2004 MotoGP Photo Gallery

More 4-stroke power in this picture than you could handle.

Rossi gets familiarized with the South African locals.

Kurtis Roberts left South Africa with a sore shoulder.

Marco Melandri - Fortuna Yamaha

Max Biaggi was fourth fastest on the Camel Honda.

Carlos Checa - Fortuna Yamaha

Makoto Tamada on the Bridgestone shod Camel Honda RC211V.

Valentino Rossi is still the man to beat in MotoGP.

Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano was 13th fastest on day one.

Kenny Roberts during Friday qualifying.

Rossi hit the ground running at South Africa.

John Hopkins was 11th fastest. That is the best qualifying effort of his career.

Ruben Xaus qualified 16th despite crashing in the afternoon.

Carlos Checa - Fortuna Yamaha

Makoto Tamada - Camel Pramac Honda

Do you think Colin Edwards misses the Cube?

Loris Capirossi - Marlboro Ducati

Kenny Roberts - Suzuki

Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda

Sete Gibernau - Telefonica Movistar Honda

Valentino Rossi - Yamaha

Alex Barros and Capirossi - Welkom.

Colin Edwards and Loris Capirossi battle in South Africa

Valentino nailed the holeshot and left the rest of the field in his dust.

Alex Hofmann (56) leads Abe and Checa (7) in the early stages.

Troy Bayliss - Welkom

Hopkins - Welkom

Rossi holds off Biaggi - Welkom

Tamada - Jerez Qualifying

Nakano - Jerez Qualifying

Rossi - Jerez Qualifying

Roberts - Jerez Qualifying

Rossi - Jerez Qualifying

Carlos Checa - Jerez Qualifying

Colin Edwards during Saturday qualifying

Max Biaggi during Saturday qualifying

John Hopkins may be a bit timid in the wet after Le Mans 2003.

Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden

Telefonica Honda's Sete Gibernau

Team KR's Nobu Aoki during qualifying

Troy Bayliss looked good in the wet

Valentino will start from pole

Yamaha's Val Rossi leads Honda's Alex Barros.

Gibernau celebrates alongside Biaggi and Barros.

Biaggi makes a run

Capirossi

Checa stays in the hunt.

The rain takes a toll.

McWilliams

Nakano fights through the rain.

Roberts

Rossi gets wet.

Biaggi

Biaggi - Qualifying

Byrne - Qualifying

Capirossi - Qualifying

Gibernau - Qualifying

Edwards - Qualifying

Max Biaggi

Gibernau battles Checa

Hopkins

Nakano

Aprilia Girls - Le Mans

Biaggi in pursuit - Le Mans

Carlos Checa finished a season best second - Le Mans

Biaggi gets on the throttle and finishes 3rd - Le Mans

Gibernau - Le Mans

Gibernau tries to hold off Rossi

McWilliams has some trouble - Le Mans

Sete Gibernau, winner - Le Mans

Rossi (46) tries to extend his lead over Sete (15) - Mugello

Rossi gets the win - Mugello

Shane Byrne finished an impressive 10th on the Cube - Mugello

Capirossi lets it all hang out at home - Mugello

Carlos Checa, DNF - Mugello

Colin Edwards, 12th - Mugello

Hopkins - Qualifying

Sete Gibernau is looking good at home - Catalunya

Kurtis Roberts pushes the Team KR V5 during qualifying - Catalunya

Troy Bayliss looked good on the Ducati - Mugello

Loris Capirossi qualified 15th - Catalunya

More love from Aprilia

Max Biaggi finishes 8th at Catalunya.

Shane Byrne missed the top ten by three spots - Catalunya

Carlos Checa claimed a fourth-place finish - Catalunya

Gibernau (15) battle Rossi until the end, but could only manage a second-place finish - Catalunya

John Hopkins (21) leads Hayden - Catalunya

Shinya Nakano rode well to finish in 7th - Catalunya

Gibernau and Rossi gave the fans an exciting finish - Catalunya

Tamada and Biaggi race their Hondas side-by-side - Assen

Rossi edged out Gibernau in the end - Assen

Rossi gives his Yamaha a physical to make sure it's in good working order - Assen

Proton's Kurtis Roberts - Rio

Telefonica Movistar Honda's Colin Edwards - Rio

Telefonica Movistar Honda's Sete Gibernau - Rio

Gauloises Yamaha's Valentino Rossi offered up a rare DNF - Rio

Camel Honda's Makoto Tamada earned his first MotoGP win - Rio

Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi rode the wheels off his Ducati to finish in 4th - Rio

