Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) won a rain-lashed MotoGP race from stand-in rider Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki), but Marco Melandri (Team Movistar Honda RC211V) established himself as a consistent points scorer with a mature ride to third place in atrocious conditions here in Shanghai.

After two days of wet and then dry conditions, the weather turned properly wet for race day. But the surface of the one-year-old Shanghai track proved exceptionally grippy where there wasn’t standing water and the best of the wet weather specialists revelled in the conditions.

John Hopkins (Suzuki) got a flier of a start from row two to head the pack into turn one with his team-mate Kenny Roberts right up with him from row three. Then Hopkins lost ground late in the lap to let Rossi and Tony Elias
(Yamaha) through as lap two began.

The established order had been dismantled already, but the efforts of Elias, and then Alex Barros (Camel Honda RC211V) who was seventh in the early stages, were ruined by ‘ride through’ penalties. Both were judged to have jumped the start and were punished by a speed-limited ride along pitlane, putting them out of contention.

Roberts was holding onto his lead until he slowed with machine trouble on lap five. Troy Bayliss (Camel Honda RC211V) had fallen a lap earlier, then Hopkins ran off track two laps later. Rossi now led from Sete Gibernau (Team Movistar Honda RC211V) who was riding steadily at second, with Max Biaggi (Repsol Honda RC211V) in third.

Max, who had a nightmare time in qualifying, starting from 14th on the grid, had found some speed in the dreadful conditions. So had stand-in riders Olivier Jacque (replacing the injured Alex Hofmann at Kawasaki) and Jurgen van den Goorbergh who was riding in place of Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda RC211V) who has a broken wrist. Jacque lay fourth and van den Goorbergh fifth as riders approached mid-distance.

Jacque then overhauled Max for third and by lap 14 was up to second. Rossi held a six second advantage over the flying Frenchman who was now 2.2 seconds ahead of Gibernau in third by lap 16 of this 22-lap contest. Jacque was the fastest man on the track.

And Gibernau was in trouble as the flag loomed. Melandri was up with the Spaniard and passed him for third on the final lap while Rossi hung onto his lead to deny Jacque a fairytale comeback to MotoGP by just 1.7 seconds at the flag. Gibernau finished an anguished fourth as rear grip deteriorated, with Max fifth and van den Goorbergh a creditable sixth.

“That was hard race,” said Melandri. “I’m happy with the result. I would have liked to have fought for a win, but the bike didn’t feel too good in the opening laps. Once I’d got some confidence in the grip, I could pass Sete. This is a good podium, although obviously I want to step higher still.”

Sete said, “Very disappointing, because we worked well this weekend. This morning I was confident and did eight fast laps in a row. Then we chose a harder tyre for the race, which should have given us an advantage. But during the warm-up lap it didn’t feel too good. I had bad vibrations and no confidence.”

For Max this result was something of a miracle. “In dry conditions, with our set-up problems, things could have been much worse,” he said. “But I can’t be happy with fifth place. That’s not what HRC and me are here for. In the rain a rider’s ability counts for more and I could close the gap, but I was forced to go beyond the limit and had to slow down.”

“I’m very happy,” said van den Goorbergh. “There was a lot of water and it was impossible to see who I had in front of me, but thanks to the great settings we found in warm-up I was able to pass many opponents. I have to thank the team both for their welcome and their competence.”

Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) finished ninth after suffering from electrical trouble in the conditions. “That was a tough race in those conditions,” he said. “The start was okay but I didn’t make much progress in the early laps. I picked up the pace, got into a rhythm and then picked up a problem and lost places at the end.”

Barros said, “The ride-through changed my race and I had to make up ground from then on. I also had big problems with fogged vision. I didn’t realise I’d jumped the start. It’s a shame because I could have picked up points on Rossi. But let’s concentrate on Le Mans in two weeks time.”

Troy Bayliss was disappointed. “I could have got a result today. I had really good feeling in the hard rain in the warm-up and I was confident for the race. But the race wasn’t the same. I got a lot of wheelspin and then I lost the rear on the fourth lap. Sometimes racing’s like this.”

Former MotoGP star Tohru Ukawa rode an RC211V-engined Moriwaki machine to 15th and said, “Finishing 15th is obviously not satisfactory when my personal challenge is a top ten. There’s a lot we need to do to get the bike to work with the Michelin tyres. It takes time to perform at this level of competition.”

The World Championship points table looks like this after three races of this 17-race season: Rossi on 70 points, Melandri with 45, Barros on 43 and Max with 36.

Casey Stoner (Aprilia) won the 250cc race from Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Racing Team Honda RS250RW) with Hiroshi Aoyama (Team Movistar Honda RS250RW) in third. This was another soaking wet affair of 21-laps and Dovi was happy enough with the points.

