Rossi wins at Mugello

Valentino Rossi has taken victory in a rain interupted Italian Grand Prix at the Mugello circuit.

The Italian rider was leading the race when it was red flagged as rain started to fall, but he slipped back to fifth when it was restarted just minutes later.

The restart led to six manic laps with all the riders bunched togther and the top eight all fighting for first place on every corner. The lead swapped hands inumerable times with the Ducatis of Ruben Xaus and Troy Baylis both sharing the lead briefly.

But Rossi was not going to let his lead slip so easily and with just two laps to go took back first place and pulled away from second placed man Sete Gibernau to take the win.

Max Biaggi took the third place on the podium followed by Bayliss, Xaus, Alex Barros, Norick Abe, and Loris Capirossi.

British Superbike champion Shane Byrne came home in tenth place on his Aprilia with fellow Brit and World Superbike champion Niel Hodgson taking his ’03 Ducati Desmosedici to 11th place ahead fo American, Colin Edwards on a Telefonica Movistar Honda.

Placings:

Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau, Max Biaggi, Troy Bayliss, Ruben Xaus, Alex Barros, Norick Abe, Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri, Shane Byrne, Neil Hodgson, Colin Edwards, Nobuatsu Aoki, Alex Hofmann, Michel Fabrizio, Jeremy Mcwilliams, Andrew Pitt.

Not Starting: Kenny Roberts, Shinya Nakano, Makoto Tamada, Nicky Hayden, Carlos Checa, Kurtis Roberts.