After 14 years together legendary Australian motorcycle racing crew chief Jeremy Burgess will split with Italian hero Valentino Rossi after this Valencia MotoGP season finale.
The most successful crew chief in motorcycle grand prix history, 60-year-old Burgess has won world titles with Rossi (7), plus countrymen Mick Doohan (5) and Wayne Gardner (1). He also worked with the likes of Randy Mamola, Ron Haslam and Freddie Spencer.
The decision on the split is Rossi’s who said he needed a change heading into 2014, the final year of his existing Yamaha contract.
“I think that next year Jeremy will not be my chief mechanic,” said Rossi. “It was a very difficult decision for me because I have a great history with Jeremy. He is not just my chief mechanic; he is like a part of the family. My ‘father’ for racing.
“But I decide for next year I need to change something to try to find new motivation and a new boost – to improve my level, my speed. I think that this is our last race together with Jerry, yes.”
A native of the Adelaide Hills region, Burgess was a racer against the likes of Gregg Hansford, Warren Willing, Kenny Blake and Harry Hinton in Australia, before moving to Europe in 1980 and switched his career focus on the mechanical side of the business. After working with Suzuki, Burgess switched to Honda in 1983 and for the next 21 years enjoyed enormous success.
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First partnering with Rossi in 2000 he stuck with the Italian as he switched to Yamaha in 2004. Together they won Yamaha’s first riders’ title since 1992 in 2004 and won titles for the Japanese brand in ’05, ’08 and ’09. Then the subsequent move to Ducati in 2010 which brought two winless seasons and only three podiums in total. The duo moved back Yamaha at the start of this season and heading into this weekend’s final round of the season Rossi has a single race win at Assen in Holland.
When asked whether or not Burgess’ replacement had been selected by media in Valencia, Rossi said that there were options but the decision has not been made yet. Likewise Burgess has not stated what his future beyond this weekend will entail.