10th place went to Fortuna Yamaha's Carlos Checa - Rio

Ducati's Troy Bayliss looked good on the way to a DNF - Rio

Fuchs Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano finished 9th - Rio

Suzuki's Kenny Roberts finished a fine 6th - Rio

Camel Honda's Max Biaggi - Rio

Max Biaggi led for the majority of the race - Rio

Loris Capirossi eventually made it around Kenny Roberts - Rio

For a while, Roberts held off the mighty Rossi too- Rio

Rossi leads Shinya Nakano during the early stages of the race - Rio

Nicky Hayden rode an excellent race, finishing in 3rd - Rio

Suzuki's Kenny Roberts took advantage of his pole position by leading the first lap and a half - Rio

Alex Hofmann leads Ruben Xaus - Rio

In the end, Makoto Tamada (6) held on for the win over Biaggi and Hayden (69) - Rio

Makoto and Max hose down Nicky Hayden and Sito Pons - Rio

John Hopkins (21) - Suzuki - 9th: 'I’d seen a lot of guys go down and I was in the top ten with nobody close behind me, and the bike was slipping around.' - Sachsenring

Makoto Tamada (6) - Honda - 6th: 'It was a good duel with Colin Edwards - I´d have tried any harder to go past him, for sure I would have ended up crashing out.' – Sachsenring

Marco Melandri high sided and took out Norick Abe in the crash - Sachsenring

Colin Edwards (45) - Honda - 5th: 'I would like to be fighting for the podium but after starting from so far back, fifth place is a good result.' - Sachsenring

Ducati fans let loose the balloons - Sachsenring

Biaggi and Rossi battle for the lead on the first lap - Sachsenring

Nicky Hayden (69) - Honda - 3rd: 'I said last time in Rio I wanted more but Ill take this.' - Sachsenring

Max Biaggi - Winner - 'Even when Valentino passed me I knew I had the right set-up to be able to get back at him as soon as he made a mistake.' - Sachsenring

Valentino Rossi (46) leads Max Biaggi (3) and Alex Barros (4) - Sachsenring

Eventually Biaggi passed Rossi and the rest of his Honda buddies followed him - Sachsenring

Valentino Rossi - Yamaha - 4th: 'Life is always a surprise. Max did really well and this has turned out to be one of Honda’s tracks.' - Sachsenring

Biaggi celebrates the victory with his loyal legion of fans - Sachsenring

Alex Barros - Honda - 2nd: 'The race went very well. I made contact with Sete at the start and lost a few places, then I got it together and went after a win.' - Sachsenring

Max Biaggi (3) - 'My Honda was incredible and this was great time to close the gap in the Championship.'

Biaggi tastes the fruit of his labor - Sachsenring

Loris Capirossi - Donington

Eventually Rossi pulled away and won easily over the Team Movistar Honda duo - Donington

Mad Max Biaggi is in the points chase but a 12th place finish doesnt help his cause - Donington

Early race action had Capirossi in the lead - Donington

Shinya Nakano struggled to finish in the points - Donington

Troy Bayliss battled some traction problems - Donington

Capirossi (65), Rossi (46), and Gibernau (15) battle in the early stages - Donington

Carlos Checa finished 6th - Donington

Fuchs Kawasaki's Alex Hofmann wrings out the ZX-RR - Donington

Valentino Rossi is your winner - Donington

Colin Edwards finished a career best 2nd at Donington

Valentino Rossi celebrates his win with a little smoke - Donington

Alex Hofmann - Czech GP

Valentino Rossi - Czech GP

Carlos Checa - Czech GP

Makoto Tamada - Czech GP

Alex Barros - Czech GP

Colin Edwards during wet qualifying - Czech GP

Sete sticks gives a raspberry to the world - Czech GP

Valentino one-ups Sete - Czech GP

Max Biaggi finished on the podium and keeps the leaders in sight - Czech GP

John Hopkins ran well until his Suzuki developed problems - Czech GP

Sete Gibernau - Czech GP

Carlos Checa managed a 6th place finish - Czech GP

Nicky Hayden chased down and caught Max Biaggi (3) for third place but he crashed out with four laps to go - Czech GP

Colin Edwards (45) rode the wheels of his RC211V but only finished in 7th - Czech GP

