Rossi's London Show Bikes: 1997 APRILIA RS125R

For the first time ever, eight of Valentino Rossi’s most successful and priceless race bikes will be brought together in a special one-off tribute to the G.O.A.T

Over the next few days, we’ll be going into detail on the bikes that will make their exclusive appearance at the London Motorcycle Show in February.

#1 – VALENTINO ROSSI’S 1997 APRILIA RS125R

Valentino Rossi’s 1997 factory-backed Aprilia RS125R was the machine on which the Italian announced himself to the world as one of the hottest young talents to emerge in a generation.

When he won the opening race of the season at the Shah Alam track in Malaysia, it was the first time in his career that Rossi had ever led a world championship.

And as a gifted 17-year-old, Rossi would go onto dominate the world championship campaign with 11 victories.

It was at the Brno round in the Czech Republic in late August that a third place behind Japanese duo Nobby Ueda and Tomomi Manako clinched Rossi the first of his nine world titles.

The title was wrapped up with three races still remaining and at that time he was the second youngest world champion in history after fellow Italian and close friend Loris Capirossi.

And when he defeated Kazuto Sakata and Jorge Martinez  at the Sentul track in Indonesia in late September, he clinched a record 11^th victory, which was never matched in the history of the entry level 125cc category.

In total, Rossi finished on the podium in 13 out of 15 races and won the title with a massive 83-point advantage over Honda rival Ueda.

 

Book your advance tickets to the show now and save! Visit MCNmotorcycleshow.com for more details.

 

Tomorrow, we’ll be sharing a little ‘Peace and Love’ with his 1999 RSW250 APRILIA