Dani Pedrosa (Team Movistar Honda RS250RW) led into turn one but was overhauled on the back straight by both Stoner and Dovi on lap one. Dani looked uncomfortable in the rain and eventually finished a distant sixth. But at least he finished where others failed to go the distance.

Stoner and Dovi were in a race of their own. By lap five they had pulled out 6 seconds on the pursuers headed now by Randy de Puniet (Aprilia). Alex de Angelis (Aprilia) soon joined de Puniet in the hunt, but they were well adrift of the flying front men.

At mid-race distance the leading duo were 18 seconds ahead of the rest of the field and it would be their battle, and theirs alone, that determined the outcome. Stoner held on while Dovi sensibly settled for the points that take him to the top of the World Championship table in his debut 250 season.

“That was a difficult race in the rain,” said Dovi. “At the halfway point I thought about making an attack on Stoner. Then about five laps from the end it rained hard again and then I thought about the World Championship and I just made sure of second place.”

Aoyama said, “The beginning was okay and maybe if I had got closer to the leaders at the start I could have stayed with them, but the gap got too big too soon and I lost touch. But the team did a great job for me here in tough conditions.”

Dovi now heads the overall World Championship points table with 53, Stoner has 50 and Dani is third with 48 points.

The 125cc race was won by Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) who only just beat Fabrizio Lai (Kopron Racing World Honda RS125RW) across the line by 0.065 seconds, again in wet conditions. Gabor Talmacsi (KTM) was third.

Lai led the pack into turn one after getting a storming start from the second row of the grid. He was closely followed by Mika Kallio (KTM) and Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R). Tomoyoshi Koyama (Ajo Motorsport Honda RS125R) was another strong starter from row two holding seventh as the pack completed the first lap.

Lai looked to be pulling out a lead in the early stages, holding a 0.6 second advantage on lap two. But Pasini edged past on lap three and held it until lap nine with Talmacsi, Koyama, Julian Simon (KTM) and Luthi chasing.

It was Lai, Pasini and Talmacsi who then made the running, dropping Koyama and Luthi by three seconds at the halfway mark to race on their own. As the closing laps loomed Talmacsi could not match Lai and Pasini’s pace and the result depended on the duel between Lai and Pasini.

Lai led all the way until the final turn where he ran slightly wide allowing Pasini to get the power down earlier and elbow his way past for a narrow win. But the consolation for Lai is an elevation to second place overall in the World Championship points table.

“That was a really tough first lap,” said Lai. “I made a slight mistake on the last turn and Mattia got better drive. But I’m on the podium and now lie second in the standings – and that’s the main thing.”

Luthi came home fourth and said, “I was careful at the beginning. I let the gutys around me go until I found the limit – then I went fast. When I saw Koyama on the outside of me I went harder, but then I had a big slide so I just decided on making sure I finished.”

Koyama finished fifth and rookie Aleix Espargaro (Seedorf Racing Honda RS125R) a creditable seventh. The points table shows Kallio on 50 points, Lai on 49 and Pasini with 36 as the riders head back to Europe and Le Mans in France in two weeks time.

Honda Team Quotes:
MotoGP:
Marco Melandri, Movistar Honda MotoGP: 3rd: "I'm very happy of this result. It could have been a great weekend for the team if it was dry. unfortunately the rain spoiled everything. This morning I had difficulties i made only a few laps. At the first laps of the race I was not very confident and lost a lot of positions. lap by lap I started to know better my bike on wet and started to go faster. Being 9th,I started to recover positions till I was 4th. In the last laps I saw that I could push harder so I finished third. I'm very happy for this result and my 2nd position in the championship."

Sete Gibernau, Movistar Honda MotoGP: 4th: "I'm very disappointed because during the weekend we had done a good work. this morning on wet I was confident and made 8 fast laps in a row. For the race we chose a harder tyre that, according to Michelin technicians, should have given us advantages with less water on track than this morning. During the warm up lap i had not a good feeling but i couldn't change tyre. The bike vibrated since the beginning and i had no confidence. I did my best to finish the race and get as much points as possible in these difficult situations."

Max Biaggi, Repsol Honda Team, 5th: “In dry conditions, with our set-up problems and the 14th qualifying time, things could have been much worse.
But I can’t be happy with fifth place. That’s not what I and HRC are here for. Surely, under the rain the rider counts much more and I could partially close the gap between me and the fastest. But with these cornering problems I was forced to push it to the limit and even beyond the safety border. I gave my best for the entire race, but we are not doing well, not at all. We must grow much more and very soon or I won’t be able to compete for the top three positions.”

Jurgen van den Goorbergh, Konica Minolta Honda Rider, 6th: “I’m very happy about my performance. It has been really hard in the first few laps because there was a lot of water on the track and it was impossible to see who I had in front of me, but thanks to the great setting we found during the warm up I made to pass many opponents. The bike had a great balance which allowed me to be fast, constant and don’t wear out the tyres, therefore after having reached the fifth position I felt I could aim for the podium. But in the last few laps I decided to don’t jeopardize the hard work carried out during the weekend and I controlled the situation of the race. I have to thank the Team for how they have welcomed me and for their competency in approaching the race.”

Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda Team, 9th: “That was a pretty tough race in those conditions. The start was reasonably okay but then in the first few laps we really didn’t make much progress. We then picked up the pace and started moving forward and got into a pretty good rhythm and I was making a bit of a charge but then towards the end we picked up a bit of a problem.
The bike started vibrating a bit and I lost a few places at the end which wasn’t cool. In the last few laps I just wanted to hang on and bring the bike home and pick up some points which we did. We just gotta’ learn and move on.”

Alex Barros, Camel Honda, 11th: “It was a lost opportunity. The ride-through changed my race, and I had to make up ground from then on. I also had big problems with my vision being fogged, so much so that every lap I not only had to open the visor, but I had to pass my glove over it to clear it some more. I didn’t realize I made a jump start, I thought the bike just imperceptibly moved; then I got a bad start and I was in amongst a group of riders who were making lots of mistakes. It was hard to get by, because they were riding strange lines, but I managed to get past and made it up to seventh behind Melandri, when I realised I had been given the penalty. I went straight in to the pit-lane because you have to if your team and race direction are telling you. It’s a shame because I could have picked up points on Rossi, but instead I didn’t get the chance. I don’t want to think about it any more, and will concentrate on my next objective, Le Mans in two weeks time.”

Tohru Ukawa, Moriwaki Racing: 15th: “To finish the race in 15th position is obviously not satisfactory when my personal challenge is to come in the top ten. There is a lot we need to do to suit the character of the Michelin tyres, which we studied on Friday in our first shake down attempt in dry conditions. Anyway, it takes time to learn, we are focused on the world level of Motorsport.

Troy Bayliss, Camel Honda, retired on the fourth lap: ”I’m disappointed because I could have got a good result today. This morning in the warm-up I had a really good feeling in the hard rain and I was confident for the race. However later, in the race was not the same, I got a lot of wheel spin, and after the start I was in about tenth place. There was so much water and on the fourth lap on the long left I lost the rear end. What can I say, sometimes racing’s like this. All I can say is that I’ll be aiming to go well in the next GP.”

250cc:
Andrea Dovizioso, Scot Racing Honda, 2nd: “The bad weather and Pedrosa behind advised me to stay in touch with Stoner and in case trying to overtake him at the end of the race. But during the last 6, 7 laps the rain was getting heavier and many invisible puddles could have threatened the grip of the ground. I preferred to not take any risk. With about three laps to go I saw that Stoner had some problems with visor but then I thought to the standing and I was first anyway! Pedrosa remains my rider of reference: very clever and with experience. But the next races are on tracks I like very much and I can ride very well. Aprilia has more engine power but is slower in the corners: there will be great fights! I’ve never thought a so great season beginning!”.

Hiroshi Aoyama, MoviStar Honda 250: 3rd: “To come to a completely new circuit and make the podium was always going to be tough, it was unthinkable yesterday, but I think I had a good race. At the start I didn’t feel too comfortable with the pace of the second group but when I saw that the gap was getting smaller I gathered more confidence. That gave me the strength to move to the front of the group, with Stoner and Dovizioso out of sight. It’s my first podium this season and now we’re going to Le Mans, a circuit I really like.”

Dani Pedrosa, Movistar Honda 250: 6th: “I’ve always found it difficult to ride in the rain but I think sixth place is good for me; it’s my best result in the wet. I tried as well as I could to follow the pace of the second group because Stoner and Dovizioso were really fast, but I had a gearbox problem. Sixth gear was too short for this circuit and I was losing a lot of time in the straight but I didn’t want to break the engine. Even though I was a bit behind at the end I spent the majority of the race lapping with riders who are good in the wet and that’s positive for me.”

Hector Barbera, Fortuna Honda: 7th: “I’m not too happy with my result. This is the second race we have had in difficult weather conditions and we are far from the leading riders in the 250. Friday and Saturday were difficult with wet and dry conditions but I was confident of my possibilities if the race was held in dry conditions. We have everything we need to do well and I just hope the results will come soon.”

Jorge Lorenzo, Fortuna Honda: 9th: “I have been practicing my starts and improved a lot. But today the bike bogged down off the start and I was badly away from the start and it took me a long tome to recover. I’m not so confident in the wet but during the last laps I was riding much better. In the dry my hope was to fight for the podium but in the wet it’s a completely different movie..”

Yuki Takahashi, Scot Racing Honda 250: 10th: “In the warm up I was very steady. I liked the behaviour of my bike on the track. However, we made some changes to the settings and during the race I hadn’t got the same feeling anymore. I lost the front-end a several times so I decided for low risks and some points but I’m not satisfied.”

