melandri

Marco Melandri
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Marco Melandri
2005 0512 Marco Melandri.jpg
Marco Melandri
Nationality Italian
Date of birth August 7, 1982 (1982-08-07) (age 27)
Place of birth Ravenna, Italy
Website marcomelandri.co.uk
MotoGP Record
Current team Hayate Racing Team
Bike number 33
Championships 250cc - 2002
Race starts 187
Wins 22
Podium finishes 62
Pole positions 9
Fastest laps 16
Points 2085
2009 championship position 10th (91 pts)

Marco Melandri (born August 7, 1982 in Ravenna, Italy) is a MotoGP road racer currently racing for the Hayate Racing Team. Melandri is also a former 250cc World Champion in 2002. Melandri currently lives 2 miles away from the famous race track, Donington Park, Leicestershire, England.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Career
o 1.1 Early days
o 1.2 125cc (1998-1999)
o 1.3 250cc (2000-2002)
o 1.4 MotoGP (2003-present)
o 1.5 Career summary
o 1.6 Car racing
* 2 Career statistics
o 2.1 By season
o 2.2 By class
o 2.3 Races by year
* 3 References
* 4 External links

[edit] Career
[edit] Early days

He was introduced to racing by a former rider Loris Reggiani at the age of six. He came through the ranks from minibikes, motocross and then the Italian and European 125cc championship.

In 1997, Melandri won the Italian 125cc championship, also finishing 4th in European 125cc championship. In addition to his European success, he made his debut in 125cc world championship at Brno, Czech Republic as a wild card rider.
[edit] 125cc (1998-1999)

After impressing in Italian and European championship in 1997, Melandri finally got his chance to compete in 1998 125cc world championship as a regular. He rode Honda 125cc bike under Benetton Honda Team. He went on to impress many as he earned his first podium in the fourth race of the season, where he finished second in his home Grand Prix at Mugello, Italy. His brilliant debut season continued when he won his first grand prix at Assen TT, Netherlands. He won this race at the age of 15 years and 324 days which made him the youngest ever Grand Prix winner, at the time. Since then, Scott Redding has become the youngest winner, having won the 2008 British motorcycle Grand Prix. Overall, he won two Grand Prix in his debut season and therefore he finished the season at 3rd position in overall standings behind champion Kazuto Sakata and runner-up Tomomi Manako.

He remained on the same bike and team in 1999, where he bid to win the 125cc world championship. He went on to win 5 Grand Prix but failed to win the championship, finishing second behind Emilio Alzamora with just a single point difference. Failure in securing his first world championship did not stop his rise to 250cc world championship in 2000.
[edit] 250cc (2000-2002)

Melandri was signed by Aprilia in 2000 to replace another Italian Valentino Rossi who left the team and 250cc class for 500cc class. He was highly expected to take over Rossi's shoes and to win the 250cc world championship. However, his debut season did not start as well as the expectation. He struggled to adapt to bigger bike and higher competition. He failed to win any Grand Prix in 2000, managing only 4 podiums, all came late in the season. Despite these problems, he still finishes the season at 5th position overall.

In 2001, his performances were improving. He managed to win his first 250cc Grand Prix at Sachsenring, Germany. However, it was his only win in 2001. Despite managing to appear on the podium on 9 occasions, he never really challenged for the championship. He finished the season in 3rd position behind champion Daijiro Kato and runner-up Tetsuya Harada.

2002 proved to be Melandri's chance to shine. With 2001 champion and runner-up, Kato and Harada moved to MotoGP class, he became the strongest contender for the championship. He dominated the season by collecting 9 wins and 3 additional podiums. After challenging for world championship for years, he finally won the 250cc world title. He became the youngest 250cc world champion at the age of 20 years and 74 days until Dani Pedrosa broke his record in 2004.
[edit] MotoGP (2003-present)

After securing the 250cc world title in 2002, Melandri moved up to MotoGP class to spearhead Yamaha factory team alongside Carlos Checa in 2003. Unfortunately he had with the Yamaha a worse Bike than Honda and Ducati, and struggled to succeed for the season. He finished the season in 5th position without collecting any wins and only two third Places.

