VALENTINO ROSSI ORGANISES MOTOCROSS CHARITY EVENT

VALENTINO ROSSI ORGANISES MOTOCROSS CHARITY EVENT

(ANSA) - Rome, November 13 - MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi has organised a motocross charity competition for this weekend, 30 years after his father Graziano Rossi put together a similar event at the same venue.

The competition will be held Sunday at the Cavallara 'cross drome', in the town of Mondavio between Pesaro and Urbino, which was inaugurated 30 years ago with the charity event organised by Graziano Rossi with the participation of his rivals at the time in the 500cc Grand Prix premier class Franco Uncini and Marco Lucchinelli.

This time around Valentino Rossi has enlisted 25 top riders of past and present including Loris Capirossi, Carlos Checa, Alex De Angelis, Marco Lucchinelli, Marco Melandri, Kevin Schwantz, Marco Simoncelli and even his father Graziano, among others.

Together they hold 19 world titles, nine of which are Valentino Rossi's alone.

The event has been made possible with the support and sponsorship of the province of Pesaro, the town of Mondavio, the operators of the Cavallara track and Mauro Sanchini, a former rider in the Superbike championship who is now a commentator on the sport for the La7 TV channel.

Being a charity event for the Italian leucemia association AIL, nothing will be free and everyone on Sunday will pay: the public, the media and special guests.

Even the riders will pay a fee and forgo any reimbursements to cover travel and accommodation costs, including Schwantz who will be arriving from his home in Texas.

In his five-year career in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Graziano Rossi took part in a total of 22 races, winning three and collecting seven podium finishes.

Although he raced for Suzuki in the then-premier 500cc class, Rossi had his greatest success in 1979 when he also raced in the 250cc championship with the small Italian outfit Morbidell.

In his ten years in the premier class - which saw him race on 500cc, 1000cc and now 800cc bikes - Valentino Rossi has won seven world championships, placing one behind the legendary Italian record holder Giacomo Agostini who has eight, and he holds the all-time record for victories (77), podium finishes (127), podium finishes in one year (16), fastest laps in a season (12) and most points in one season (373).

Rossi also won the title in the 125cc and 250cc classes.