier 500cc/MotoGP class. He holds the record of most premier class victories, with 89 victories to his name. He won premier class World Championships with both Honda and Yamaha. He is also the only road racer to have competed in 400 or more Grands Prix, and rode with the number 46 for his entire career.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After graduating to the premier class in 2000, Rossi won the final 500cc World Championship (becoming the last satellite rider to win the top-class title to date) and the 8 Hours of Suzuka with Honda in 2001. He also won MotoGP World Championships with the factory Honda Team in 2002 and 2003 and continued his run of back-to-back championships by winning the 2004 and 2005 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha. He lost the 2006 title with a crash in the final round at Valencia. In 2007 he ultimately finished third overall, before regaining the title in 2008 and retaining it in 2009. After a season marred by a broken leg and no title defence, he left Yamaha to join Ducati, replacing Casey Stoner for the and seasons, and endured two losing seasons with the Italian marque.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi returned to Yamaha in and finished fourth in the standings followed by three successive runner-up positions in , and . His best chance of winning a tenth title came in 2015, where he led the standings for most of the season, finishing five points behind teammate Jorge Lorenzo, the eventual champion. was the final season he achieved over 200 points in the championship and he took his final race victory at the 2017 Dutch TT at the age of 38. After three winless seasons with the factory Yamaha team, he moved to Petronas SRT for 2021, retiring after only one season with the satellite Yamaha team and failing to achieve a podium for the first time in a career spanning 26 seasons in Grands Prix. The dominant force in MotoGP in the 2000s, all of Rossi's seven premier class titles came in this decade, including 77 race wins and 48 pole positions. In the ensuing 12 seasons, he managed 12 race wins and seven pole positions. During this period, Rossi was the 6th most successful rider in terms of total race victories.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi was inducted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame as an official Legend by the FIM at the awards ceremony after the conclusion of the 2021 season. His legendary #46 bike number was retired at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix. Rossi owns the Racing Team VR46, which competes in both Moto2 and MotoGP as of 2022. He also plans to be involved in and administering his motorcycle racing team VR46. In addition to his team management role, Rossi competes full-time in GT World Challenge Europe, driving an Audi R8 LMS for Team WRT.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi was born in Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, and when a child the family moved to Tavullia. Son of former motorcycle racer Graziano Rossi, he began riding at a very young age. Rossi's first racing love, however, was karting. Fuelled by his mother, Stefania's, concern for her son's safety, Graziano purchased a kart as a substitute for the bike. However, the Rossi family trait of perpetually wanting to go faster prompted a redesign; Graziano replaced the 60 cc motor with a 100 cc national kart motor for his then 5-year-old son.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi won the regional kart championship in 1990. After this, he took up minimoto and, before the end of 1991, had won numerous regional races.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi continued to race karts and finished fifth at the national kart championships in Parma. Both Valentino and Graziano had started looking at moving into the Italian 100cc series, as well as the corresponding European series, which most likely would have pushed him into the direction of Formula One. However, the high cost of racing karts led to the decision to race minimoto exclusively. Through 1992 and 1993, Valentino continued to learn the ins and outs of minimoto racing.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In 1993, Rossi was given his first opportunity to ride a 125cc motorcycle by former world champion Paolo Pileri, who became a team manager after retiring from competition. Later in 1993, with help from his father, Virginio Ferrari, Claudio Castiglioni and Cagiva factory racing team manager Claudio Lusuardi, Rossi competed in the 125 cc Italian Sport Production Championship on a Cagiva Mito alongside teammate Vittoriano Guareschi. At his first race meeting with the Cagiva team, he damaged his motorcycle in a first-corner crash no more than a hundred metres from the pit lane. He finished ninth that race weekend.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Although his first season in the Italian Sport Production Championship was varied, he achieved a pole position in the season's final race at Misano, where he would ultimately finish on the podium. By the second year, Rossi had been provided with a factory Mito by Lusuardi and won the Italian title.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In 1994, Rossi raced in the Italian 125 CC Championship with a prototype called Sandroni, using a Rotax engine. The bike was built by Guido Mancini, a former rider and mechanic who had worked, in the past, with Loris Capirossi. A documentary about Mancini, called "Mancini, the Motorcycle Wizard" (Il Mago Mancini), was released in 2016 by director Jeffrey Zani and explains the birth of the motorcycle and the relationship between Rossi and the mechanic.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In 1995, Rossi switched to Aprilia and won the Italian 125 CC Championship. He was third in the European Championship.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: The 1996 championship season marks the debut of Rossi in grand prix motorcycle racing. He had some success in his first year, scoring consistent points and sometimes finishing just off the podium from his first race at Malaysia to Italy, but retired in both the French and Dutch rounds. He scored more points by finishing fifth at the German race but suffered another retirement at the British round.