As the devastation of Yolanda reached 100 days, help from the international community continues to pour in. Football star David Beckham recently visited Tacloban and said he was humbled by this experience. Even international entertainers and celebrities like Justin Bieber and Alicia Keys flew in to bring cheers and show their sympathy and support last year.
In the cycling world, Italian MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi has also confirmed he will be in the country this coming weekend to promote his Yamaha racing team’s efforts to raise funds and offer their support this coming February 23rd where he will be appearing at the first leg of Yamaha GP 5 at SM City Santa Rosa and promote a project called “Champions Rebuild Lives” to raise funds by selling limited racing items to collectors, MotoGP and motorbike fans donated by the MotoGP team.
This funding event was kicked off in a recent related event, where YZone (Yamaha Zone) celebrated its 4th year anniversary last February 8th and this milestone celebration was attended by over one hundred riders and supported by 16 participating Yamaha clubs including the FZ16 Club of the Philippines, Vega Force Mantis Riders Club, Sniper MX Owners Club, Team Mio MX 125 Inc., Sniper MX Philippines, Mio Exclusive Club, Yamaha Riders Club of Cavite, Yamaha United, Club SZR, Team Mio Soul i Philippines, FZ Elite, Mio 125 MXi Club, R15 Club of the Philippines, Mio Elite Scooter Club, Vega Force i Owners Philippines and Club Pilifino Philippines.
Rossi is considered one of the most successful motorbike racers of all time, with nine GP World Champions under his belt as he followed the footsteps of his father Graziano and started Grand Prix racing in 1996 in the 125cc category and won his first world GP championship. Just like his father, Graziano Rossi, Valentino started racing in Grand Prix in 1996 for Aprilia in the 125cc category and won his first World Championship the following year. From there, there was no stopping him as he moved up to the 250cc category, winning the world championship in 1999. He moved on to the premier class in 2000, winning the 500cc world championship and MotoGP World Championship in 2001 and 2002. Today, he ranks first in the 500cc MotoGP win standings, with 80 victories and second in all time overall win standings with 106 race wins, 16 wins shy of Giacomo Agostini’s record of 122 wins.
He is often and fondly called by his fans as “The Doctor” or the “Goat” which is an acronym for “the Greatest of all Time”. He has always raced under the number 46 all throughout his motorcycle grand prix career as his father did in the first of his three grand prix career wins. Traditionally, a world championship winner is accorded the privilege of using the number 1 sticker for the following season. However, Rossi has stayed with the now-famous number 46 throughout his career, but he uses the number 1 patch on the shoulder of his racing suit. We will have more coverage on this during his visit. This project is proudly sponsored by Yamaha Motor Company Ltd., Yamaha Motor Racing, MotoGP and Yamaha Motor Philippines Inc.
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