MotoGP – The South African GP turn-based –

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The South African GP turn-based

MotoGP - The South African GP turn-based -

New season, new stakes, new presentation: in order to preserve the suspense as you read, Moto-Net now presents the Grand Prix laps by laps in live conditions, without revealing the results before the end !

125: the grid
Dovizioso started from pole ahead of Locatelli, Giansanti and Di Meglio who made his first appearance on the front row. In second row are Stoner and the KTM, Nieto, Simoncelli and Bautista. Disappointment for Jenkner (18th) and Luthi (23rd), who had nevertheless brilliantly finished the 2003 season.

125: the race
Barbera, 11 on the grid, is forced by law to start from the pits due to a mechanical problem at the start of the warm-up lap. Locatelli made the hole shot in front of Dovizioso, Giansanti, Stoner, Bautista, Simoncelli, Nieto, Talmacsi, Borsoi, Simon, Di Meglio who missed his start by releasing the clutch too quickly and Jenkner started well when he was 18th on the wire rack.

Quickly, Locatelli and Dovizioso took a few steps ahead. Di Meglio passes Simon and joins Borsoi, his team manager and teammate. Stoner, Simoncelli and Bautista pass Giansanti. From the second lap, Stoner followed by Simoncelli put the pressure on not to let the leaders go, but Locatelli had the fastest lap. Behind follow Bautista, Nieto, Talmacsi, Giansanti, Simon, Borsoi, Di Meglio and Jenkner. Simon passes Giansanti who continues to downgrade.

On the third lap, Locatelli and Dovizioso are still strong leaders. Stoner and Simoncelli, author of the fastest lap, return. Simon passes 8th in front of Giansanti. Talmacsi is forced to retire with his new Malaguti. In this lap, Stoner distances Simoncelli slightly and comes back a little on the leaders. On lap 4, Locatelli and Dovizioso were almost joined by Stoner, who had the fastest lap, followed shortly behind by Simoncelli. A few lengths away, it is now Nieto who leads the hunt ahead of Bautista, Simoncelli, Giansanti, Simon, Borsoi, Di Meglio and Jenkner. Borsoi passes 8th in front of Simon before the 4th crossing on the line. Locatelli, Dovizioso and Stoner are together, Simoncelli follows a few lengths, Nieto also rolls alone in front of the hunting group led by Bautista.

In the 6th lap, Di Meglio follows Borsoi passing Simon, immediately imitated by Jenkner. Barbera, who started last, came back 18th: enough to bitterly regret his mechanical problem with the warm-up lap! On the next lap, Borsoi passed 6th ahead of Giansanti, Di Meglio was 8th! Jenkner 9th also passed Bautista. Barbera is 14th! At the end of the 8th lap, the leading trio remaining unchanged, Nieto, the fastest on the track, passed Simoncelli for 4th place. The gap between him and Locatelli was reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds. Di Meglio is very urgent on Giansanti. Barbera is 13th…

On the 10th lap, Di Meglio passed 7th ahead of Giansanti, the young Frenchman turning in the same lap as the leaders. Ah, if he hadn’t missed his start, and if the hens had teeth … Barbera is 12th. On lap 12, Nieto was less than a second behind the three leaders and Borsoi, Di Meglio and Jenkner, who in turn passed Giansanti, swooped down on Simoncelli. The 14th passage sees Nieto join Locatelli, Dovizioso and Stoner. Five seconds behind them, Simoncelli is joined by Borsoi, Di Meglio, Jenkner and Giansanti.

On the 15th lap, Borsoi passed 5th ahead of Simoncelli. In the 16th, Stoner at the cost of a nice interior passed 2nd ahead of Dovizioso. Simoncelli makes a huge high side and falls on the 17th lap. Di Meglio passes 6th! Stoner pokes Locatelli’s head at the cost of superb braking. A few turns further, Stoner leaves a mouse hole between him and the vibrator and sees Locatelli rush in to regain 1st place! Then it was Dovizioso who braked Stoner and came back to 2nd with five laps from the end. Meanwhile, Mike Di Meglio has taken the head of the hunting party in Borsoi! With four laps from the finish, Locatelli put on some coal and is only followed by Dovizioso. Stoner and Nieto mark time. Behind them, Di Meglio also distances himself from Borsoi and the following.