Alex Debon, Wurth Honda BQR: 11th: “That was a 50-50 race for me. I was 11th, the best Honda kit rider to score points today and now I’m 10th in the championship. The only real problem I had was the engine power was killed a little because the temperature never got higher than 43’’ much too low. Tyres and chassis were perfect. Now we return to Europe and some tracks I like.”

Jakub Smrz, Molenaar Honda: 14th: “At the start of the race I didn’t know the limit with this bike because it’s the first time I have raced it in the rain. Once I was confident I was faster and faster and ended up fighting for 13th with Baldolini, Heidorf and Locatelli. I made a small mistake on the last lap and that meant I was 14th. But two points are welcome for the championship standings.”

Dirk Heidorf, Kiefer Bos Castrol Honda: 15th: Not too bad. In the beginning, maybe two – three laps I could not find a rhythm but slowly I found my way and got better and better. At the end of the race I was fighting with Kuba (Smrz) but my gearbox was too short and the engine was running over 13,500rpmfor a long time down the straight. Still we are happy –this is the first 250cc point the team has scored since July 2002. I’m happy to be the rider to give it to them because they have all worked really hard for me.”

Radomil Rous, Wurth Honda BQR: dnf – crash: “I was in the group with Smrz, Baldolini and Heidorf for most of the race but I lost the front end on lap 17 and crashed. It just turned in on me so fast I could not save it.”

125cc:
Fabrizio Lai, Kopron Racing World Honda, 2nd: “The duel with Mattia was really exciting. It is a pity for the mistake at the last corner probably because of the worn-out tyres. There was a contact with Mattia but in 125 class it is normal, the races are always hard fought competition: at Jerez all the race was full of contacts. During the race I decided to overtake him when I saw the other riders recover positions. I always thought to the standing, looking the position of Kallio (8) and of the other rivals on the big screen. …I regret a bit not to being able to catch the victory!”.

Thomas Luthi, Elit Honda: 4th: “At the beginning of the race I was careful I let the guys around me go until I found my limit in the conditions then went fast. The only problem I had was when I Koyama on the outside of me at one corner and went harder but I got into a big slide so big I hit my elbow was the track surface. Still I’m happy with the points. The bike was good all through the race and he tyres held up until the last few laps.”

Tomoyoshi Koyama, Ajo Motorsport: 5th: “In the opening laps I was racing with the leading few riders but didn’t think I could pass them so I eased the pace a little to sit behind them. The season is just starting and I didn’t want to crash. It sure feels good to race in the top group, it’s good experience. That was my first wet GP race. One thing is certain, all GP riders are fast in the rain. I almost fell twice on the last lap but I’m really satisfied with my performance.”

Aleix Espargaro, Seedorf RC3 Tiempo Holidays Honda: 7th: “Very, very happy, this is my best race ever, it’s a dream for me. I have to thank everyone in my team they have worked so hard for me we had a few problems in qualifying but they gave me a good set up for the race. I really enjoyed the race and I learned a lot.”

Toshihisa Kuzuhara, Angaia Racing Honda: 16th: “I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike from the start and didn’t make much improvement during the race. I was in 14th place until the last lap but two riders passed me and I scored no points.”

Alvaro Bautista, Seedorf RC3 Tiempo Holidays Honda: 17th: “I had some front-end problems again, I just could not get the bike to steer into the corners the way I wanted it to. I can’t understand why because we had the bike working well in the last wet session. I’m disappointed with today because the engine was really fast.”

Raymond Schouten, Molenaar Honda: 19th: “That was a real Dutch race with all that water but I took too long to find my rhythm. When I got going I caught the group fighting for 13th place but could not get amongst them.
Normally in these conditions some riders in front of you stop or fall but not today. My problem was my first three laps, I was too cautious.”

Mike Di Meglio, Kopron racing World Honda: 20th: To get into the points scoring positions today the opening laps were very important. Unfortunately I felt uncomfortable with the front-end in these conditions, even though we found good solutions for the front end yesterday it was not enough for the conditions out there today.”

Alexis Masbou, Ajo Motorsport: 21st: “I was not happy with my machine settings I never felt easy with the bike today. On about the eighth lap I caught two riders but they braked too early for one corner and I crashed while trying not to run into them. I got back into the race but 21st was the best I could do.”

Federico Sandi, Angaia Racing Honda: 25th: “I got a good start and gained a few places but at the first corner the front-end turned in on me and I lost a little confidence. From then on it was difficult to run into the corners as fast as I wanted to. A great pity because the engine was very good today.”

Sandro Cortese, Kiefer Bos Castrol Honda: dnf – crash: “Not much to say about my race apart from I am very disappointed. On lap 12 the front end turned in and I crashed out.”