Rossi's Early Carreer

Valentino Rossi was son of Graziano Rossi, a former motorcycle racer, he first rode a bike at the age of two. Rossi’s first racing love was go karts. Fuelled by his mother, Stefania’s concern for her son’s safety, Graziano purchased a go karts as substitute for the bike. However, the Rossi family trait of perpetually wanting to go faster prompted a redesign; Graziano replaced the 60cc motor with a 100cc national kart motor for his then 5 years old son.
Graziano attempted to forge documents in an attempt to get Valentino’s junior kart license one year before he was legally allowed (he was 9 at that time), but ultimately failed.
Rossi won the regional minimoto was for fun; Rossi continued to race karts and finished fifth at the national karts championship in Parma. Both Valentino and Graziano had started looking at moving into the Italian 100cc series as well as the corresponding European series, which most likely would have pushed him into the direction of Formula 1. However, the high financial burden of racing karts led to the decision to race minimoto exclusively. Through 1992 and 1993, Valentino continued to learn the ins and outs of minimoto racing.
Rossi soon started to outgrow minimoto; a proper motorcycle was required. In 1993, Rossi acquired a Cagiva Mito 125 cc motorcycle, which was damaged in a first-corner crash no more than a hundred meters out from pit lane. He finished ninth that race weekend.
Although his first season in the Italian Sport Production Championship was varied, won a pole position at the season's final race at Misano, where he ultimately would finish on the podium. By the second year, Rossi had been provided a factory Mito by Cagiva team manager Claudio Lusuardi and won the Italian title.