Former 500cc World Champion Calls it Quits - News - Dirt Rider Magazine

Italian Andrea Bartolini has probably been thinking about it for a long time and he finally made up his mind: This will be his last season racing the MX World Championships.During his long career, Bartolini won six Italian titles including a 500 Class World Title in 1999 while helping develop the new Yamaha YZ400F. He led the Italian team to victory twice in the MX des Nations as well. In the MX world, he is (rightly) acknowledged as a greatly skilled bike tester. In fact, for many years, Bartolini has tested the various prototypes and helped develop ideas for the Yamaha/Rinaldi team.He also experienced many serious accidents, like when he was nearly paralyzed in a bad fall at Namur in 1998. But Bartolini is strong willed and has always succeeded in getting back up on top again. However, the crashes have taken a toll on him."Now, when I'm racing and I get near my limit and I see there's a risky jump, I shut off the gas because I start thinking about a possible accident. Unfortunately I had many bad accidents during my career and now, I realize I'm not the 'bad and aggressive' rider I used to be," explained Bartolini. "When that moment comes, you must have the courage to stop. I don't want to start the 2005 season saying, 'Let's try and see.' That's not me."Probably all this is due to the fact that I have been riding for over 21 years. And moreover I've become father of twins Daniel and Giorgia—even if I'd like to underline that their birth didn't influence my decision of abandoning the World Championship."This year he is racing in the World Championship MX2 class with the Italian RZ team (a Yamaha satellite team). In the Swedish GP he finished third and currently sits in 18th with 107 points. But the future isn't bleak for the former World Champ, "I was contacted by both KTM and Yamaha to test and develop their bikes. I'm very happy about that. I chose Yamaha, so I'm going to test their bikes both in Europe and in Japan and take part in some races, but just to test and develop the bikes."