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At the 1996 Austrian Grand Prix, Rossi scored his first ever podium in the form of a third place after battling with Jorge Martínez. At the following race, which was the 1996 Czech Republic Grand Prix, he scored his first ever pole position on Saturday and his first ever race victory in the 125cc class on an AGV Aprilia RS125R on Sunday, after fighting with Jorge Martínez.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After his victory, Rossi continued to score points in Imola, retired twice at the Catalan and Rio rounds, but managed to score even more points at the last round in Australia. He finished his first season in ninth place with 111 points.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In his second year, the 1997 championship season, he moved from the AGV team to the official Nastro Azzurro Aprilia Team and went on to dominate the season. He immediately started with a pole and race win at the 1997 Malaysian Grand Prix but retired at the next race in Japan. In the next two races he bounced back by winning the Spanish and Italian rounds. He finished second in Austria, just 0.004 seconds behind race winner Noboru Ueda, then scored a flurry of race victories from France to Britain, including three pole positions at the Dutch, Imola and German rounds.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: He scored a third place at the Czech round, and eventually picked up two more wins at the Catalan and Indonesian races. He finished in sixth place in Australia. He won the 1997 125cc title, winning 11 of the 15 races with 321 points. Throughout the 1997 season, he dressed up as Robin Hood and carried a blow-up doll on a few occasions. This fun-loving character gained him many fans throughout this and the future seasons.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In 1998, the Aprilia RS250 was reaching its pinnacle and had a team of riders in Rossi, Loris Capirossi and Tetsuya Harada. Rossi's year started off poorly, retiring in the first two rounds; Japan and Malaysia. He came back from this by scoring three consecutive second places in Spain, Italy and France, but retired once more at the Madrid round.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: He scored his first victory at the 1998 Dutch TT, winning with more than 19 seconds from second-place Jürgen Fuchs. He had to retire at the British grand prix but bounced back by scoring a podium place in Germany, finishing third.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: He retired once more in the Czech Republic, crashing out of the race, but a flurry of victories from Imola to Argentina saw him end in second place in his rookie year in the class with 201 points, just 23 points behind 1998 250cc champion Loris Capirossi.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In his second year in the 250cc class, 1999, Rossi became the sole driver of the official Aprilia Grand Prix Racing team, and once again dominated the season. He started the season off with a pole position in Malaysia on Saturday but finished fifth on race day. He would pick up further points in Japan and went on to win his first race of the season at the third round in Spain.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi scored his second pole position of the season in France, but suffered a retirement on Sunday. He bounced back with back-to-back wins in Italy and Catalunya and finished second at the Dutch round, narrowly losing out on the race victory with Capirossi. He won three more races from Britain to the Czech Republic, picking up yet another pole position in Germany.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi finished second in Imola and off the podium in eighth place at the Valencian Community round. He finished the season strong with three more race wins: one in Australia, where he fought hard with Olivier Jacque, one in South Africa and one in Rio de Janeiro. After that, he finished in third position at the Argentinian round after scoring pole position on Saturday.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: He won the title in Rio de Janeiro with one round left and finished the season in first place with 309 points, granting him his first 250cc world championship title and his second title overall.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After achieving the 250cc World Championship in 1999, Rossi was given a seat with Honda in what was then the highest class in World Championship motorcycle racing, the 500cc. Retired five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan, who had also had Jeremy Burgess as chief engineer, worked with Rossi as his personal mentor in his first year at Honda. It was also the first time Rossi raced against Max Biaggi.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi started off his first year in the 500cc class with two retirements in the first two rounds: he crashed out of the South African and Malaysian rounds. He scored points at the third round in Japan and picked up two third-place finishes in Spain and France. Rossi picked up additional points in Italy and another third-place podium finish at the Catalan round. He picked up additional points by finishing in sixth position at the 2000 Dutch TT.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: It took nine races before Rossi won on the Honda, but his first 500cc victory came after a fierce battle with the Suzuki of Kenny Roberts Jr. and the Aprilia of Jeremy McWilliams. On a track that was affected by ever-changing weather conditions and despite only qualifying in seventh position on Saturday, the Italian chose the right tyres and stormed through the field to battle with Roberts Jr. and McWilliams and win his first race in the 500cc class.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After his victory in Donington Park, Rossi went on to score consecutive podium places in the next three races: two second-place finishes in Germany and the Czech Republic and one third-place finish in Portugal. He retired from the Valencian Community round after crashing out of the race.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi won the Rio round. However, it was Kenny Roberts Jr. who clinched the 2000 title after finishing in sixth position, which gave him an unassailable lead in the championship. After his second 500cc win, Rossi went on to finish second at the Pacific race and third at the Australian races. He finished second in his rookie season in the 500cc class with 209 points.