MotoGP 2005 - Round 1

Italian star Valentino Rossi won the opening round of the MotoGP world championship at Jerez in Spain in controversial style after a thrilling duel with Spain’s Sete Gibernau, while Australian Troy Bayliss finished sixth in his first GP on a Honda.

Bayliss, from Taree in New South Wales, showed his determination to overcome problems in adjusting his riding style to the new Honda machine and declared himself “happy” with the result.

He qualified ninth and on the third row of the grid after struggling through earlier practice sessions at Jerez, but made up several places in the race.

“I’m quite happy,” Bayliss said. “I think that sixth isn’t a bad result for the first race with a new bike. I’m happy for the team too. We still have a long season ahead of us, and I need, and want, to get on that bike and do some good races. I feel good, now my motivation is even greater and I can’t wait for the Portuguese GP next week.”

Bayliss made the switch to Honda after being dropped by Ducati at the end of last year. He raced two seasons with the Italian marque as it entered MotoGP in 2003, having won the world superbike championship in 2001, and scored his fourth podium finish for them in the final race of the season in Spain last year.

He spent the European winter searching for speed on his new bike declaring it a “bigger change” moving from Ducati to Honda, than from world superbikes to MotoGP.

“I’m happy for Troy, because he had a great debut race after a tough off-season,” said team boss Sito Pons. “I really think he is finding a feeling for the new bike and I think that he is getting the confidence with it - the best is surely yet to come. We’re on the right track.”

Rossi, who launched his quest for a fifth straight world title from pole position on his Yamaha, proved he had lost none of his edge after a crash in the morning’s warm up.

He stalked Gibernau the entire race after the Spaniard took the lead on the first lap, making his now-customary overtaking move with two laps remaining.

A mistake on the final circuit saw Gibernau surge back into the lead, but Rossi struck back at the final turn, the pair banging elbows with Gibernau running wide into the gravel.

He returned to the track to finish second, 8.631 seconds behind Rossi.

“That was an amazing race,” Rossi said.

“Gibernau set a fast pace from the start but I just tried to stay with him and then attacked at the end. I got in front but I made a mistake on the last lap on the braking and Gibernau got past. We passed each other again in the fast rights but I got a better exit and there was enough space for me to pass him in the final corner. It was the only place where I could pass. We touched, but motorbike races are sometimes like this. I know Sete is not happy but there are going to be 16 more races this year and there will be many more hard battles. The level of this race was really high.”

It was a weekend of records for Rossi. His pole position time of 1 minute 39.419 seconds was a new fastest lap at Jerez. He became only the second rider in the 56-year history of GP racing to have won the opening race of the season for five straight years – Italian legend Giacomo Agostini the other rider having achieved this – while he also became the first Yamaha rider since Eddie Lawson in 1986 to score four straight victories in the premier class.

In contrast, Rossi’s long-time rival and compatriot Max Biaggi posted his lowest qualifying result ever in the premier class. He started from 16th on the grid on his factory Honda, but finished seventh.

His American teammate Nicky Hayden was running third before he crashed out with eight laps remaining, gifting the final podium place to Italian Marco Melandri in his first outing for Honda.

Brazilian Alex Barros was a distant fourth with Kawasaki’s Japanese rider Shinya Nakano fifth.

Rossi leads the MotoGP world championship on 25 points ahead of Gibernau, 20, and Melandri, 16. Bayliss is sixth with 10 world championship points.

In the 250cc race, Australian Casey Stoner was on course for a podium finish in his first GP after stepping up from the 125cc class, but crashed out just after the half way mark.

The 19-year-old from the New South Wales Hunter Valley got a shocking start from third on the grid and dropped to the back before climbing his way up the field, running comfortably in third place before his Aprilia machine slid out on lap 14.

“I am obviously not very happy to crash in the race,” Stoner said, “but this weekend has given me a lot of confidence and I know that I can race with the front guys if I get a good start.

“At the start of the race my bike went on to one cylinder and I went back to 17th place before the first corner. I then had to work my way forward. I was able to reach third position but (Dani) Pedrosa and (Sebastian) Porto were too far in front, so I was happy to stay in third.

“I was doing this comfortably so I backed off my speed a little to be safe. Then when accelerating in a straight line on the middle of the tyre, the back let go lifting the front (of the bike) off the ground, making me crash.

“At this time we don’t know how this happened. I’m not injured and am looking forward to next weekend and hope to have a good race at the front in Estoril.”

It was the first time Stoner had qualified on the front row of the grid in the 250cc class. He finished sixth in the 250cc race at Jerez in 2002 as a 16-year-old in his fifth GP start, but switched to the 125cc class for the next two years, first with Italian Lucio Cecchinello’s LCR team and then with Austrian manufacturer KTM.

He is back with Cecchinello this season on a factory Aprilia.

Spain’s reigning 250cc world champion Dani Pedrosa led from start to finish to take victory on his Honda by 2.136 seconds ahead of Aprilia riders Sebastian Porto, from Argentina, in second, and Alex De Angelis, from San Marino, third.

Italian Marco Simoncelli won the 125cc race from pole position on his Aprilia ahead of Finn Mika Kallio on a KTM and another Italian Fabrizio Lai on a Honda.

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