Race Result

1. Rossi
2. Hayden 1sec
3. Checa 4.2secs
4. Melandri 4.2secs
5. Gibernau 14secs
6. Edwards 33secs
7. Nakano 45secs
8. Elias 45secs
9. Tamada 45secs
10. Hopkins 50secs
11. Vermeulen 50secs
12. Xaus 68secs
13. Rolfo 91secs
14. Ellison 1 lap
15. Battaini 1 lap
16. Jacque 2 laps

Championship Points

1. Rossi 331
2. Hayden 170
3. Melandri 170
4. Edwards 162
5. Biaggi 159
6. Capirossi 148
7. Gibernau 137
8. Barros 129
9. Checa 119
10. Nakano 87
11. Tamada 75
12. Roberts 63
13. Hopkins 59
14. Elias 59
15. Bayliss 54
16. Xaus 49
17. Jacque 25
18. Rolfo 25
19. Hofmann 22

• 1511 - Rossi takes the win, Hayden 2nd, Checa gets that 3rd position, Melandri 4th, Gibernau 5th, Edwards 6th, Nakano 7th, Elias 8th, Tamada 9th and Hopkins squeezes Vermeulen out of the top ten on the run to the line. 12th is Xaus followed by Rolfo, Ellison, Battaini and Jacque.
• 1510 - Checa and Melandri now fighting tooth and nail over the final step on the podium...
• 1509 - On that lap Vermeulen and Hopkins put in a faster lap than that recorded by the riders placed 7th, 8th and 9th...
• 1508 - The gap between Rossi and Hayden now 8-tenths. Melandri a further second down but still trying very hard with his Telefonica Honda getting very untidy at times.  Vermeulen and Hopkins cross the line to signal the penultimate lap virtually side by side
• 1506 - Only 3 laps to run now and it is Rossi by a second over Hayden who in turn has a second on Melandri, then half a second to Checa. 5th is Gibernau, 6th Edwards, 7th Elias, 8th Tamada, 9th Nakano, 10th Vermeulen, 11th Hopkins then it is Xaus, Rolfo, Ellison, Battaini
• 1505 - Barros down and hurt after losing the front at speed and getting thrown high into the air as he bounced through the gravel trap.  Camel might need another stand in rider for Turkey...
• 1504 - Hayden trying hard now...  But that lap was only equal with Rossi, both men did a 1m31.0, as did Melandri. 
• 1503 - 6 laps to run and Rossi has a full second lead over Hayden but is back in the 1m31s.
• 1502 - Elias has got the better of Nakano for 9th place.  Vermeulen still 11th, 3.5 seconds behind Nakano now but with Hopkins still right on his tail
• 1501 - Rossi down to the high 1m30s now and pulling away while Hayden, Melandri and Checa tussle over 2nd place
• 1500 - Hayden back up to 2nd through the Hayshed
• 1459 - Rossi back down to low 1m31s now..  Hayden back past Melandri for 2nd place but again Melandri takes the position back at turn four this time
• 1458 - Melandri inside Hayden for second place after Rossi took the lead once again
• 1457 - Barros is running in 6th place while his stand in team-mate Chris Vermeulen is running 11th and putting in laps around 8-tenths off the Brazilian
• 1456 - That slow couple of laps have let Melandri and Checa back in the game with less than a second covering the top four now
• 1455 - That last lap both Rossi and Hayden slipped down to 1m32s, almost certain Rossi rolled off a little to give the American the lead
• 1454 - Hayden into the lead. Rossi possibly realising he can't shake the American so wants him to lead for a while and take his turn at piling on the pressure to make a head game out of it
• 1453 - The gap between Rossi and Hayden is down to nothing now but that was a relatively slow lap from both of them in the high 1m31s.  Melandri is 2.5 seconds adrift with Checa a couple of tenths further behind
• 1451 - No order changes on that lap and with 13 to run the order is; Rossi, Hayden, Melandri, Checa, Gibernau, Barros, Edwards, Tamada, Nakano, Elias, Vermeulen, Hopkins, Xaus, Rolfo, Ellison, Battaini, Jacque
• 1450 - Hayden looks to have pulled some of that ground back on this lap... He has done that, the gap now 2-tenths.
• 1449 - Rossi just put in a 1m30.5 to pull a couple of tenths away from Hayden, the gap still only 4-tenths though with 14 laps to run. 
• 1448 - Checa back past Gibernau for 4th place. Vermeulen took a few tenths out of Elias but still has 3.5 seconds to make up in order to get into the top ten. He also has to contend with Hopkins who is matching his pace and right on his tail
• 1447 - Barros just got the better of Edwards for sixth position.
• 1446 - Fastest man on that lap was Marco Melandri with a 1m31.0. Nakano has moved up to 9th after getting the better of Elias.
• 1445 - Gibernau and Checa just engaged in a bit of fairing bashing over 4th place with Gibernau getting the better end of the stick
• 1443 - It looks as though it is shaping up to be a two horse race with Rossi and Hayden the protagonists
• 1441 - Hayden and Rossi pulled away from Melandri on that lap to the tune of more than half a second on that time around alone.  Hayden right on Rossi now.  Vermeulen has got past Hopkins for 11th but will have his work cut out for him in trying to get tenth as Nakano has a four second gap on him
• 1440 - Hayden pulled a couple of tenths out of Rossi that time around to reduce the gap to 3-tenths with Melandri a similar distance behind. Checa next best but now 2 seconds down on the leading trio.