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi dominated his second season in the 500cc class, scoring 11 wins and only finishing off the podium three times. He started the year off with a victory in Japan after battling with Max Biaggi. He then achieved back-to-back poles and race wins at the South African and Spanish rounds. He finished the French race in third place but crashed out of the Italian round whilst leading the wet race after taking another pole on Saturday.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi bounced back by taking pole position and winning the following race in Catalunya, despite making a poor start that dropped him to 15th place at the end of the first lap. He scored a second place after narrowly losing out on the race victory with Biaggi at the Dutch round. He followed this up with another win: this time the British GP.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi finished a disappointing seventh in Germany but then took back-to-back wins in the Czech Republic (gaining a 29-point advantage over Biaggi) and Portugal. He had another disappointing result at the Valencian Community round when he finished in 11th place, but then scored a string of race wins from the Pacific to the Rio rounds.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi won his first 500cc title with 325 points and third title overall, 106 points ahead of Biaggi, who became Rossi's main rival during the season. As of 2020, Rossi is the last satellite rider to clinch the title in the premier class. During the season, Rossi also teamed up with American rider Colin Edwards for the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race aboard a Honda VTR1000SPW, becoming the first Italian rider to win the race. The pair won the race despite Rossi's lack of experience racing superbikes. In 2002, 500cc two-strokes were still allowed, but saw the beginning of the 990cc four-stroke MotoGP class, after which the 500cc machines essentially became obsolete.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: The inaugural year for the MotoGP bikes was 2002, when riders experienced teething problems getting used to the new bikes.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi started the year off strong and won the first race in wet conditions in Japan, beating several local riders who were racing as wildcards. He also took the pole position in the first five races.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi finished second in South Africa, where his teammate Tohru Ukawa took his first and only victory in the MotoGP class. He then scored victories from the Spanish to the German rounds, including two pole positions at the Dutch and British GPs. He registered his only retirement of the season at the Czech Republic round before scoring back-to-back wins in Portugal and Rio, two second-place finishes at the Pacific and Malaysia, another victory in Australia and a second-place finish at the final race at the Valencian Community.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi went on to win eight of the first nine races of the season, eventually claiming 11 victories in total. He clinched his second title at the Rio de Janeiro race, his first in the inaugural class, and fourth title overall with four races remaining.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After a strong 2002, Rossi continued to dominate in 2003 even though he got some competition from emerging Spaniard Sete Gibernau. Rossi took pole and won the first round of the season in Japan, but the race was marred by the death of Japanese rider Daijiro Kato who crashed at the 130R and hit the barrier at high speed in the ensuing Casio Triangle. Rossi finished second at the South African round before winning again in Spain, despite falling back to ninth place on the opening lap.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi scored three pole positions in the next three races and finished second in France after battling with Gibernau, who overtook him on the last lap. He won in Italy and came second again in Catalunya. He took two third-place finishes at the Dutch and British rounds – the latter the result of a ten-second penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, gifting victory to Max Biaggi in the process – and another second place in Germany, once again battling Gibernau who denied him victory with just 0.060 seconds separating both when they crossed the finish line after a titanic battle between the two.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After Germany, Rossi won three more races and scored two more poles: a pole position converted into a victory came at the Czech Republic where he battled with championship rival Gibernau once more, Rossi overtaking him on the final lap to take victory by just 0.042 seconds. A regular victory came in Portugal and another pole-victory came at the Rio de Janeiro rounds. He finished second at the Pacific GP after a mistake made him run off into the gravel and relegated him to ninth, which made it impossible for him to catch race winner Biaggi in the closing laps.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi ended his season in style by scoring three consecutive poles and race wins at the Malaysian, Australian and Valencian Community rounds. The Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island is considered by many observers to be one of Rossi's greatest career moments due to the unique circumstances. After being given a ten-second penalty for overtaking Marco Melandri under yellow flags due to a crash by Ducati rider Troy Bayliss, front runner Rossi pulled away from the rest of the field after being informed of the penalty, eventually finishing more than 15 seconds ahead, overcoming the penalty and winning the race.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi won the 2003 title in Malaysia, his third in the top class and fifth title overall, with two races remaining. He won the final race at the Valencian Community round with a special livery, this race marking his final win for Honda.