Valentino Rossi should need no introduction. Even if you’re a hard-core dirtbike rider, if you don’t know who the 38-year-old Italian is, the you’ve probably been living under one of those rocks you claim to be riding over on the weekends.
And if by some slim chance a rider with a blazing yellow number 46 on his motorcycle happens to charge past you someday, it might be Rossi himself. Don’t be too surprised. Rossi likes to ride in the dirt, too. This video on the and 3oli 46 YouTube channel is proof. When he isn’t out chasing his eighth career MotoGP World Championship, Rossi occasionally swings a leg over a dirt track bike and has a skid.
As the video shows, he’s pretty damn good at it, too. The dirt track segment is only a portion of the overall Rossi promo piece, but there’s enough there to let you know that he is able to handle a dirtbike with authority.
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Fact is, dirt track racing has been a part of every single American MotoGP Champion’s training regimen, starting with the first man to win the title, Kenny Roberts, who actually won the AMA Grand National Championship (now known as the American Flat Track Series) back to back in 1973 and 1974 before going on to win the 500cc World Road Racing Championship (which morphed into MotoGP) in 1978, 1979 and 1980. Freddie Spencer, the only rider in history ever to win the 250cc and 500cc World Road Racing Championship titles in the same year, is also cut his teeth in dirt track, as did four-time World Champion Eddie Lawson, three-time World Champion Wayne Rainey, and former World Champions Kevin Schwantz., Kenny Roberts Jr. and Nicky Hayden. Current World Champion Marc Marquez is such a dirt track freak that the places almost as much importance on winning the Superprestigio dirt track race in Barcelona, Spain, as he does at winning the MotoGP title. Fellow Spaniard and former MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo has come to the United States just to train on a flat tracker at Kenny Roberts’ ranch in Northern California.
Now, we don’t know just how good Mr. Rossi is on a motocross track or through the woods, but we’d venture to guess that with his talent level he’s better than your average weekend warrior. Anyway, check out the video. It looks like Rossi is having a good time, and that’s what riding is really all about anyway.
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