Alessio Salucci and the Academy riders were guests at the headquarters of Comoli Ferrari in Novara on Tuesday. The Piedmontese company, which specializes in eleectronic systems, has been a sponsor of the Pertamina VR46 team since last year.
At the beginning of the week, Alessio Salucci took part in a talk show with Paolo Ferrari, the company's CEO. Between chats and jokes, they also spoke about Rossi and Yamaha in 2004.
"During his last year in HRC, Vale was no longer having fun. In fact, he was starting to get tired, we were going slower, and he really didn't feel like going to the races anymore," Uccio recalled. "That's why I told him we had to change, so we decided to go to Yamaha."
Valentino recalls the transition.
"At the time, Honda didn't give us permission to test the M1 as soon as the world championship was over. During that year, Biaggi did the opposite, that is, from Yamaha to Honda. The fact remains that, in the tests, Biaggi immediately made record times and Vale was pissed off, since he was at home on the couch, unable to test the M1. In fact, he told me, 'Uccio, I think we screwed up.' In early 2004, we finally got on the M1 at Sepang for the first test."
That image is still vivid in Uccio's mind.
"After the first four laps, Vale came to the garage and said, 'Uccio, we can do it!' All the Yamaha engineers were with me, and many others were live with Japan to hear his feedback. He said to everyone in the garage, 'Guys, there's something to improve on the M1 but, you know, this bike isn't that bad.' After hearing Valentino's words, some engineers fainted," he said jokingly. "Then we all started laughing."
At Welkom, the Doctor wrote history.
"At the end of the FP2, he said to me, 'Uccio, we're going to win here.' Then, from there, he won the race, and I took that photo of him laughing near his bike. Many people still think that he cried on that occasion. Instead, he laughed because, during those months, Vale suffered a lot, and that victory was a liberation. In the race that followed, he told me, 'Let's not make the mistake of 2000. Let's believe, race after race, because I want to win in the world championship.' That was a historic moment, because I pushed like crazy to bring him to Yamaha, and then we know the story."