Valentino Rossi, his first World Championship in 1997

In 1997, 12 years ago, Valentino Rossi hinted at his dominant future of the MotoGP class with his first World Championship but few of us could have predicted Rossi's sheer brilliance and utter dominance of every GP class he's raced in since.

We take a look at Valentino Rossi's second season in GP125, aged just 18. The cheeky Valentino and extravagant podium celebrations were beginning to emerge as the care-free Italian young-gun went about his racing with ruthless efficiency.

Now, in 2009, Valentino Rossi is still producing the magic he showed us in his first season in the MotoGP paddock 13 years ago.

During the 1997 season - Rossi's second season in the GP125 Championship - he smashed the opposition, winning 11 out of the 15 races on his Aprilia, with the only other winner being Nobby Ueda who won 4 races on a rival Honda machine. Rossi made it to the podium in 13 of the 15 races and won the championship by almost 100 points over second-placed Ueda.

We've gathered together some great images from the 1997 season for you to browse. It was the start of the emerging Rossi era, and quite frankly, 12 years on, we don't want it to end.