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
