Valentino Rossi: 'I won’t race without JB'

Valentino Rossi will only continue racing in the MotoGP world championship as long as legendary engineer Jerry Burgess agrees to continue at the helm of his factory Yamaha crew.

Since they first joined forces back in 2000 on a Honda NSR500 two-stroke, Rossi and Burgess have become a formidable double act in the premier class.

Their partnership has yielded an incredible six MotoGP titles and 77 race wins and Rossi frequently lavishes praise on Burgess for the Aussie’s contribution to his record-breaking success.

The 30-year-old’s current factory Yamaha contract expires at the end of the 2010 world championship campaign and it has already been strongly rumoured that the Italian will again delay retirement plans to continue his racing career.

But Rossi will only continue if Burgess remains at his side.

Talking to MCN, Rossi said: “For me it is also important what Jerry thinks. I don’t know if Jerry wants to continue after next year. If Jerry says to me that he wants to stop, it is another story to continue without him and it would be a big question mark and very difficult. To restart with another chief mechanic after more than ten years would be very difficult and something I would have to consider a lot.”