MotoGP Race

Sete Gibernau is heavily rumoured to be joining Ducati for 2006 and is eager to put in a strong end to a season where on average across all rounds he has qualified better than any other rider. Despite that fact his race results have been lacking with lots of ups and down come Sunday which sees him languishing in seventh outright in the championship standings.  Gibernau has not scored a podium since the German GP and hasn't took a victory since Qatar last year.

Melandri starts alongside his team-mate after his best qualifying performance since he started from second at the Grand Prix of Catalunya. 

Rounding out the all Honda front row is bright American hope Nicky Hayden who has the chance here today to take his third successive podium after scoring great results at Qatar and Phillip Island.

While this is the second occasion this year where Honda has dominated the front row it has been a barren run for Honda come race day.  If a Honda rider fails to take victory today it will be the eighth successive race without a Honda victory, making it the longest such run since 1991. The last time a Honda rider stood on the top step of the podium was back at Laguna Seca when local favourite Nicky Hayden took the major prize.

Valentino Rossi has been the top Yamaha qualifier all year and if the Italian superstar takes a win today he will equal Mick Doohan's record of twelve victories in a season.  It would also mark his 54th GP victory in the premier class and that tally would also equal Mick Doohan on that score.  Rossi has been dominant throughout this season where his expected top challengers have failed to score any consistent top results which means that is highly likely that Rossi may finish this year with more than double the points tally of any other rider in the MotoGP class. This is really quite staggering and perhaps further highlights the need for some of the mid-field consistent points scorers to be retired in favour of some exciting new talents as it is safe to say that currently no rider in MotoGP can rival Rossi when it comes to the ability to score consistent top results.

Highlighting the Gauloises Yamaha consistency this year is the fact that Colin Edwards is the only rider in the field to have scored points at all 15 rounds this season. The Texan has not taken a spot on the podium since Laguna Seca earlier in the year but his stellar run of consistency has him running fourth overall in the championship standings.  This fact highlights Gibernau's failures come race day as despite consistently qualifying much higher than Edwards he is only seventh in the series.

Toni Elias starts from sixth place on the grid which is his best ever qualifying result in MotoGP. Elias has improved markedly in recent times with the Yamaha man also qualifying well in Australia where he proved seventh quickest on Saturday.

The most experienced man in GP racing is undoubtedly Alex Barros and the Istanbul circuits marks the 42nd different track the Brazilian has competed at since his GP debut back in 1986.  The Camel Honda man qualified eighth quickest for today's 16th round of the 17 round series.

Ducati man Carlos Checa starts from ninth place on the grid in what is rumoured to be his penultimate race for the Italian manufacturer as the Spaniard has been linked with a Honda ride for 2006.

Rounding out the top ten in qualifying was Shinya Nakano who has just renewed his contract with Kawasaki for 2006 where he will race alongside Randy De Puniet who has been recruited from the 250 ranks by Kawasaki to introduce some fresh blood into their MotoGP program.  

Max Biaggi has been having trouble coming to terms with the circuit and had qualified only 12th, one position behind MotoGP rookie Chris Vermeulen.  Today will mark Biaggi's 200th successive Grand Prix event as the Italian has not missed a race since the French GP in 1992.

If paddock gossip is to be believed today could also mark the final appearance by Chris Vermeulen on a Honda as the affable Queenslander is heavily rumoured to have inked a Suzuki MotoGP deal for 2006.

Istanbul is expected to provide near ideal racing condition with an ambient air temperature around 20°C under clear skies. The 5340 metre circuit present riders with seven lefts, six rights and has an average width ranging between 14 and 21.5 metres. The start-finish straight is 655 metres and the circuit features many elevation changes throughout the 5.34km lap. From what we have seen in qualifying it seems as though Michelin has the upper hand when it comes to tyres most suitable to the surface and layout provided at the new Turkish track.

This certainly is the business end of the season with lots of contracts still to be decided and the only real major battle in the championship remaining to be decided is an exciting four-way battle for second overall.  Currently Hayden and Melandri are level pegged on 170 points while Edwards still has the chance to provide Yamaha an amazing 1-2 in the riders championship as he currently only suffers an eight point deficit to the two aforementioned Honda men. Max Biaggi is the only other rider really in the running for second place overall and is a further three points adrift of Edwards.  Sete Gibernau is still a mathematical possibility to take second place and is 33 points behind the current second placed men.