He joined Yamaha satellite team, Tech 3 in 2004 alongside Carlos Checa again. This season, he again struggled to get top results. However, he managed to collect 2 consecutive podiums, but a series of crashes and retirements kept him out of top 10 in overall standings. He finished the season in 12th position.

Released from his Yamaha contract after the 2004 season, Melandri was the surprise choice of boss Fausto Gresini to join Sete Gibernau in the Movistar Honda team for the 2005 MotoGP campaign. Melandri was remarkably successful with Movistar Honda in 2005, with a consistent run of podium finishes early in the season, ultimately taking his first two wins in the final two races of 2005 to clinch second place in the championship. In doing so, he was the first Honda rider to win back-to-back races for nearly two years, winning round 16 of the MotoGP Championship at Istanbul, Turkey, as well as the 17th and final race at Valencia. Although he never really challenged his best friend Valentino Rossi for the title, he finished the season strongly as runner-up, with a total of 2 wins and 5 additional podiums.

Melandri rode for Gresini's Fortuna Honda team alongside Toni Elías in the 2006 season. With Rossi struggling to find consistency, he was a major challenger, along with Ducati's Loris Capirossi and Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa. He again won at Istanbul, despite starting from 14th on the grid. He managed further wins at Le Mans, France and Phillip Island, Australia. He finished the season in 4th position, just 1 point behind Capirossi.

In 2007, Melandri and Elias remained in the Honda Gresini team, now sponsored by Hannspree. Honda's 800cc machine was not competitive. As of the race at Laguna Seca in which he finished third, Marco lies sixth overall, with an additional podium at Le Mans. After these 10 races, works rider Dani Pedrosa is the only Honda ahead of him in the standings - he and Pedrosa the only Honda riders with multiple podiums.

Immediately after Melandri's 3rd place finish in the 2007 USA's MotoGP round, Ducati announced that he will join its factory team alongside Casey Stoner for 2008 and 2009 [1]. But 2008 proved disastrous, with a run of uncompetitive runs often leaving him behind the semi-works Alice Team bikes of Toni Elías and Sylvain Guintoli. At Assen he qualified last and ran there throughout. Due to the poor running in the season, speculation persisted with Melandri tipped to move to Kawasaki after the summer break in 2008 to form a three bike team alongside John Hopkins and Anthony West, while his current seat was said to be taken over by Sete Gibernau for the second half of the 2008 season. However, on July 27th Ducati Marlboro team boss Livio Suppo confirmed that Marco Melandri would race at Brno, the first race after the 2008 summer break. On 19 August, however, Melandri confirmed he will be joining Kawasaki Racing Team for the 2009 MotoGP season to ride alongside his new teammate John Hopkins.[1] He then ended the season in a lacklustre 17th position.

In 2009 Melandri achieved his first podium since 2007 with his 2nd place finish at the French motorcycle Grand Prix.
[edit] Career summary

* 1996: 13th in 125cc Honda Trophy with Honda
* 1997: 1st in 125cc Italian Championship with Honda, 1st in 125cc Honda Trophy with Honda, 4th in European 125cc Championship with Honda
* 1998: 3rd in 125cc World Championship with Benetton Playlife (Honda)
* 1999: 2nd in 125cc World Championship with Benetton Playlife (Honda)
* 2000: 5th in 250cc World Championship with Blu Aprilia Team (Aprilia)
* 2001: 3rd in 250cc World Championship with MS Aprilia Racing (Aprilia)
* 2002: 1st in 250cc World Championship with MS Aprilia Racing (Aprilia)
* 2003: 15th in MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Yamaha Team (Yamaha)
* 2004: 12th in MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 (Yamaha)
* 2005: 2nd in MotoGP World Championship with MoviStar Honda MotoGP (Honda)
* 2006: 4th in MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Honda (Honda)
* 2007: 5th in MotoGP World Championship with Honda Gresini (Honda)
* 2008: 17th in MotoGP World Championship with Ducati Marlboro Team (Ducati)
* 2009: MotoGP World Championship with Hayate Racing Team (Kawasaki)

