Rossi: An Inside Look

Valentino Rossi’s ability to co-develop his Yamaha YZR-M1 closely with his Chief Mechanic at Fiat Yamaha, Jeremy Burgess, has formed the basis of the pair’s success at the Japanese manufacturer, says the Australian. Ahead of the Iveco Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island on the weekend of October 16th-18th in his homeland, Burgess has spoken of the importance of Rossi’s input in turning his bike into a three-time world title winning machine to date.

Burgess joined Rossi in his switch from Honda to Yamaha for the 2004 season, as they continued their winning formula, and Burgess maintains the six-time MotoGP champion’s input has been just as crucial as his own technical expertise.

“I think Motorcycling will never be the same because Valentino Rossi showed that he could win on a Honda that other riders could win on, and he could then take the Yamaha machine that no other riders could consistently win on and win on it,” said Burgess.

“I couldn’t go into Yamaha and scream and yell and change the way they did things, it was necessary to work together with Valentino and the Yamaha Engineers to solve the problems they had. We had to take a step back and analyse why we at that time, or they at that time, had not been as competitive as their opposition. We had to diplomatically change the direction without making anybody look as if they had been making mistakes.”

Burgess continued, “Certainly, my objective from an engineering perspective is to make a bike that all riders can ride. It’s a very well tuned bike which has been developed by Valentino Rossi, and any rider coming in to ride this bike doesn’t have to worry about development. They have the ability and the information that we have put together over many years, combined with the settings we have from the last two especially – and particularly with the Bridgestone tires – so it’s not as easy to develop the bike as it is to ride the bike. We have a rider in Valentino who develops the bike and we have on the other side of the garage one guy who just has to ride.”

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