Morning warm up however saw Gibernau on top of the timesheets once again but this time he really needed to show that he can convert his obvious awesome pace in to race results, something that has been distinctly lacking this season. Arch nemesis Valentino Rossi was the next quickest man in warm up with Hayden, Melandri, Barros, Checa and Edwards while the improver was Max Biaggi to be 8th quickest after only managing to be 12th quickest during yesterday's qualifying session. Chris Vermeulen had been 13th fastest during the morning warm up.

When the lights went out it was Marco Melandri who led the field through turn one from his team-mate with Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden in behind while Valentino Rossi got a shocker of a start and was shuffled back to around eighth place in turn one. Sete Gibernau trailed some sparks off the line and also through some of the early turns either pointing to a problem or that has chosen some sparky knee-sliders of toe-sliders for this round to throw up a bit of a spark show for the Turkish crowd.

Melandri, Gibernau and Hayden immediately started to pull away from Edwards and the rest of the field. Toni Elias was running a brilliant fifth until lap three when Rossi shuffled the satellite Yamaha man back to sixth place.  Edwards then ran a little wide which allowed Rossi to slip easily through to fourth place but he was already 2.5 seconds behind race leader Melandri and looked to have his work cut out for him to get in a position to challenge for the lead.

Very early on it looked as though Melandri might have the pace to walk away but on the next lap Gibernau closed right onto his tail but Rossi signaled his intention by putting in a new fastest lap of the race. Vermeulen was running right behind team-mate Alex Barros but was pushed back to ninth on lap four by Carlos Checa.

Rossi was challenging Hayden for third place on the next lap but the leading duo still had 1.5 seconds on the world champion.

Gibernau was looking to get past Melandri for the lead but on lap six he ran off the track and through the gravel trap before rejoining the circuit in sixth place.

Shinichi Ito had received a jump start penalty and was shown the board requiring him to return to the pits for a stop go penalty but failed to respond to the instruction and thus received the black flag.

With 15 laps to run there was only 1.1 seconds separating the leading trio of Melandri, Hayden and Rossi. Valentino Rossi slotted underneath Hayden for second place on the next lap and set his sights on race leader Marco Melandri who had a 1 second advantage on the Yamaha man.

Melandri responded to the challenge however by opening the gap out to 1.3 seconds over the next couple of laps. Tamada and Nakano had pushed Vermeulen back to 11th place.

With six laps to go Melandri had a full 2 seconds on Rossi who in turn had just over half a second on third placed Hayden.  Gibernau had recovered to 4th place but was 8 seconds adrift of third placed Hayden with no chance at a podium finish unless misfortune was going to strike any of the leading trio. Carlos Checa had got the better of Colin Edwards for 5th place.

Over the next three laps Melandri extended his lead out to a full 3 seconds.  Vermeulen was making a late charge to try and get Nakano for tenth place and had 5 seconds over the 12th placed Max Biaggi. 

Marco Melandri went on to take a brilliant maiden win where no other rider on the track had an answer for his pace at the new Turkish circuit and he celebrated across the line with a stand up one foot mono.  Rossi second and Hayden third for his third podium result in as many rounds.  Gibernau salvaged fourth place ahead of Carlos Checa and Toni Elias while Colin Edwards took seventh.  Vermeulen took 11th place behind Nakano and ahead of Max Biaggi.

Melandri now has a handy nine point advantage over Hayden in the fight for second outright in the championship.

Race Result

1. Melandri
2. Rossi
3. Hayden
4. Gibernau
5. Checa
6. Elias
7. Edwards
8. Tamada
9. Barros
10. Nakano
11. Vermeulen
12. Biaggi
13. Jacque
14. Xaus
15. Hopkins
16. Rolfo
17. Battaini
18. Ellison

Championship Points

1. Rossi 351
2. Melandri 195
3. Hayden 186
4. Edwards 171
5. Biaggi 163
6. Gibernau 150
7. Capirossi 148
8. Barros 138