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MotoGP
2005 - Round 14 - Doha MotoGP Race Report October 2nd, 2005 |
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MotoGP
2005 - Round 14 - Doha MotoGP Race Report October 2nd, 2005 |
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Loris Capirossi started from pole position for the third time in a row and the Ducati man got off the line well and led the field through turn one while Hayden and Gibernau did a bit of fairing bashing but both remained upright and Gibernau slotted into second place ahead of Valentino Rossi while Hayden was in fourth early on with Marco Melandri on his tail. Max Biaggi was outside the top ten and nearly crashed when he ran wide onto the grass trying to work his way forward but the four-time 250cc World Champion stayed on and lost very little time from that hiccup. Sete Gibernau took the lead from Loris Capirossi on lap two and Rossi pushed the Ducati further back to third place a couple of corners later and latched his Gauloises Yamaha onto the back of Gibernau's Telefonica Movistar Honda. Rossi pulled alongside Gibernau down the main straight as they started lap three while Nicky Hayden had upped his game to move up to third place and set his sights on Rossi while Colin Edwards pushed past Melandri to take fourth place. The top five runners all on medium compound Michelins while Capirossi in sixth place was running a hard compound Bridgestone on the front of his Ducati. Gibernau then put in a scorcher of a lap to build a small buffer over Rossi who was coming under increasing attack from Nicky Hayden. The young American looked to perhaps have the goods to get the better of Rossi but ran in a little too deep on the following lap and instead relinquished his third place to Marco Melandri who then went on to set a new lap record and took his turn at attacking Rossi. Biaggi then came in to retire with some sort of mechanical problem becoming evident with his factory Honda. John Hopkins then came in to the pits seemingly for a new rear tyre. Rossi responded to Melandri's challenge by upping his pace to start closing on race leader Sete Gibernau. A few laps later though Rossi ran very wide which allowed Melandri through to second place. Nicky Hayden was still running fourth and seemed to be enjoying sliding his V5 Honda around the Qatar circuit. With 11 laps to run Rossi got the better of Melandri once again to move back up to second place while Gibernau was trying to increase his 8-tenths of a second lead. On the next lap the Spaniard did exactly that by stretching his advantage out to 1.2 seconds while Melandri continued to hound Rossi at every turn. The Italian duo responded over the next few laps though and with 7 laps to run they had the gap down to only 4-tenths. On the next lap they were right on Gibernau's tail but then Melandri and Rossi had a near coming together which sent Rossi out very wide and he lost a lot of ground on his sparring partner as a result. Melandri then started to show a wheel to his Telefonica team-mate Sete Gibernau and slipped through a couple of times before running wide but the pressure certainly worked as Gibernau then ran off into the gravel which handed Melandri the race lead but things were far from settled as Rossi was immediately on Melandri and looking for a way through on his fellow Italian. Nicky Hayden watched on from only a couple of bike lengths behind. Colin Edwards was further back in fourth position with a comfortable buffer over Gibernau who had rejoined the circuit in fifth place. Rossi took the lead with two laps to run to set up an exciting finale to a cracker of a race. Both men were untidy at times on the penultimate lap in their quest to gain an advantage but Rossi could not break away and Melandri got a good drive onto the main straight but Rossi left his braking incredibly late to keep the lead as they started their final circuit of the Qatar track for 2005. Melandri was all over the back of Rossi at every turn on that final lap and the younger rider tried a move up the inside with a few turns to go but he ran very wide and handed Rossi the win. Hayden home for a strong third place with a new lap record set on lap nine. Colin Edwards scored fourth after showing good pace all weekend to extend his record of taking points at every single race since the Qatar race last year. An inconsolable Sete Gibernau took fifth after leading for more than half the race. Rossi is now the first Yamaha rider to take ten victories in the premier class in a single season. Melandri's second place was an impressive ride and certainly brave as the young Italian was riding with 35 stitches in his painfully damaged foot. After finishing no lower than fourth over the first seven races of the year he had slipped a little mid season as in the most recent six races his best result had been fifth in Malaysia. Hopefully signaling a welcome return to form for the youngster who with his second place at Qatar moved to within two points of second place in the championship and five points clear of fourth placed Edwards who in turn has a slender two point buffer over Hayden in the championship standings. Next stop Phillip Island. See you there!
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MotoGP Championship
2005
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