Rossi takes tough win

Valentino Rossi has taken the win at his home Grand Prix in Mugello, Italy, after one of the most exciting and close races of the season.

Rossi initially got off to a bad start dropping down to fourth place from his pole position start. But by the end of the first lap he had already flown past three people to take the lead.

It wasn’t the usual affair with Rossi storming off in to the distance though. Max Biaggi had already latched on to the back of the world champion and Marco Melandri surprised everyone by jumping from fifth to second on the brakes at the end of the start finish straight.

All three riders took the lead at various points throughout the race, but despite valiant efforts from Melandri the real battle was between Rossi and Biaggi.

The pair continuously swapped places and came close to bashing fairings on several occasions. But it was Rossi that made the decisive move on lap 21 in front of the Biaggi fan club, holding first place to the flag two laps later.

Despite not quite being able to match the front two riders Melandri had a serious battle on his hands with the Ducati of Loris Capirossi.

The phenomenal power of the Ducati out did Melandri’s Honda on the straights while the superior handling of the Honda always got Melandri back in front.

The pair swapped places continuously right till the last lap but it was Capriossi that finally managed to make it stick, surprising the Honda rider a few corners from the end of the race and taking the final place on the podium.

Melandri’s team-mate Sete Gibernau appeared to have a problem at the start of the race, slowly slipping down the field until he lost the front and crashed out on lap 5.

In the 250 race Britain’s Chaz Davies was the highest placed privateer, taking 10th place on his Aprilia Germany bike. The race was won by Telefonica rider Danny Pedrosa.

In 125s Gabor Talmacsi took the win for KTM followed by Thomas Luthi and Joan Olive.

Check out MCN, out June 8, for a full analysis and all the behind the scenes action you won’t have seen on the TV.

MotoGP finishing positions:

1 , Valentino ROSSI

2 , Max BIAGGI , 0.359

3 , Loris CAPIROSSI , 3.874

4 , Marco MELANDRI , 3.979

5 , Carlos CHECA , 7.898

6 , Nicky HAYDEN , 8.204

7 , Alex BARROS , 11.572

8 , Makoto TAMADA , 25.394

9 , Colin EDWARDS , 25.485

10 , Shinya NAKANO , 36.549

11 , John HOPKINS , 41.637

12 , Alex HOFMANN , 43.659

13 , Troy BAYLISS , 43.916

14 , Ruben XAUS , 51.575

15 , Kenny ROBERTS , 1’10.275

16 , Shane BYRNE , 1’12.582

17 , Roberto ROLFO , 1’13.047

18 , Franco BATTAINI , 1 lap

19 , David CHECA , 1 lap

DNF:

Sete GIBERNAU , 18 laps

James ELLISON , 23 laps

250GP finishing positions:

1 , Daniel PEDROSA

2 , Jorge LORENZO , 1.186

3 , Alex DE ANGELIS , 1.557

4 , Casey STONER , 1.590

5 , Sebastian PORTO , 6.106

6 , Hector BARBERA , 8.291

7 , Hiroshi AOYAMA , 11.801

8 , Andrea DOVIZIOSO , 11.869

9 , Simone CORSI , 21.975

10 , Chaz DAVIES , 42.381

11 , Andrea BALLERINI , 42.499

12 , Mirko GIANSANTI , 43.082

13 , Radomil ROUS , 1’06.264

14 , Gregory LEBLANC , 1’16.905

15 , Hugo MARCHAND , 1’28.269

16 , Alvaro MOLINA , 1’31.411

17 , Martin CARDENAS , 1’35.652

18 , Jarno RONZONI , 1’39.461

DNF:

Yuki TAKAHASHI , 5 laps

Gabor RIZMAYER , 5 laps

Yves POLZER , 8 laps

Sylvain GUINTOLI , 10 laps

Jakub SMRZ , 10 laps

Frederik WATZ , 12 laps

Alex BALDOLINI , 15 laps

Randy DE PUNIET , 16 laps

Alex DEBON , 18 laps

Roberto LOCATELLI , 20 laps

Arnaud VINCENT , 21 laps

Dirk HEIDOLF , 21 laps

125GP finsihing positions:

1 , Gabor TALMACSI

2 , Thomas LUTHI , 0.060

3 , Joan OLIVE , 14.713

4 , Mattia PASINI , 14.725

5 , Tomoyoshi KOYAMA , 15.079

6 , Manuel POGGIALI , 18.040

7 , Julian SIMON , 18.200

8 , Fabrizio LAI , 18.683

9 , Toshihisa KUZUHARA , 20.133

10 , Alexis MASBOU , 20.311

11 , Michele CONTI , 28.626

12 , Alvaro BAUTISTA , 31.791

13 , Manuel HERNANDEZ , 31.817

14 , Lorenzo ZANETTI , 34.742

15 , Raffaele DE ROSA , 34.762

16 , Andrea IANNONE , 45.303

17 , Aleix ESPARGARO , 45.410

18 , Dario GIUSEPPETTI , 48.459

19 , Michele PIRRO , 48.610

20 , Gioele PELLINO , 48.615

21 , Nicolas TEROL , 49.412

22 , Pablo NIETO , 49.460

23 , Jordi CARCHANO , 53.125

24 , Lorenzo BARONI , 1’02.887

25 , Imre TOTH , 1’05.235

26 , Raymond SCHOUTEN , 1’05.289

27 , Karel ABRAHAM , 1’05.307

28 , Vincent BRAILLARD , 1’07.881

29 , Luca VERDINI , 1’38.237

DNF:

Mika KALLIO , 1 lap

Hector FAUBEL , 1 lap

Sergio GADEA , 1 lap

Mike DI MEGLIO , 3 laps

Federico SANDI , 6 laps

Marco SIMONCELLI , 9 laps

Sandro CORTESE , 10 laps

Angel RODRIGUEZ , 11 laps

Nico VIVARELLI , 12 laps

Lukas PESEK , 13 laps