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: With increased scepticism that the reason for his success was the dominance of the RC211V rather than Rossi, they parted ways at the end of the season. Mid-season rumours pointed towards a possible move to Ducati, which sent the Italian press into a frenzy; the concept of Rossi on the great Italian bike seemed too good to be true. Ducati did indeed try to seduce Rossi into riding their MotoGP bike, the Desmosedici, but for numerous reasons Rossi passed the offer up. Critics say that compared to the other manufacturers, Ducati had a significant way to go before being competitive even with Rossi at the helm. This proved to be the truth with Ducati's lacklustre performance in the 2004 season, which had actually been worse than their inaugural year in MotoGP in 2003. In his 2005 autobiography, "What If I'd Never Tried It?", Rossi offered another reason for choosing Yamaha over Ducati, saying that the mindset at Ducati Corse was similar to the one he was trying to escape from at Honda. Ultimately, Rossi signed a two-year contract with rivals Yamaha reportedly worth in excess of US$12 million; a price no other manufacturer, even Honda, was willing to pay.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi made the switch from Honda to Yamaha and signed a two-year contract with the team. Many doubted his move and would expect Biaggi, who joined the Honda Pons team a year earlier, as well as Gibernau to be genuine contenders for the title this year.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: With the traditional first venue of the season at Suzuka having been taken off the calendar due to safety concerns following the fatal accident of Daijiro Kato last year, the 2004 season started at Welkom in South Africa. Rossi took the pole on Saturday and won the South African race after a hard-fought battle with Max Biaggi, becoming the first ever rider to win consecutive races with different manufacturers, having won the final race of the previous season on his Honda bike. Rossi took another pole in Spain but his fourth-place finish on Sunday saw the end of a 23-race podium streak. He once again had to miss out on the podium in France but responded with three consecutive victories in Italy, Catalunya and the Netherlands, a race that he won from pole after a hard-fought battle with Gibernau.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Arriving at the Rio de Janeiro race, Rossi crashed out when he lost the front of his M1 and slid into the gravel whilst battling with Makoto Tamada, Max Biaggi, Nicky Hayden and Alex Barros, forcing him to retire from the race in the process. After the Rio round, Rossi found himself off the podium once more in fourth place at the German GP but bounced back by winning the British round from pole. He then went on to finish second in the Czech Republic, first in Portugal and second once again in Japan.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At the inaugural Qatar round, controversy arose when Rossi's team was penalised by starting at the back of the grid for grid cleaning. Gibernau won the race, whilst Rossi crashed out of the race when he was in sixth position. Despite this second DNF of the season, Rossi scored a pole that he converted into a win in Malaysia and two more regular victories at the Australian and Valencian Community rounds, battling with the likes of Troy Bayliss, Nicky Hayden, Makoto Tamada and Max Biaggi to take his ninth victory of the year.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi finished first with 304 points to Gibernau's 257, with Max Biaggi third with 217 points. He clinched his third MotoGP, fourth top class and sixth overall championship at the penultimate race of the season at Phillip Island, beating Gibernau by just 0.097 seconds to do so.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In 2005, Rossi and the Factory Yamaha team proved to be even more dominant than the year before. Rossi immediately began the season by capturing pole and winning the first round in Spain in a controversial manner, colliding with the Gresini Honda of Sete Gibernau on the last lap. He scored a second-place finish in Portugal but then went on to take five consecutive victories from the Chinese to the Dutch rounds, including three pole positions in France, Italy and Assen.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At the first United States round since 1994, Rossi struggled and finish in third place whilst local hero Nicky Hayden won the race. Rossi bounced back by picking up three more wins, starting from a pole-victory in a rainy Great Britain and two regular victories in Germany, holding off Gibernau on the last lap, and the Czech Republic.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi's first and only non-podium and retirement of the season came at the Japanese round, when he collided with Marco Melandri during a failed overtaking attempt. After Motegi, Rossi scored a podium in the form of second place in Malaysia and back-to-back wins in Qatar and Australia, beating Nicky Hayden for the victory. He finished the season with a second and third-place finish at the inaugural Turkish and the Valencian Community rounds.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi finished the season in first place with a total of 367 points, 147 points ahead of second-place finisher Marco Melandri and captured his fourth MotoGP, fifth top class and seventh overall championship in Sepang with four races remaining. He won 11 races including wins in three rain-affected races at Shanghai, Le Mans and Donington.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: The 2006 season started off with Rossi once again being the favourite to win the title. However, at the first round in Spain, Rossi was unlucky when Toni Elías misjudged his braking point into a corner and hit the rear wheel of the Italian, who crashed into the gravel as a result. He rejoined the race but only managed to finish 14th. In the next race in Qatar, he scored his first win of the season but finished just off the podium in the next round in Turkey.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Going into the third round in China, disaster would strike again when Rossi was forced to retire after he moved up from thirteenth to fifth and was battling with Colin Edwards and John Hopkins for third position. A chunk of rubber from his front tyre had been thrown on his front fender, knocking it off the motorbike. Things didn't improve for him at the next round in France, he brushed the back of Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, causing him to run wide and hit Randy de Puniet who then fell from his Kawasaki after striking Sete Gibernau. After climbing his way back up to second, Rossi overtook Hopkins on the fifth lap and started to pull a gap from Pedrosa after Hopkins lost the front of his Suzuki at an off-camber right-hander on lap 10 and retired. He was leading comfortably in first place with a gap of over three seconds until his Yamaha had a mechanical problem on lap 21, forcing Rossi to retire for the second consecutive race. Rossi would leave Le Mans eighth in the standings with a 43-points deficit to Nicky Hayden.