With three laps to go, Locatelli had the fastest lap in the race but Dovizioso hung on. Nieto went third before the penultimate crossing over the line, but Locatelli and Dovizioso were gone. At the start of the last lap, Locatelli is still stuck by Dovizioso. Nieto took a few lengths from Stoner. Di Meglio is solid 5th.

125: the podium
In the last series of right turns, Dovizioso attempts a trajectory favoring the exit, which places him inside Locatelli in the left which commands the finish: he then only has to close the door and Dovizioso won for the first time in his career, immediately congratulated by Locatelli, a handsome player, who had led practically the entire race. Meanwhile, Stoner played almost the same trick on Nieto and put the KTM on the podium for the first time! Behind them, Di Meglio finished 5th, his best place in the race, ahead of Borsoi, Giansanti and Jenkner. Barbera finished 10th on the heels of Bautista, having started last from the pit lane. Two old men have won, but the succession is progressing !

250: the grid
Randy De Puniet, who dominated the winter testing and was responsible for the tuning of the Aprilia, is on pole. Porto, which has always been very close in qualifying, Poggiali and Pedrosa complete the first row. De Angelis, Nieto, Rolfo and Eric Bataille form the 2nd row. Among the other French, Marchand is 16th, Guintoli 19th, Nigon 23rd, Vincent 24th and Lefort 27th.

250: the race
Porto made the hole shot ahead of Randy De Puniet, Poggiali, Nieto, Pedrosa, De Angelis, Rolfo, Elias and Battaini. A big collision brought Bataille, Davies and Baldolini down from the first turns! Pedrosa quickly passed Nieto for 3rd place. On the first lap, Porto passed with a good lead over De Puniet, also detached in front of Poggiali and Pedrosa. Nieto, De Angelis, Elias, Rolfo, Battaini, Faubel, Debon, Aoyama, Guintoli, Marchand and Vincent, Nigon is 17th and Lefort 23rd. On the second lap, Porto pulled straight into the fastest turn of the circuit and found themselves on the speed ring after having crossed the gravel trap without damage: the Argentinian will take the track again in 22nd position! Meanwhile, Pedrosa passed Poggiali on the inside in the same corner, thereby dropping second for the fastest lap! Nieto leads the chase a few lengths ahead of Elias, De Angelis, Rolfo and Battaini. Elias passed 4th inside Nieto on the final set of right turns, while Rolfo passed 6th ahead of De Angelis. Guintoli, Marchand and Vincent still follow each other at 12, 13 and 14th places. Porto is 19th, Lefort 22nd. On the 4th lap, Randy set the best time, one second ahead of Pedrosa then Poggiali. Elias seems to break away from the group of pursuers, Rolfo who overtook Nieto, De Angelis and Battaini rolling together. Porto had the fastest lap in the race and climbed back to 13th place, just behind Sylvain Guintoli, and has already overtaken Marchand 14th and Vincent 15th! Nigon is 18th, Lefort 23rd.

In the 5th lap, another best lap for Porto which drops off Guintoli. 6th round: Porto came back 8th behind De Angelis! Guintoli, Marchand and Vincent are still 13, 14 and 15th. Only Porto and De Puniet are under 1.36 ‘’. On its tracks, Porto drops off De Angelis then Nieto, Rolfo and Elias in the same lap! He is 4th in the 9th lap, after being 22nd, 6 seconds behind Poggiali! Meanwhile, Pedrosa climbs back onto De Puniet, whose rear tire is causing some problems, and narrows the gap to less than a second.

On the 10th lap, De Angelis passed Nieto and Rolfo who also passed the Spaniard. On the 11th lap, Pedrosa put Randy back together and Porto are just 2.4 seconds behind Poggiali! Pedrosa used his featherweight to easily pass De Puniet on acceleration on lap 12, quickly gaining a few lengths ahead. On the 13th lap, Porto joined Poggiali. Pedrosa took over a second from Randy, almost a second a lap! Porto passed Poggiali under braking at the cost of a well-caught glide under acceleration. On the 15th lap, the gap between Pedrosa and De Puniet fell to 1.1 seconds, after being down to 1.6 !