• 1439 - Hayden back up to second place.  Vermeulen up to 12th place after getting the better of Jacque. Next target is Hopkins but the American has a small gap over the Australian at this stage of the game
• 1438 - Hayden did a better fifth lap than Melandri to start challenging the Telefonica man for second place
• 1437 - Due to the nature of Phillip Island with it's long series of fast left hand turns the Michelin men have dual compound rear tyres with a different compound on side compared to the other. All the top Michelin runners basically have a soft right side of the tyre and hard compound left side of the tyre. The exceptions are Tamada and Vermeulen who have medium compounds on both sides of their tyres
• 1436 - Melandri al over Rossi instantly and seems to be the rider with the most pace at this early stage. Just got the Michelin tyre choices and all of them are running medium fronts.
• 1435 - Melandri under Hayden for second place now and out after his countryman
• 1434 - Melandri sneaks third place from Checa. Melandri and Edwards the only men to do a 1m30 on that second lap...
• 1433 - Rossi all over the back of Hayden through 11 and 12 this time around and pulls alongside on the straight and takes the line to turn one to take the race lead after leaving his braking a little bit later than the American. Melandri right on them now
• 1432 - Vermeulen in 13th at the end of lap one. Rossi stalking Hayden, Checa watching on with apparent patience...
• 1431 - Through turns 11 and 12 for the first time and it's Hayden, Rossi, Checa with this trio already starting to pull away a little from Melandri, Gibernau and Edwards.
• 1430 - They're off!  Hayden gets off the line well but Checa has the inside line into turn one but thinks better of it as Hayden sweeps across, Rossi right there also. Down to turn four and Rossi up the inside of Checa for second place. Biaggi went down at turn four
• 1428 - Setting off on the warm up lap now.  Just got the tyre choices for the Bridgestone men.. Checa hard front and medium rear, Hopkins medium at both ends, Nakano mediums at both ends, Jacque hard front and medium rear
• 1425 - 5 minutes to go, tyre warmer being removed
• 1418 - All the riders and their bikes are on the grid with tyre warmers on and basking under a clear Phillip Island sky. There is a slight headwind blowing up the main straight but not gusty and treacherous like we have come to expect sometimes at the Island.
• 1417 - Pre Race Notes - Shinya Nakano is the top Kawasaki qualifier for the fourteenth time from fifteen races this year. The only time another Kawasaki rider has outqualified Nakano was at the Japanese GP when Hofmann was two places higher on the grid
• 1416 - Pre Race Notes - If Marco Melandri takes his debut victory in the MotoGP class in Australia he will become the first rider to have won in all three classes at the Phillip Island circuit, having won the 125cc race in 1999 and the 250cc race in 2002
• 1415 - Pre Race Notes - Toni Elias starts from seventh place on the grid, his best qualifying result since moving to the MotoGP class at the start of 2005
• 1414 - Pre Race Notes - Max Biaggi has finished on the podium in the premier class at Phillip Island on three occasions, including taking victory in 2000 after qualifying in 12th place on the grid. 
• 1413 - Pre Race Notes - With Loris Capirossi not starting in Australia, Colin Edwards is the only rider in the MotoGP field to have scored points in all of the 14 races held thus far this season. Edwards will be aiming to finish on the podium for the first time since he was second at his home Grand Prix at Laguna Seca
• 1412 - Pre Race Notes - Carlos Checa starts from fourth place on the grid, his best qualifying result since the Portuguese GP back in April
• 1411 - Pre Race Notes - Sete Gibernau has qualified on the front row of the grid for the twelfth time this year. He has had more front row starts this year than any other rider in the MotoGP class
• 1410 - Pre Race Notes - Valentino Rossi, who has won for the last four years at Phillip Island, will be going for his eleventh win of 2005 to match the achievements of 2001 and 2002 when riding a Honda
• 1409 - Pre Race Notes - Nicky's pole time is the fastest ever lap f Phillip Island by a motorcycle. The top 13 riders were all under the lap record set last year by Loris Capirossi
• 1408 - Pre Race Notes - Nicky Hayden starts from pole position for the third time this year. Hayden will be aiming to score back to back podium finishes for the first time this year
• 1406 - Well we are a bit more than 20 minutes away from the start of the MotoGP race. I put my money on Carlos Checa last night as there were some half reasonable odds being offered on the Spaniard and from what I saw of practice and qualifying he did the most fast laps in nearly all of the sessions and was looking to be doing it quite easy...
• 1405 - We just had a spectacular display by an FA-18 Hornet doing 1,000kph down the main straight at low altitude before going vertical and performing lots of other tricks for the crowd.