Yamaha Factory Racing rider Valentino Rossi scored his sixteenth podium from seventeen races in the final round of the 2005 MotoGP World Championship to put the shine on Yamaha's 50th Anniversary celebrations at Valencia

_{source: moto.racing-live.com}

The Italian started from his lowest grid position of the season but produced a dramatic ride to end the race in third place, lapping quicker than eventual winner Marco Melandri (Honda). A crowd of 124,520 watched Rossi make up seven positions with an incredible surge on the first lap, although the early pace of Melandri and Nicky Hayden (Honda) provided them with an advantage that proved impossible to breach in the second half of the race.

Rossi's Yamaha Factory team-mate Colin Edwards suffered a disappointing end to his first season with the team, losing three positions on the first lap after starting from sixth and only managing to recover one place by the end of the race. Nevertheless, the American has made significant progress with a new riding style over the course of the weekend and he is now looking forward to winter testing as he prepares for his second season as a Yamaha rider.

In the meantime, Yamaha is left to reflect on a stunning Anniversary season, in which it has swept the board, taking the riders', teams' and constructors' World Championship titles.