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After these two disappointing races, Rossi bounced back by scoring two wins: a regular victory in Italy and a pole-victory in Catalunya. At the Dutch round, he only finished eighth after he fractured his hand and ankle when he fell on Thursday. The race was won by Nicky Hayden, who battled with Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards on the last lap. Edwards tried to lunge past Hayden, but ran wide onto the gravel and eventually fell at the last corner.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: With the disappointing result at Assen, Rossi took second place in Great Britain and another win in Germany, fighting tooth and nail with the three Honda's of Marco Melandri, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa. However, he retired once more in the United States round due to mechanical problems at the last few laps whilst local hero Nicky Hayden won the event for a second consecutive time. This extended Hayden's lead over Rossi by 34 points to 51 and saw Rossi drop to fourth in the championship.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Going into round 12 in the Czech Republic, Rossi picked up a pole and a second place, and then won the next round in Malaysia. Hayden held the points lead throughout most of the season, but by now Rossi was slowly working his way up the points ladder. A third place in Australia and a further second position in Japan saw the points lead of Hayden reduced from 51 points at Laguna Seca to 12 points in Motegi, with Rossi moving from fourth to second in the championship standings.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Going into the penultimate round of the season in Portugal, Rossi took pole position on Saturday. On Sunday, Hayden was taken out by his teammate Dani Pedrosa on lap 5, causing both riders to retire. On the last lap, Toni Elías who was in third place, overtook both Kenny Roberts Jr. and Rossi to take the lead. Rossi eventually got back in front, but Elías shot past him at the final corner and won the race with a minuscule 0.002 second advantage over Rossi. This led to Rossi taking the points lead by 8 points going into the last round of the year.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At the final race of the season, the Valencian Community round, Rossi needed to finish in second place or higher to win the title. He took the second consecutive pole position on Saturday whilst Hayden could only qualify fifth. However, Rossi got a poor start on Sunday when the red lights went out, dropping him back in seventh place. On lap five, he made a mistake, lost the front wheel of his M1 and slid out of contention. He managed to get going again, but it would be to no avail: Rossi only managed to finish 13th, finishing the season on 247 points and losing the title to Nicky Hayden by just five points. The race was won by wildcard rider Troy Bayliss, who replaced the injured Sete Gibernau. After the race, Rossi called his fall "a disaster" but congratulated Nicky on his won title as well.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After Rossi lost the title in 2006, he nonetheless tried again in 2007 as he was still one of the favourites to win the championship. The bike power was reduced from 990cc to 800cc for this season and over the winter, Yamaha worked on a new bike fitting these specifications for both Rossi and Colin Edwards. In the season opener in Qatar, Rossi took his first pole position of the year on Saturday but came second to Casey Stoner on the Ducati on Sunday, who had made the switch from the LCR Honda team to the Factory Ducati team. Rossi then won the second race in Spain to bounce back. In Turkey, Rossi clinched another pole on Saturday but eventually finished way down in tenth position after running wide on the fast turn eleven when he pushed hard to break away on the opening lap. Rossi fought his way back to second, overtaking Loris Capirossi on lap nine, but lost positions quickly after the Michelin tyres started to fade and he suffered from a mysterious lack of speed, which allowed Toni Elías, Capirossi, John Hopkins, Marco Melandri and Alex Barros to overtake him within three laps. Stoner led every lap, won the race and gained a 10-point lead over Rossi in the process.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi, once again finding himself on the backfoot in the championship, responded in China by setting another pole position on Saturday and finishing in second place after battling hard with Stoner. The Australian, who made good use of the straight line speed of the Ducati on the long straight, blasted past Rossi every time he got overtaken earlier on the circuit. At the French round, Chris Vermeulen on the Suzuki won a rain-affected race. Rossi initially started well and even overtook Stoner in the early part of the race to make a break but when the rain intensified, Rossi and his YZR-M1 struggled and were overtaken by Stoner, Randy de Puniet, Sylvain Guintoli and later also Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa and Alex Hofmann. Rossi eventually finished in sixth whilst Stoner crossed the line in third, extending his championship lead by 21 points.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In Italy, he won his first race of the season and at round seven in Catalunya, Rossi took his fourth and final pole of the season. After a hard-fought battle with Stoner, Rossi finished second by just 0.069 seconds and lost out again. In Great Britain, Rossi finished just outside of the podium in fourth but bounced back at the Dutch round in great fashion by winning the race from eleventh on the grid. He overtook many riders and eventually did the same to Stoner with four laps to go, building up a small gap he never gave away when crossing the line.