MotoGP Race

Nicky Hayden got away well to capitalise on his pole position from Rossi, Bayliss, Biaggi and Hopkins and Hayden was immediately running a hot pace to pull more than a bike length over Rossi at virtually every turn to have built himself a healthy full second buffer over his pursuers by the end of the first lap.  Alex Barros and Marco Melandri failed to finish the first lap.  Max Biaggi managed to work his way up to third position after getting his nose in front of Troy Bayliss but the Australian was not too happy about that and immediately struck back but Hayden and Rossi were pulling away while Bayliss had a huge gaggle of riders on his tail and looking to move forward.

Hayden continued to setting a cracking pace in the very hot Californian conditions to extend his lead out to 1.8 seconds.  Biaggi again gets Bayliss but then Edwards takes both of them before the entry to the corkscrew.  Bayliss got back in front of Biaggi but it was Edwards who now had that third place.  Gibernau found a gap and threaded his Honda through it to move past Biaggi and Bayliss to take fourth place.

Edwards was the man on the charge at this stage of the game however as he became the first rider to dip into the 1m23s to start closing on his team-mate who was failing to make any inroads into the 1.8 second lead enjoyed by Hayden but with 26 laps to run things were certainly a long way from over.  Bayliss was running in sixth place but was coming under attack from Carlos Checa before the Spaniard ended his challenge in the kitty litter.

Hayden had stretched his lead out to 2.5 seconds with 23 laps to run while Edwards was edging closer every lap to Rossi and would soon be challenging for second place.  A great battle was being waged over fourth position with Gibernau and Biaggi going hammer and tong for race position and the pair certainly not out of touch at this early stage of the race.  John Hopkins was the next cab off the rank to start challenging Bayliss for his sixth position.

Colin Edwards edged a little closer to Rossi each lap and the Texan made his move as they passed half race distance and Rossi made a small mistake afterwards which allowed Edwards to immediately take 3-tenths out of his team-mate.  So with a clear track in front of him and no need just yet to be running protective lines to keep his team-mate at bay thanks to that small buffer it was now time to see if Edwards could managed to start reeling in Nicky Hayden in order to challenge for the win.

Edwards looked to be able to do just that after pulling two-tenths back on Hayden each lap over the next few laps and with 13 laps to run Edwards had reduced the margin to 1.8 seconds. A little further behind Biaggi and Gibernau were managing to close the gap to Rossi a little bit at a time and it was not out of the question that they could start challenging Rossi before race end if Rossi does not do his traditional serious charge on the final laps.

Hayden responded to the challenge however and stretched his lead back out to over two seconds.  Further back Bayliss was still holding Hopkins at bay to retain his sixth place and not too much further behind in that little group was Nakano and Tamada.  Rossi was maintaining his margin over Biaggi who had edged away from Gibernau but Rossi could not run the same pace as Edwards and was two seconds behind his second place team-mate.

As the laps progressed the status quo established during the middle stages of this race held steady with Hayden maintaining his two second lap over Edwards who in turn had a clear gap over his team-mate but with three laps to run Rossi had started to close on Edwards and it looked as though he might challenge his team-mate for second before the race was done and dusted.

As they started the last lap Edwards was only two bike lengths in front of Rossi but the Italian could get no closer and had to settle for third place. Hayden the winner on home soil and a very popular winner at that. 

Finally the breakthrough win for the young American after 38 starts in MotoGP and what better place to do it than in front of tens of thousands of screaming American fans.  An emotional Hayden celebrated his win with a Rossi like antic when his father Earl jumped on the back of his RC211V for a very long cool down lap back to pitlane. Hayden was the first American on pole since Kenny Roberts Jnr. took pole at Rio last year and Hayden also became the youngest pole-sitter since Rossi's pole position at Donington back in 2002.  Hayden is the first American to win a MotoGP race since Kenny Roberts Jnr. won the Pacific GP at Motegi in 2000 and today's win breaks a record breaking 72 long string of races with no American winner.

In the race for the championship Rossi has never had such a huge buffer at the halfway point of the season as he has now.  He could DNF the next three races and still lead the series comfortably such has been his unrelenting speed this season.  Out of the eight races now held today's third position was Rossi's worst result of the year, the only other race he has not won this year was in Portugal where he finished second to Alex Barros, Rossi has won the other six races.  Barros and now Hayden are the only other men to win races this year.  Rossi's third place at a track he expressed his dislike for is quite significant as he was the only rider amongst the top eight qualifiers who had never competed at Laguna Seca before in any series.

Edwards' second position is the first time the Texan has scored back to back podium finishes as today's second place goes one better than his third place at Assen last month and more significantly today was the first time this season he has beaten his team-mate to the chequered flag.

Marco Melandri still retains second place in the series despite falling on the first lap today which is the first time this season that the young Italian has failed to score points at a round. Melandri was another rider to criticise the safety of the Laguna Seca layout and before he even rode the track on a MotoGP machine.  Things didn't get any better when he took to the track as his 11th place in qualifying was his worst qualifying result since joining Honda this year and the fact he took no points has really opened the battle for second place in the championship right up with Biaggi, Gibernau and Edwards less than 15 points adrift of Melandri.

The MotoGP circus swings back in to action on European soil in a fortnight when the whole three class road show regroups at Donington for round nine of the MotoGP World Championship.

Race Result

1. Hayden
2. Edwards
3. Rossi
4. Biaggi
5. Gibernau
6. Bayliss
7. Tamada
8. Hopkins
9. Nakano
10. Capirossi
11. Xaus
12. Hofmann
13. Elias
14. Roberts
15. Byrne
16. Ellison
17. Battaini

Championship Points

1. Rossi 186
2. Melandri 107
3. Biaggi 100
4. Gibernau 95
5. Edwards 93
6. Hayden 85
7. Barros 74
8. Capirossi 55
9. Nakano 55
10. Bayliss 47
11. Checa 40
12. Xaus 33
13. Tamada 27
14. Hopkins 27