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MotoGP
2005 - Round 17 - Valencia MotoGP Race Report November 6th, 2005 |
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MotoGP
2005 - Round 17 - Valencia MotoGP Race Report November 6th, 2005 |
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Marco Melandri capitalised on his front row grid position to lead Hayden around the first lap with Gibernau in third place ahead of Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi. Rolfo ended his race only a couple of turns into the race after tumbling off in to the kitty litter. Halfway around the first lap and Rossi was already up to seventh place after starting the race from 15th on the grid but then ran wide which allowed Barros to take that seventh place right back. Rossi had him on the next lap though but further forward progress would not come quite so quick and easy. Melandri put in a new lap record on his third time around the circuit to pull ground out on Nicky Hayden while Sete Gibernau suffered yet another cruel blow with his Telefonica Movistar Honda giving up the ghost and the Spaniard left to limp the machine off the circuit. With 26 laps to run Rossi moved up to fifth place but Melandri had set yet another fastest lap to pull away from Hayden a little further. Rossi then got Biaggi for fourth place and started to challenge Checa for third place. It didn't take long for the Italian to make short shrift of the Ducati man and was up to third place with 25 laps to run. Hayden was a further four seconds ahead but Rossi was looking determined and dangerous and still had plenty of time up his sleeve to reduce the margin. But over the next few laps Rossi failed to make any inroads into that gap and Checa stayed stuck to the rear of Rossi. Likewise Hayden had not allowed Melandri to get away but the leading duo had five seconds on Rossi and Checa. The top four riders all had medium compound rear tyres at both ends apart from Rossi who had chosen a hard front tyre which could be a telling point in the closing laps as Pedrosa had also gone for a hard front which certainly helped him to victory in that encounter. As they passed half race distance Rossi started to pull away from Checa a little but had still failed to make any inroads to the leading duo who still enjoyed a five second buffer over the five-time world champion. But as they entered the final third of the race Rossi had started to pull the gap back by a few tenths of a second each lap and with six to run had whittled it down from over five seconds to a little over three seconds. As they got the last lap board it was still Melandri ahead of Hayden and Rossi was three seconds down on the two Honda men in a safe third place. Hayden put in a big effort on the final lap to try and take the win from Melandri but the Italian held on to take his second win in succession and second overall in the championship. Melandri celebrated his win with a huge burnout and was then surrounded by supporters before tipping over while standing still but he picked up his machine and completed his warm down lap in style. Rossi did a big static smoky and doughnut for the crowd on his Yamaha to mark the end of another record breaking season for the Italian superstar.
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MotoGP Championship
2005
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