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After Rossi's great win in Assen, bad luck struck him when he crashed on lap five of the German round and was forced to retire. He had made a poor start, dropping him from sixth to ninth on lap one, but was quick to regain two positions before struggling to pass Randy de Puniet for sixth position. When Rossi tried to squeeze his bike next to the Kawasaki of de Puniet, he lost the front of his M1 at low speed through a long right-hander and slid into the gravel. Rossi then picked up more points by finishing in fourth and seventh place at the United States and Czech Republic, but by then Stoner had built up a 60-point gap over Rossi when they left round 12.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi retired once again at the new San Marino venue whilst Stoner took his eighth win of the season, extending his championship lead from 60 to 85 points. At the next round in Portugal, Rossi would win his final race of the season after a close fight with the Honda of Dani Pedrosa. Rossi worked his way up from fifth to third on the opening lap, overtaking Stoner on lap nine after Pedrosa did the same two laps earlier. He then overtook Pedrosa on lap ten and a fight commenced where Pedrosa re-overtook Rossi on lap 16, only taking the first spot back from the Spaniard with four laps left after he ran wide. Rossi made a similar error and Pedrosa retook the lead just half a lap later. Pedrosa was still narrowly ahead but Rossi was better on the brakes and plunged down the inside of the first corner in turn one. The move failed and he ran wide, but carried enough momentum to try the same move again a few corners later, this time succeeding. Rossi crossed the line 0.175 seconds ahead of Pedrosa to win his fourth race of the season.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At the Japanese round, Rossi suffered from braking problems on his second bike after all riders were forced to swap bikes due to the drying track, finishing in 13th position. This was enough for Casey Stoner to become 2007 world champion after he finished the race in sixth position and gave him an unassailable lead in the championship. Rossi went on to take one last podium in Australia, finishing in third place, then picked up points in fifth position at the Malaysian round. At the last race of the season, the Valencian Community race, Rossi started way back in 17th due to a fracture of three bones in his right hand after he fell during qualifying. He took 16th on lap seven and passed Shinya Nakano for 15th and thus the final point, but was forced to retire on lap 18 after his YZR-M1 suffered a technical problem, this marking his third DNF of the season. The race was won by Dani Pedrosa, with Casey Stoner about five seconds behind in second place.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Stoner dominated the season, winning ten races to take his first title, 125 points clear of second place Dani Pedrosa. Rossi on the other hand, finished in third place with 241 points, six less than in 2006. This was Rossi's lowest championship position since his first season in 1996 in the 125cc. Pedrosa's win in the last race at Valencia combined with Rossi's retirement meant that he beat Rossi by a single point.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After two frustrating seasons where Rossi and Yamaha lost the title for two consecutive seasons to Nicky Hayden's Honda and Casey Stoner's Ducati, critics started to doubt if he was capable of ever winning another title. Few people thought Some said he should retire, whilst others assumed that Casey Stoner would win his second title or that Dani Pedrosa would become a genuine title contender after his strong performances in 2006 and 2007. This was also the year he switched from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres, which Rossi claimed was needed to "boost his motivation". His new teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, did not opt for the change.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi started the year with a fifth place in Qatar whilst Stoner won the race, prompting some to already suggest that it would be more of the same like last year. However, Rossi fought back in Spain by finishing second whilst Stoner could only manage eleventh place. Rossi finished third at the Portuguese round with his teammate Jorge Lorenzo winning after a late charge from Pedrosa was not enough to retake the lead.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After the good performances in Spain and Portugal, Rossi scored three consecutive victories: two regular victories at China and France and a pole-victory at the Italian round. Two more second-place finishes followed, one in Catalunya and one in Great Britain.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Approaching round 9 of the season, the Dutch GP was not a success for Rossi. He came to Assen with an 11-point lead over runner-up Pedrosa but made a slow start from third on the grid, only to lose the back of his M1 machine on the entry of a tight left hand hairpin – his rear wheel sliding around and collecting Randy de Puniet's LCR Honda, taking him out in the process. Rossi remounted the bike and got going again but could only finish eleventh, handing the lead of the championship to Pedrosa by four points.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After the disappointing result in Assen, Rossi retook the lead of the title hunt in a rain-affected German round after Pedrosa crashed out of the wet track and Rossi came second, the race was won by Stoner. Rossi then took a multitude of race wins from the United States, where Rossi took the win after a hard battle and a pass down the "Corkscrew" corner over Stoner, who crashed a few laps later but continued and took second place, to Japan, including a pole-victory at a rain-shortened race in Indianapolis. His wins in both Laguna Seca and Indianapolis also meant that Rossi had won at every circuit on the calendar at the time and his win at Motegi was his first MotoGP victory at the track, becoming the first Yamaha rider to win at the Honda-owned circuit.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Going into round 15 of the championship, Rossi needed to finish third or higher to win the title at Motegi. He started off poor, dropping from fourth to fifth on the grid but quickly made up ground by overtaking Jorge Lorenzo and Nicky Hayden on lap two before he hunted down his title rivals. When Stoner made the pass on Pedrosa on lap six, Rossi did the same and went after Stoner until he made the race winning move on lap 14 under braking. Rossi then pulled away from the Ducati rider to cross the line in first position and clinch his fifth MotoGP, sixth top class and eighth overall championship in Japan with three races remaining. On the podium, he wore a shirt with the text ""Scusate il ritardo"" ("Sorry for the delay") in Italian, emphasising his lack of titles in the last two years.