16th lap: Randy comes back three quarters of a second from Pedrosa. Behind them, Porto deposited Poggiali. The 2 men drive alone. 8.8 seconds behind Pedrosa, Rolfo leads Elias, De Angelis and Nieto who remain together. De Angelis made the interior to Elias and came back 6th. Arnaud Vincent went 13th, Guintoli is only 15th, Marchand 19th, Nigon 21st, Lefort 25th and last in the race. On lap 18, Randy is only four tenths behind Pedrosa, having changed his riding style to accommodate his defective rear tire.

Lap 19: Randy has put Pedrosa back on and sits in the Spaniard’s asp. Further on, Nieto passes Elias on the inside at the end of the straight. In the process, Nieto passed 6th in front of De Angelis, who nevertheless seemed in a position to attack Rolfo! On the 20th lap, behind these pretty people, Arnaud Vincent is still 13th, Sylvain Guintoli 15th and Hugo Marchand 19th.

On the last straight of the 21st lap, Randy took advantage of a slight error by Pedrosa to regain the lead. Shortly after, Randy goes wide and Pedrosa returns to the leader! But De Puniet takes the lead in force on the last straight of the 22nd lap! On the next lap, in the left-right sequence, Pedrosa passes to the left and Randy passes to the right! Only three laps left … Porto returned to 5 seconds…

Last corner of the penultimate lap, Randy misses and Pedrosa misses to hit him, in the same corner where Randy had passed him a few laps earlier! Suddenly, at the start of the last lap, Pedrosa was glued to the rear wheel of De Puniet! Pedrosa picked up the suction and passed Randy at the end of the straight under braking, but Randy took the lead on the next turn! Pedrosa snaps back into the asphalt and passes again. Randy returns in force under the braking of the last straight line which had succeeded him before. Unfortunately he turns around looking for Pedrosa on the wrong side: the young Spaniard immediately takes the opportunity to pass inside the last left which commands the finish…

250: the podium
Pedrosa becomes the youngest winner in 250 in his first race! The disappointed Randy, however, scored some big points and Porto, who had made a fantastic comeback, completed the podium. Poggiali 4th precedes a huge fight for 5th place, Elias and Nieto really sticking together! De Angelis took 5th place ahead of the well-back Debon, Nieto, Elias and Rolfo 9th. Arnaud Vincent takes a nice 13th place given his equipment. Disappointment for the other French, Guintoli 15th still takes a point but not Marchand, 19th, nor Nigon, 20th. Lefort, he finished 25th and last classified, but he started both in 250 and at this level, he who is champion of France Open 125 2003! Pedrosa makes his favorites smashing entry, with a marching chart ahead of His Majesty Rossi himself! To follow closely, this young Spaniard, especially since his winter was not the easiest with his broken bones in both legs to heal…

MotoGP: the grid
First grid with three per row according to the new regulations: Rossi on pole, Gibernau and Biaggi lead the way. Hayden, Edwards and Nakano form the 2nd row. Melandri, Barros and Capirossi in 3rd, Roberts, Hopkins and Tamada in 4th. Bayliss in difficulty is in 21st position, penultimate qualified! A Yamaha on pole, a 6th Kawasaki, the 10th and 11th Suzuki, who would have bet on these places? But the warm-up showed that in the race configuration positions could change: Biaggi and Gibernau were the fastest in the morning ahead of Rossi. All the Honda favorites were there with Edwards, Hayden and Barros. Roberts and Xaus place their Suzuki and Ducati just behind, followed by Melandri. The warm-up being done in race configuration, the indications given on this occasion are important! But it’s time for the race, which alone awards the points…

MotoGP: the race
Rossi’s hole shot ahead of Gibernau, Biaggi, Hayden, Edwards, Melandri, Capirossi, Roberts and Barros. Melandri passes Edwards and Roberts passes Capirossi in the first part of the circuit. Biaggi passes Gibernau in the first of three right turns at the end of the circuit.

