MotoGP 2006 Race Report Results Championship Points Standings

Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden got great starts and over the initial laps started to break away from the pack while Rossi and Capirossi battled over third place.

Rossi then managed to break away from Capirossi who started to come under attack from Gibernau. Rossi then started to close on Hayden and Stoner after putting in a new fastest lap of the race on the third lap around the Losail circuit. John Hopkins was running in eighth place before his Suzuki failed on him and we forced to park it against the fence in disgust.

Rossi continued to close on Hayden and made his move on lap five but failed to make the pass stick and the two swapped positions at every corner for a few turns before Rossi finally managed to make a pass stick. The next person in his sights, race leader Casey Stoner. Also coming from behind to join the party was Capirossi and Gibernau, that pair looking mighty threatening.

Hayden went with Rossi in the chase forward to Stoner and the pair was starting to catch the young Australian as the race started to approach the halfway stage. It wasn't long before Rossi was all over the back of Stoner and applying the pressure, the same way we have seen him do to so many riders before... Will Casey prove up to it where others have failed?

A disaster day completed for Suzuki with Chris Vermeulen returning to pitlane with a mechanical failure.

Rossi took the lead on lap 10 of the 22 lap distance and the leading five had really closed up, only 1.3 seconds covering Rossi, Stoner, Hayden, Capirossi and Gibernau.

Stoner was not letting Rossi go away from him... Stoner looked to have better corner entry but Rossi better under brakes, both similar with their exits, the differences marginal...

Stoner then started to really come under pressure from Hayden, the Ducati men were looking increasingly threatening also.

Hayden makes his move on Stoner at the end of the straight but the American runs deep, Stoner back through, then Hayden back through and finally made one stick.

Capirossi then pushed Stoner back a further position to fourth place on the next lap. Only 1.4 seconds covering the leading quartet though so things were far from settled.

Hayden then started to reel the gap to Rossi in little by little... With six laps to run Hayden was right with the Yamaha man and looking for an opportunity to make a pass...

With four laps to go Hayden made his move at the end of the main straight... Rossi looks behind him to see if anyone is coming next... His top speed seemed to be down on the previous couple of laps and the Yamaha man could have been having a little machine trouble...

Rossi was back up to speed on the next lap though and takes the lead into turn one and holds it together to maintain the advantage. Capirossi joining the party also to make it a 3-way battle. Stoner running fourth with Gibernau stalking from behind.

As the race entered the penultimate lap Rossi upped the wick just enough to start to edge away from Hayden. As they started the last lap he had 6-tenths of a second over Hayden and he was looking to have it wrapped up. Capirossi was close enough to maybe trouble Hayden for second place while Gibernau had managed to get the better of Stoner for fourth place as the race entered its final stage.

Rossi took the win by nearly a second at the final flag, Capirossi takes the final step on the podium. Gibernau takes fourth ahead of Stoner.