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After Rossi wrapped up the title in Motegi with an unassailable lead of 92 points, he scored three more podiums: a second-place finish behind home hero Stoner in Australia, another win in Malaysia and a third place at the Valencian Community round.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi finished first in the championship with 373 points, 93 points ahead of second place Casey Stoner.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After the unexpected success and title of Rossi in 2008, many expected him to be a strong contender in 2009. Rossi took two consecutive second places: a regular podium in Qatar and a pole-podium in Japan, the race won by Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi's first victory of the year came at the third round in Spain. Rossi started fourth, but overtook teammate Lorenzo for third on lap two, then made a second pass stick for second position on lap seven. Race leader Pedrosa was ahead with 1.4 seconds ahead of him by then, but Rossi stormed to the rear wheel of the Honda rider with eleven laps to go. He made the victory pass at the Nieto corner to take a lead of 2.7 seconds when crossing the line, taking the championship lead over from Stoner by eleven points in the process.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: The French GP turned out to be a disaster for Rossi. Jorge Lorenzo won the frantic wet/dry race whilst Rossi fell after a premature bike swap to slick tyres and also received a ride through penalty, ending up in sixteenth place and thus failed to score any points. This handed the championship lead to Rossi's teammate Lorenzo who now is ahead of both Rossi and Stoner by just one point.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Things started to look better when Rossi registered a third position finish in Italy, but lost his sequence of seven consecutive victories at the venue. After Mugello, Rossi took two more victories: a regular victory at Catalunya, battling with Lorenzo throughout the race and overtaking him on the last corner of the last lap to win the race by just 0.095 seconds and a pole-victory at the Dutch round. This victory marked his 100th career win, becoming only the second rider in motorcycle grand prix history – after Giacomo Agostini – to reach 100 wins.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At the United States GP, Rossi finished a close second behind surprise race winner Dani Pedrosa. He then went on to score three more pole positions: a pole-win at the German round, fighting tooth and nail once more with his teammate Jorge Lorenzo with five laps to go. On the penultimate lap, Rossi retook the lead and held off the Spaniard to claim win by a margin of 0.099 seconds. This win gave Rossi a championship lead of 14 points over Lorenzo and a 28-point lead over Stoner. At the next race in Great Britain, Rossi started from pole but was demoted to third on the first lap. A five-strong lead group of Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Rossi, Dani Pedrosa and Toni Elías were battling for the lead when Elías was the first to fall on lap eight after he clipped a wet white line on the track, a similar mistake also lead to Lorenzo's fall and retirement. This left Dovizioso and Rossi to battle it out, but as the rain intensified, so did their lead. Both were ahead with 13 seconds, separating them and third place Randy de Puniet. However, it was not meant to be as Rossi spun out of the lead when the rear of his M1 span-out through the Fogarty Esses on lap 20, demoting him to eleventh and leaving Dovizioso almost ten seconds clear of de Puniet. Rossi climbed up to fifth on the last lap, overtaking home hero James Toseland at the final turn, but the race victory went to the Honda of Andrea Dovizioso for the first time. At the Czech Republic round, Rossi took a commanding victory, crossing the line more than 11 seconds ahead of second place Pedrosa.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi's first and only retirement came at Indianapolis when he crashed out of the race after being overtaken by the eventual winner Lorenzo on lap ten. This win meant that Lorenzo had halved Rossi's title advantage to just 25 points with five rounds to go. At the next race in San Marino, Rossi responded by taking his sixth pole position of the year on Saturday and winning the race at his "home venue" ahead of Lorenzo on Sunday, extending his lead to 30 points. In Portugal however, it was Lorenzo who had the upper hand, winning the race with Rossi only able to finish fourth, reducing the championship lead from 30 to 18 points. At the Australian round, Rossi finished a close second to home hero Casey Stoner who won the race. Lorenzo crashed on the opening lap after running into Nicky Hayden's Honda, forcing him to retire. This widened the championship gap from 18 to 38 points with two rounds remaining.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At the penultimate round in Malaysia, Rossi scored another pole position on Saturday and a podium in the form of third place at the wet track in Sepang on race day, behind Stoner and Pedrosa. This was enough for him to clinch his sixth MotoGP, seventh top class and ninth overall title over Jorge Lorenzo who started at the back of the grid and only managed to finish fourth, behind Rossi. This gave him an unassailable lead of 45 points over Lorenzo. The final race of the season, the Valencian Community, resulted in a final second place podium of the year for Rossi, behind Pedrosa.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi finished first in the championship with 306 points, 72 points ahead of second-place Jorge Lorenzo. Six wins was the lowest number of wins Rossi has had in a championship winning season; the previous minima were nine in 1999 in the 250cc class and 2003, 2004 and 2008 in MotoGP. Rossi also failed to win at Mugello for the first time since 2001.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: On 8 June 2009, Rossi rode a Yamaha around the famous Snaefell Mountain Course in an exhibition lap at the 2009 Isle of Man TT alongside Agostini, in what was called 'The Lap of the Gods'. This had been delayed by 48 hours due to bad weather. He also performed the garlanding ceremony for the Superbike podium, bestowing the podium of John McGuinness, Steve Plater and Guy Martin.