MotoGP 2006 - Round Three

Marco Melandri took victory at a packed Le Mans circuit in a thrilling Alice Grand Prix of France, becoming the first rider to win two races this season.

The weather ahead of the race left all riders and teams gambling, and the race itself was equally as unpredictable. The first lap was littered with notable incidents, as Melandri took the holeshot before being overtaken by Suzuki’s John Hopkins and a collision between Randy de Puniet, Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa left Kawasaki’s hometown rider out of the race and pushed Colin Edwards and Sete Gibernau off the track.

After storming his way through the field, Rossi was up into the lead by lap 4, and when Hopkins lost his front end and fell to the back of the pack on lap 10 the stage was set for the season’s long awaited battle between the reigning MotoGP and 250cc World Champions.

Rossi seemed to have the upper hand over young pretender Pedrosa, extending his lead with assertion over the second half of the race. However, in the key moment of the day, the charismatic Italian pulled over on lap 21, clearly distraught after suffering an unknown mechanical failure.

Three laps later, Melandri made his move and broke past Pedrosa. The Fortuna Honda rider created a gap and crossed the line for the win. Loris Capirossi behind meanwhile pulled out one of the best outbraking moves of the season on Pedrosa to snatch second place from under the Spaniard's nose.

Casey Stoner continued his run of good form, having not finished outside the top six in his first MotoGP season. One rider who did see an end to his personal record was Nicky Hayden. The flu-stricken 'Kentucky Kid' was off the podium for the first time for the first time in nine races.

After dropping down the order in the first turn, Colin Edwards clawed his way back through the field, ahead of Makoto Tamada and fellow first corner incident sufferer Sete Gibernau. Toni Elias and Chris Vermeulen finished ninth and tenth respectively.

Nicky Hayden still leads the standings on 83 points, ahead of Melandri and Capirossi who are both breathing down his neck on 79.

Yuki Takahashi took his first victory of 2006 in the 250cc race, snatching victory from Humangest Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso on the finishing line. The Japanese rider extends the Italian’s search for his first win in the quarter litre category in a heartbreaking finale for Dovizioso in which the two battled tooth and nail on the final laps.

The fight for third place saw brothers Shuhei and Hiroshi Aoyama pulling no punches in search of valuable world championship points. Shuhei, younger by three years, managed to hold off his sibling for a superb first podium of the season.

Alex de Angelis, in contention for a rostrum place for a large percentage of the race, finished fifth ahead of Roberto Locatelli, who was involved in a crash with Jorge Lorenzo which put the Spaniard out of the race. Hector Barbera, Marco Simoncelli, Sylvain Guintoli and Jakub Smrz completed the top ten ahead of Anthony West, who dropped down when the expected rainfall failed to arrive.

After a disastrous start to his 2006 season, World Champion Thomas Luthi stepped up to the podium for the first time this year in Le Mans. The Swiss rider was victorious in a damp 125cc race, after a heartbreaking finale for Alvaro Bautista.

After Mika Kallio took the holeshot, a group of four riders took charge at the head of the pack. Kallio, Bautista, Luthi and Fabrizio Lai broke free, with Lukas Pesek and Mike di Meglio falling by the wayside.

Luthi took the win on the last lap, when Bautista waved him through after suffering a mechanical problem. Kallio and Lai also took advantage of the championship leader’s misfortune to complete the podium positions, whilst Bautista limped across the line fourth.

Pablo Nieto appeared seemingly from nowhere to finish fifth, whilst the top ten positions were made up by Raffaele de Rosa, Joan Olive, Sergio Gadea, Andrea Iannone and Simone Corsi.

1st, Marco Melandri (Honda): "It's been a strange season, some races have been bad, some good. Today didn’t start so well. The rear side of the tyre was too hard for the first 5 laps. When the tyres were warm the feeling was good and I started to catch front two. I have been lucky; if Rossi hadn’t have broken down for sure I would have lost to him. When I saw Dani make a mistake I said ‘I think I can overtake him’, and when I saw Rossi pull up I said ‘I think I can win.'"

2nd, Loris Capirossi (Ducati): "I think the race was fantastic, my rhythm was so high, when I saw that Rossi was out I thought that I had a podium finish in the bag, and on the last two laps I went all out to overtake Dani and managed to do so in the final moments.
This morning we hoped for rain because we’re not so good here, so I am pleased to be second here."

3rd, Dani Pedrosa (Honda): "I was doing great at the beginning, but even during the first few laps I knew that the end would be difficult. At first the gap was small, but it was always increasing. I had a lot of tyre problems but the choice was mine. I am lucky to finish on the podium so I have to be happy. I did well despite the problems. When Valentino went out I knew that I could get the podium place because I was part of the front group."