Re: Rossi's best. period
yossef ~ Based on what I've seen in my lifetime, I woud agree that championship alone does not tell the whole story with gp racers. There are a lot of very, very good racers. But there are only a handful who truly did exhibit greatness. We've been through this poll before, but my (very) short list is: (Not neccessarily in this order) - Jarno Saarinen, Mike Hailwood, Ken Roberts (Sr.), Valentino Rossi, Mic Doohan, and Cal Rayborn.
I know that there are many talented riders not on this list, but the riders I have mentioned showed speed, control, courage, and intelligence in the most extrordinary racing situations, often with very tough adversarys i.e. ~ Hailwood/Agostini, Roberts/Sheene, etc.
They are simply without peer in their own racing eras.