MotoGP 2005

Two weeks after taking his maiden MotoGP win in Turkey, Marco Melandri was back on the charge today with the fastest lap on the first day of free practice of the Gran Premio betandwin.com de la Comunitat Valenciana. Melandri set a best lap of 1’33.464 on Friday afternoon to conclude the day just 0.042s ahead of Carlos Checa, who had set the pace in the morning’s opening session, and raise hopes of a grandstand finish to the season as he aims to hold off Nicky Hayden in the chase for the runner-up spot in the championship.

“I felt comfortable on the bike from the first minute,” commented Melandri, who holds a nine-point advantage over his Honda colleague in the current standings. “We have started out with a hybrid set-up using the data from the winter tests here and the last race in Turkey and it has worked well but I know the times will be closer tomorrow. I want to finish on the podium but I am more bothered about taking second in the championship than I am about winning this race.”

Checa, who is almost certainly making his last appearance with Ducati this weekend, was closely followed by his Spanish compatriot Sete Gibernau – a potential replacement in the Italian factory team. The 2003 and 2004 runner-up has yet to win a race this year but he is on course to sign off in style at the scene of his maiden victory, lapping just 0.059 seconds adrift of Melandri today.

Hayden was fourth fastest followed by current Ducati rider Loris Capirossi, back on track after missing the last two races through injury. Capirossi finished 0.237 seconds ahead of sixth-placed Alex Barros, who was the final rider under the 1’34 mark today. Valentino Rossi was the highest placed Yamaha rider but the Italian had a lacklustre day on the YZR-M1, this weekend sporting the Japanese manufacturer’s red, white and black vintage paint scheme. Honda mounted riders Max Biaggi and Makoto Tamada took eighth and ninth respectively, ahead of Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards, who completed the top ten.

Casey Stoner clinched provisional pole position in the 250cc class, beating World Champion and home favourite Dani Pedrosa by just 0.002 seconds on his penultimate lap. The session had been dominated by Pedrosa, who steadily improved until Stoner posted his best lap in the latter stages to become the only Aprilia rider on the front row of the provisional grid. Pedrosa was followed by Honda factory colleagues Héctor Barberá and Hiroshi Aoyama, third and fourth fastest respectively.

Mattia Pasini set the pace in the 125cc class after lapping just 0.065 seconds quicker than Gabor Talmacsi. Julián Simón was third fastest whilst Thomas Lüthi, who can win the title by scoring three points in Sunday’s race, completes the front row in fourth. Mika Kallio, the only man capable of stopping Lüthi, qualified at the head of the provisional second row in fifth place.

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