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: With two consecutive titles won, Rossi was once again the favourite to win the championship going into the 2010 season and this seemed even more likely after he topped all but one of the pre-season testing sessions over the winter.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi started off the first few races well. He won the first race of the season in Qatar after early leader Casey Stoner crashed out, took third place in Spain even though he had an injured shoulder sustained from a motocross accident two weeks earlier – the race being won by his teammate Jorge Lorenzo after a last-lap pass at the Dry Sack corner on Honda's Dani Pedrosa – and a pole-podium in the form of a second place in France where Lorenzo claimed back-to-back wins for the first time in his MotoGP career. The injury Rossi had was not taken seriously initially and was expected to cure in a few weeks, but that did not turn out as expected and the ligament tear in his shoulder failed to heal sufficiently.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At round four in Italy, things took a turn for the worse for Rossi. He highsided his YZR-M1 in one of the fast right-left combinations – the Biondetti corner – during the second free practice at around . He suffered a displaced compound fracture of his right tibia. This crushed any hopes of him winning the 2010 title, and after post-surgical care close to his home in the hospital at Cattolica, it was clear that he was out of contention for the next two or three months. It was the first time that Rossi had missed a race in his Grand Prix career, and allowed his title rivals – Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner – to gain points, podiums and wins while he was absent for the Italian, British, Dutch and Catalan rounds.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Ahead of the British Grand Prix, Suzi Perry reported in her "Daily Telegraph" column that Rossi was planning on making a comeback at Brno. This was confirmed a week later by Rossi himself. On 7 July, Rossi rode at Misano on a Superbike World Championship-specification Yamaha YZF-R1 provided by the Yamaha World Superbike Team to test his leg's recovery. He completed 26 laps during two runs, with a best lap time that was around two seconds off the pace of recent World Superbike times at the circuit. At the conclusion of the session, Rossi complained of discomfort, reporting pain in both his leg and his shoulder. On 12 July, Rossi took part in another test at Brno, after which Rossi stated he was happier and a lot more in form.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After an observation by the Chief Medical Officer on the Thursday before the German GP weekend and missing four rounds, Rossi returned in Germany and remarkably finished just off the podium in fourth position after losing out to Casey Stoner on the final corner, starting fifth. He returned two rounds earlier than predicted, and only 41 days after his accident. At round 9 of the season, held in the United States, Rossi took his first podium since his broken leg seven weeks ago at Mugello, overtaking the Honda of Andrea Dovizioso in the process. The race was won by Lorenzo after Pedrosa crashed out of the lead. At the next two rounds, in the Czech Republic and Indianapolis, Rossi scored lackluster results by finishing fifth and fourth.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: At his "home race" in San Marino, Rossi scored another third place behind race-winner Pedrosa and second-place Lorenzo. The race was marred by the death of the Japanese Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa, who was hit at high speed by Alex de Angelis and Scott Redding after he fell at the fast right-hander of the Misano circuit on lap 12 and succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital. At the new venue in Aragón, Rossi was again off the pace and finished in sixth position. He bounced back by scoring another third-place podium in Japan, the race being moved from April to October due to the disruption of air travel after the second eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. Rossi battled with teammate Lorenzo for the bottom step of the podium during the race, which was won by Casey Stoner, but by now had a 69-point lead in the championship over second place Dani Pedrosa.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: In Malaysia, Rossi took a stunning victory by winning the race from eleventh position, battling with the Honda of Dovizioso for the win multiple times. Rossi had qualified sixth, but lost multiple positions in the first set of corners after a poor getaway. He overtook multiple riders, including Lorenzo, to fight for the lead with Dovizioso on a few occasions, but held on to finish ahead of him with just 0.224 seconds. This was his first win since the accident in June, and his second win of the season. However, Lorenzo won the title, finishing in third place when he needed ninth or higher to win the title.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: After his win in Malaysia, Rossi continued to impress by scoring a third place in Australia, a second place in Portugal and a final third place at the Valencian Community rounds.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: Rossi finished third in the championship with 233 points, 150 points behind champion Jorge Lorenzo and 12 points behind runner-up Dani Pedrosa. Rossi collected ten podiums throughout the season, including five consecutive podiums in the season's final run.


title: Valentino Rossi

text: On 15 August 2010, after the Brno race, Rossi confirmed he was going to ride for the Ducati team, signing a two-year deal starting in 2011 and joining former Honda racing teammate Nicky Hayden. He tested the Desmosedici for the first time in Valencia on 9 November 2010, making this his first appearance since 1999 on an Italian motorcycle. Rossi underwent surgery on his shoulder which he injured during the 2010 season in order to be ready for pre-season testing in Malaysia. After initial progress during the first test, the Ducati failed to meet the team's expectations at the second Malaysian test and left Rossi unsatisfied, having finished over 1.8 seconds behind Casey Stoner's pace-setting Honda.