[edit] Car racing

In addition to his motorcycle racing career, Melandri has also competed in car racing. He raced in two rounds of the 2008-09 Speedcar Series season, scoring two points from the four races.
[edit] Career statistics
[edit] By season
Seas Class Moto Team Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts Plcd WCh
1997 125cc Honda RS125R 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 0
1998 125cc Honda RS125R 14 2 8 3 1 202 3rd 0
1999 125cc Honda RS125R 14 5 9 3 4 226 2nd 0
2000 250cc Aprilia RSV250 16 0 4 1 0 159 5th 0
2001 250cc Aprilia RSV250 15 1 9 0 4 194 3rd 0
2002 250cc Aprilia RSV250 16 9 12 2 4 298 1st 1
2003 MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1 Yamaha-YMR 13 0 0 0 0 154 5th 0
2004 MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1 Tech 3 15 0 2 0 0 75 12th 0
2005 MotoGP Honda RC211V Gresini Racing 17 2 7 0 3 220 2nd 0
2006 MotoGP Honda RC211V Gresini Racing 17 3 7 0 0 228 4th 0
2007 MotoGP Honda RC212V Gresini Racing 17 0 3 0 0 187 5th 0
2008 MotoGP Ducati Desmosedici GP8 Ducati Corse 18 0 0 0 0 51 17th 0
2009 MotoGP Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR Hayate Racing Team 14 0 1 0 0 91* 10th* 0
Total 187 22 62 9 16 2085 1

* * Season in progress.

[edit] By class
Class Seas 1st GP 1st Pod 1st Win Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts WCh
125cc 1997-1999 1997 Czech Rep. 1998 Italy 1998 Dutch 29 7 17 6 5 428 0
250cc 2000-2002 2000 South Africa 2000 Portugal 2001 Germany 47 10 25 3 8 651 1
MotoGP 2003-Present 2003 Japan 2004 Catalunya 2005 Turkey 111 5 20 0 3 1006 0
Total 1997-Present 187 22 62 9 16 2085 1
[edit] Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts
1997 125 cc Honda MAL JPN SPA ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER BRA GBR CZE
17 CAT IND AUS - -
1998 125 cc Honda JPN
10 MAL
Ret SPA
10 ITA
2 FRA
2 MAD
2 NED
1 GBR
4 GER
13 CZE
1 IMO
2 CAT
8 AUS
3 ARG
2 3rd 202
1999 125 cc Honda MAL
Inj JPN
Inj SPA
Ret FRA
6 ITA
2 CAT
3 NED
8 GBR
5 GER
1 CZE
1 IMO
1 VAL
Ret AUS
1 RSA
3 BRA
2 ARG
1 2nd 226
2000 250 cc Aprilia RSA
13 MAL
5 JPN
5 SPA
6 FRA
4 ITA
4 CAT
6 NED
Ret GBR
Ret GER
Ret CZE
4 POR
3 VAL
3 BRA
3 PAC
3 AUS
5 5th 159
2001 250 cc Aprilia JPN
6 RSA
2 SPA
3 FRA
3 ITA
3 CAT
Ret NED
6 GBR
3 GER
1 CZE
2 POR
2 VAL
Ret PAC
Ret AUS
Inj MAL
11 BRA
2 3rd 194
2002 250 cc Aprilia JPN
Ret RSA
1 SPA
Ret FRA
2 ITA
1 CAT
1 NED
1 GBR
1 GER
1 CZE
1 POR
2 BRA
4 PAC
2 MAL
Ret AUS
1 VAL
1 1st 298
2003 MotoGP Yamaha JPN
Ret RSA
Ret SPA
Ret FRA
15 ITA
11 CAT
13 NED
Ret GBR
Ret GER
Ret CZE
10 POR
7 BRA
11 PAC
5 MAL
11 AUS
Ret VAL
Ret 15th 45
2004 MotoGP Yamaha RSA
11 SPA
Ret FRA
6 ITA
9 CAT
3 NED
3 BRA
13 GER
Ret GBR
Inj CZE
9 POR
Ret JPN
5 QAT
Ret MAL
Ret AUS
Ret VAL
Ret 12th 75
2005 MotoGP Honda SPA
3 POR
4 CHN
3 FRA
4 ITA
4 CAT
3 NED
2 USA
Ret GBR
Ret GER
7 CZE
6 JPN
Ret MAL
5 QAT
2 AUS
4 TUR
1 VAL
1 2nd 220
2006 MotoGP Honda SPA
5 QAT
7 TUR
1 CHN
7 FRA
1 ITA
6 CAT
Ret NED
7 GBR
3 GER
2 USA
3 CZE
5 MAL
9 AUS
1 JPN
3 POR
8 VAL
5 4th 228
2007 MotoGP Honda QAT
5 SPA
8 CHN
5 TUR
5 FRA
2 ITA
9 CAT
9 GBR
10 NED
10 GER
6 USA
3 CZE
Inj RSM
4 POR
5 JPN
5 AUS
10 MAL
2 VAL
4 5th 187
2008 MotoGP Ducati QAT
11 SPA
12 POR
13 CHN
5 FRA
15 ITA
Ret CAT
11 GBR
16 NED
13 GER
Ret USA
16 CZE
7 SMR
9 IND
19 JPN
13 AUS
16 MAL
16 VAL
16 17th 51
2009* MotoGP Kawasaki QAT
14 JPN
6 SPA
5 FRA
2 ITA
11 CAT
14 NED
12 USA
10 GER
7 GBR
7 CZE
Ret IND
Ret SMR
8 POR
12 AUS
MAL
VAL
10th* 91*

