Vermeulen triumphs in wet Le Mans chaos

Chris Vermeulen has won the French MotoGP  round in a chaotic race due to wet weather conditions.

Vermeulen finished the race ahead of Marco Melandri and Casey Stoner, followed by Dani Pedrosa,Alex Hoffmann, and Valentino Rossi. Hofmann had a superb race on the D’Antin Ducati

Pole sitter Colin Edwards finished a dismal race three laps down from the leaders, as he first gambled on wet tyres. As the track remained damp, rather than wet, Edwards pulled in to change tyres, just as the weather turned for the worse. By contrast Vermeulen was able to change one lap before the leaders, and moved into the lead after the pit changes had been resolved. Team-mate John Hopkins was second, but dropped down the order after running wide on several corners.

The conditions led to several major crashes, and Valentino Rossi had a close call as Sylvain Guintoli highsided in front of him. Guintoli had led his home GP, and was able to get back to the pits and rejoin on his spare bike. Randy De Puniet was also a race leader before a fall. Nicky Hayden was looking good in fourth, until a major high speed crash at around 150mph put him out of contention with just a couple of laps left.

Edwards was the last finished in 12th place, as a total seven riders failed to finish.

In the MotoGP championship, Stoner’s third place extends his lead over Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, as Vermeulen jumps to fifth following his win.

MotoGP Results:

Chris VERMEULEN AUS SUZUKI 50’58.713
Marco MELANDRI ITA HONDA 51’11.312
Casey STONER AUS DUCATI 51’26.060
Dani PEDROSA SPA HONDA 51’36.041
Alex HOFMANN GER DUCATI 51’47.879
Valentino ROSSI ITA YAMAHA 51’52.276
John HOPKINS USA SUZUKI 51’59.786
Loris CAPIROSSI ITA DUCATI 52’19.954
Makoto TAMADA JPN YAMAHA 51’34.842
Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA YAMAHA 51’40.165
Fonsi NIETO SPA KAWASAKI 51’50.572
Colin EDWARDS USA YAMAHA 51’06.769