Gibernau leads Rossi in the closing stages of the race - Czech GP

Loris Capirossi - Czech GP

Kenny Roberts battles Melandri and Abe - Czech GP

Valentino Rossi haulin ass on the M1 - Czech GP

Gibernau grabbed the holeshot and never looked back - Czech GP

Tamada and Barros celebrate their efforts at Estoril

Valentino Rossi believes a good smoke is best shared with his fans - Estoril

Alex Barros rode his Repsol Honda to a third place finish - Estoril

Telefonica Honda's Colin Edwards was hoping for more than a 9th - Estoril

After the first lap incident, Capirossi chased down everyone, including Nakano (56) on his way to 7th - Estoril

Sete Gibernau finished 4th - Estoril

Gauloises Yamaha's Valentino Rossi takes his sixth win of the year - Estoril

Suzuki's John Hopkins (21) had a career best 6th place finish - Estoril

Marco 'Spider-Man' Melandri (33) was running well but then he crashed and destroyed his M1 theme bike - Estoril

Biaggi crashes oput but Capirossi (65) makes an amazing save - Estoril

Biaggi (3) nails Capirossi on the first lap rather than waiting for a safe place to try a pass - Estoril

Things are about to get interesting about three turns into the race - Estoril

Capirossi (65) pushes his way to the front right off the bat - Estoril

Racing gets underway at Estoril - Estoril

Kenny Roberts jr. prepares to get underway at Estoril

Rossi was the Michelin sandwich between race winner Tamada and third place Nakano, both on Bridgestones - Motegi

Makoto Tamada wheelies his Camel Honda RC211V through the tunnel - Motegi

Rossi (46) tried to hold off Tamada (6) but the Japanese rider was not to be denied - Motegi

Fuchs Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano (56) rode the hell out of his ZX-RR on the way to his first podium for Kawasaki since 1981 - Motegi

The crash - part three - Motegi

The crash - part two - Motegi

The crash - part one - Motegi

Everything looked good at the start. Rossi (46) got the holeshot followed by Hopkins (21) - but things were about to get really ugly - Motegi

Sete Gibernau (middle) celebrates his win with teammate Colin Edwards and fellow Spaniard, Ruben Xaus - Qatar

Sete Gibernau wins the first ever MotoGP at the new Losail circuit - Qatar

d' Antin Ducati's Ruben Xaus finished a career best third - Qatar

Colin Edwards earned his second runner-up finish in 2004 - Qatar

Nicky Hayden (69) battled his way to the front only to crash in the last couple laps - Qatar

Alex Hoffman had his best GP finish thanks to a 9th place - Qatar

Racing gets under way at the Losail track - Qatar

Gauloises Yamaha's Valentino Rossi - Sepang

Nicky Hayden just missed a podium at Sepang with a fourth place finish.

Makoto Tamada ended the day at Sepang in fifth place.

Alex Barros slides the RC211V around at Sepang. Barros ended the day in third place.

Valentino Rossi took a huge step towards the 2004 MotoGP championshp with a win at Sepang.

John Hopkins could only muster a DNF at Sepang.

One week after scoring a poidum, Colin Edwards finished the race in 11th.

Michael Jordan takes a lap on the Ducati Desmosedici GP bike with Gibernau as a guide - Valencia

Garry Taylor makes his final appearance as Suzuki Team Manager - Valencia

Makoto Tamada qualified on pole - Valencia

Colin Edwards wants to hear some noise - Valencia

2004 champ Val Rossi in action - Valencia

John Hopkins will be back with Suzuki for 2005 - Valencia

Aprilia's Jeremy McWilliams - Valencia

Loris Capirossi - Valencia

Thats right Val, no one can catch you, big guy - Valencia

Ducati's Troy Bayliss finished a season best 3rd. He still lost his job once the race was over though - Valencia

Nicky Hayden will have the full force of Honda behind him for the next two seasons - Valencia

The Spanish fans are always great - Valencia

Max Biaggi will not ride for Camel in 2005 - Valencia

Ruben Xaus is the ‘04 MotoGP Rookie of the Year. Too bad he crashed out of the finale, - which also dropped him from 10th to 11th in the championship – Valencia

Valentino Rossi whipped everyone in this race - just like he did all year - Valencia

Your 2004 MotoGP champions: Valentino Rossi (46) is flanked by 250 GP champ, Daniel Pedrosa (1) and 125 GP champ, Andrea Dovisioso.

Valentino Rossi - Catalunya

2004 MotoGP - Check out the action in this MotorcycleUSA.com photo essay