MotoGP Race

Valentino Rossi started from pole position for the fifth time this season and the 29th time his career and the Italian sensation has gone on to take victory on 24 of those occasions but the rain and wind at Donington had many other riders fancying their chances of putting one over the reigning World Champion.  Rossi's pole lap was also a new outright motorcycle lap record at Donington and the top 14 qualifiers all put down times under the race lap record set by Colin Edwards last year.  Only a brave man would have bet against Rossi in the dry at Donington this weekend but with the rain falling a cat had certainly been put amongst the pigeons.

Sete Gibernau lined up alongside Rossi on the front row and the Spaniard is a proven wet weather performer and has finished on the podium at Donington in both 2003 and 2004.  

Melandri rounded out the three rider front row for the sixth time this year. The young Italian on the 250cc race at Donington on his way to winning the World Championship in 2002.

Kenny Roberts had qualified in a lowly 16th place on the grid but the Suzuki man has a great track record in the wet and was the quickest man in this morning's wet warm up.  Bridgestone have sometimes shown an edge over Michelin in the wet and if Bridgestone proved the rubber to have today then that could be yet another factor to affect the outcome.

The rain really started falling as they lined up for the start and Rossi got a terrible run off the line while Gibernau led Melandri and Bayliss through the early stages of lap one. Max Biaggi failed to make the end of the first lap after going for a slide down the road but was making an effort to get his Honda up and going again. Gibernau started pulling away from the field almost immediately while Barros moved up to second place by the end of the first lap and Rossi then took his turn at pressuring Marco Melandri. Bayliss started the second lap in fifth place ahead of Colin Edwards. Ruben Xaus ended his race in the kitty litter while running 11th.  Rossi got the better of Melandri but his Yamaha was having an occasional dangerous twitch from the rear. Kenny Roberts had made his way up to 8th spot in the opening two laps after starting the race from 16th on the grid. Nicky Hayden went for a slide and remounted his machine to saunter back to pit lane. Rossi was the fastest man on lap two and moved past Barros for second place and was keen to not let Gibernau get too far away.

Melandri then went for a slide and the carnage also took Bayliss down and only seconds later race leader Sete Gibernau ended his race in the kitty litter. Alex Barros looked likely to be the one to take the race to Rossi, what better way for the Brazilian to celebrate his 250th race start than with a win!  Kenny Roberts was the mover and shaker however and with 25 laps to run had moved up to third place and his Suzuki team-mate John Hopkins was also putting in a great showing to have moved up to fourth place.  While Shane Byrne was the real surprise package with his KTM engined Proton Team KR running in sixth place.

Rossi was flicked up out of the seat which lost him a little time and Barros pounced to take the lead and a lap later John Hopkins took Roberts, then Rossi, then Barros to promote himself into the lead. Riders down and out included Gibernau, Nakano, Biaggi, Melandri, Bayliss, Hayden and Xaus.

Colin Edwards had picked up his pace a little to join the leading group and turn it into a five-way battle for the lead and with 22 laps to run it was Alex Barros leading the race once again with John Hopkins, Valentino Rossi, Kenny Roberts and Colin Edwards in close proximity.  A lap later John Hopkins made a small mistake which shuffled him to the back of that leading pack while Kenny Roberts had moved past Rossi for second place. Hopkins went for a slide down the road on the next lap and attempted to remount but lost a number of position in the process which reduced the leading pack to only four riders with 20 laps to run with Barros leading Roberts, Rossi and Edwards while Tamada was the next best some 13 seconds adrift in fifth place.  Hopkins had got up and running again in eighth place.

Edwards got the better of his team-mate on lap ten and then put a move on Roberts for second but couldn't hold the position for long as both Roberts and Rossi pushed him back to fourth place shortly afterwards.  Edwards then lost a lot of ground through some sort of problem or mistake while John Hopkins returned to the pits on his Suzuki following that slide down the road a couple of laps earlier.  Edwards had lost a couple of seconds through that earlier mistake but then started putting in some very fast laps to narrow the gap back down to virtually nothing.  Barros continued to lead the way from Roberts and Rossi made a mistake and ran wide which allowed Edwards to get the better of him and with 17 laps to go that mistake had put Rossi around three seconds behind the leading pack.

Both the Gauloises Yamaha men on soft compound Michelin wets at both ends while Barros had selected a medium compound Michelin wet on the rear and a soft on the front.  Kenny Roberts on a medium compound Bridgestone front and soft rear.

Rossi put his head down to make that gap back up to surpass his team-mate for third position and then took second place from Kenny Roberts to close onto the tail of Barros to let them all know that he was certainly not going to be happy to settle for points.

Edwards then lost a little ground while Barros, Rossi and and Roberts were running in real close quarters. Carlos Checa had moved up to fifth place and was running a hot pace to try and close the gap to the leaders but was nine seconds behind Edwards with nine laps remaining.

Rossi hit the lead with seven laps to run with a tidy inside move on Barros under brakes and went on to put in the fastest lap of the race thus far and he was clearly trying with the rear Michelin on his Yamaha breaking away quite regularly as the Italian put in a huge effort to break away from his pursuers which is exactly what he did. He then went a second faster gain on the next time around to stretch his lead out to a full three seconds as Kenny Roberts looked for a way past Alex Barros.

Rossi continued to pull away as the laps counted down and with five laps to run he had made the advantage a full five seconds and it looked all over bar the shouting with Rossi set on his way to his seventh GP victory at the Donington circuit.

Roberts was trying hard to try and get Barros for second place but a slide onto the main straight with three laps to run lost him plenty of drive and cost him dearly as it gave Barros the chance to escape from his clutches.  To his credit Roberts put in a big effort on the next lap to close right onto the tailpipe of Barros again to make it a fight all the way to the line and even was backing the Suzuki in to some of the turns in the diabolical conditions.

As they got the last lap board Rossi was out on his own and only a big mistake could rob him of a stunning victory while Roberts was still nipping at the heels of Barros in his quest for second place. Edwards had lost touch with them a little in fourth place. Roberts made his move on Barros with half a lap to run and kept the advantage to the line for a great second place finish.

Valentino Rossi's win combined with the lack of points for his main challengers in the championship from this race has seen him extend his championship lead to an incredible 104 point advantage.  It is fair to say that only lots of broken bones and/or machine failures can stop him from taking yet another title in succession.  Yamaha will be very pleased with their investment and also very pleased with new team member Colin Edwards who thanks to a good run of results of late has now moved up to third place in the series and is only two points away from making it a Yamaha 1-2 in the rider's championship standings.  Yamaha now lead the constructor's championship by 33 points and the Gauloises Yamaha squad are running away to an almost unassailable lead in the team points race.

Race Result

1. Rossi
2. Roberts 3.1secs
3. Barros 4secs
4. Edwards 10secs
5. Checa 13secs
6. Capirossi 23secs
7. Tamada 37secs
8. Hoffman 44secs
9. Elias 1 lap
10. Rolfo 1 lap
11. Hopkins 2 laps

Championship Points

1. Rossi 211
2. Melandri 107
3. Edwards 106
4. Biaggi 100
5. Gibernau 95
6. Barros 90
7. Hayden 85
8. Capirossi 65
9. Nakano 55
10. Checa 51
11. Bayliss 47
12. Tamada 36
13. Xaus 33
14. Hopkins 32
15. Roberts 31

Constructor's Points

1. Yamaha 215
2. Honda 182