* * Season In Progress

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2008/Melandri+confirms+Kawasaki+move+for+2009

[edit] External links
Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marco Melandri

* marcomelandri.co.uk Official website


Preceded by
Daijiro Kato 250cc Motorcycle World Champion
2002 Succeeded by
Manuel Poggiali
[show]
v • d • e
Teams and Riders competing in the 2009 MotoGP World Championship
Ducati Marlboro Repsol Honda Rizla Suzuki Fiat Yamaha Honda Gresini Pramac Racing Hayate Team Yamaha Tech 3 Honda LCR Team Scot FB Corse Engineering
27 Stoner
69 Hayden 3 Pedrosa
4 Dovizioso 7 Vermeulen
65 Capirossi 46 Rossi
99 Lorenzo 15 de Angelis
24 Elías 36 Kallio
88 Canepa 33 Melandri
5 Edwards
52 Toseland 14 de Puniet
41 Talmácsi
TBA TBA
TBA TBA
Other riders: Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Fabrizio (Pramac Racing), Gibernau (Grupo Francisco Hernando), Takahashi (Team Scot)
[show]
v • d • e
Hayate Racing Team
Flag of Italy Marco Melandri (33) |
Grand Prix motorcycle : Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR
[show]
v • d • e
250 cc Motorcycle World Champions











1949 – B. Ruffo


1950 – D. Ambrosini
1951 – B. Ruffo
1952 – E. Lorenzetti
1953 – W. Haas
1954 – W. Haas
1955 – H. Müller
1956 – C. Ubbiali
1957 – C. Sandford
1958 – T. Provini
1959 – C. Ubbiali


1960 – C. Ubbiali
1961 – M. Hailwood
1962 – J. Redman
1963 – J. Redman
1964 – P. Read
1965 – P. Read
1966 – M. Hailwood
1967 – M. Hailwood
1968 – P. Read
1969 – K. Carruthers


1970 – R. Gould
1971 – P. Read
1972 – J. Saarinen
1973 – D. Braun
1974 – W. Villa
1975 – W. Villa
1976 – W. Villa
1977 – M. Lega
1978 – K. Ballington
1979 – K. Ballington


1980 – A. Mang
1981 – A. Mang
1982 – J. Tournadre
1983 – C. Lavado
1984 – C. Sarron
1985 – F. Spencer
1986 – C. Lavado
1987 – A. Mang
1988 – S. Pons
1989 – S. Pons


1990 – J. Kocinski
1991 – L. Cadalora
1992 – L. Cadalora
1993 – T. Harada
1994 – M. Biaggi
1995 – M. Biaggi
1996 – M. Biaggi
1997 – M. Biaggi
1998 – L. Capirossi
1999 – V. Rossi


2000 – O. Jacque
2001 – D. Kato
2002 – M. Melandri
2003 – M. Poggiali
2004 – D. Pedrosa
2005 – D. Pedrosa
2006 – J. Lorenzo
2007 – J. Lorenzo
2008 – M. Simoncelli

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Melandri"
Categories: Italian motorcycle racers | MotoGP riders | 250cc World Championship riders | 125cc World Championship riders | People from Ravenna | 1982 births | Living people
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* This page was last modified on 5 October 2009 at 12:26.
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