1st pass: Rossi is four lengths ahead of Biaggi, followed by Gibernau, Hayden, Melandri who overtook Edwards, Roberts, Capirossi, Barros, Xaus, Nakano, Abe, Tamada, Hopkins, Hogdson, Checa not at the party, Byrne , Mc Williams, Bayliss not at the party either, Aoki, Fabrizio and Hofmann, whose Kawasaki almost did not start. In the lead, Rossi, Biaggi and Gibernau who glue back together, widen a slight gap on Hayden, himself having slightly won Edwards back in front of Melandri and Roberts.

In the second lap, Biaggi best lap reunites Rossi, Gibernau is a few lengths away, Hayden even further, then the following grouped. No change on the 3rd pass. Hayden is already a second behind Gibernau, who obviously has more trouble than Biaggi to follow Rossi. Xaus returns to the pits: abandonment. At the end of the lap, Biaggi passes Rossi in the first straight of the final series. Rossi takes the lead in force in the last, the slowest on the circuit. Gibernau took the opportunity to pass 2nd in front of embarrassed Biaggi. But the Roman immediately regained 2nd place when braking the last left turn commanding the finish line. Shortly afterwards, a little too optimistic Biaggi again let Gibernau pass second. Biaggi passed Gibernau back to the right, which started the last series of the circuit and quickly joined Rossi, leaving Gibernau behind. Hayden and Edwards are 1.5 seconds behind, Melandri, Capirossi, Barros and Roberts still 1.5 seconds behind.

6th lap: Biaggi again sets the fastest lap in the race, glued to Rossi. Gibernau is struggling to keep up with the pace imposed by the two Italians. Biaggi takes the lead again, but Rossi takes him back to the slower right, like last time. Already in practice Rossi made the difference on the last part of the circuit, while Biaggi is more comfortable in the first half. Barros passed 6th ahead of Capirossi on the 7th lap.

9th lap: Rossi and Biaggi are still stuck in the lead. Gibernau is the only third. Follow Hayden, Edwards, Barros, Capirossi, Melandri, Tamada, Nakano, Abe and Checa, last Yamaha rider! On the 10th lap, Gibernau was a full second behind, Hayden 5.6, Edwards 6.4 and Barros 7.1. Rossi, at the cost of incredible sliding and braking, manages to control his Yamaha in front of a very pressing Biaggi. Kenny Roberts is forced to retire.

On the 12th lap, Barros 4th passed Hayden and Edwards. Abe passed 10th ahead of Nakano. No change in the next three laps, apart from the pitstop of Fabrizio and WCM for three laps … moving from last place to last place three laps behind! Gibernau manages to keep the lead to just over a second with Rossi and Biaggi. The hole is made behind them: Barros, Hayden and Edwards point at 11 seconds, Capirossi at 14, Tamada 17, Melandri 18 and Abe 20 !

Hogdson’s retirement: no more Ducati D’Antin in the race! Hofmann is thrown in the high side, fortunately without gravity. Rossi and Biaggi accelerate and finally let go of Gibernau on the 17th lap. No big change in the lead, the duel at the top is raging between Rossi and Biaggi. Valentino seems more distressed, the Yamaha moving all over the place, while Biaggi’s Honda seems more stable. Checa passes Melandri for 10th position.

On lap 23, Biaggi passed Rossi in the longest straight of the circuit. Barros left Hayden and Edwards behind. Biaggi is forcing himself to try to let go of Rossi. In the first half of the circuit, he took some distance but Rossi came back to show him his front wheel in the series of straights at the end of the loop. Capirossi passed 6th ahead of Edwards four laps from the end. Bayliss 14th brought his factory Ducati into the points … On the next lap Rossi almost touched Biaggi at the entrance to the opposite straight line, then he forcefully entered the slowest corner of the circuit. Biaggi tries to get back on the line, in vain … On the contrary, Vale gives himself a small margin of safety: 3 tenths on the line at the start of the last lap !

MotoGP: the podium
Throughout the last lap, both men are on maximum attack. Biaggi sets the fastest lap in the race without managing to retake … Rossi does the feat! Nice gesture after the finish: Rossi and Biaggi congratulate each other on this great fight. Vale puts his Yamaha on the tires and collapses his head on his knees … The one who used to put on a show when he arrived has obviously given everything to contain Max … Discomfiture at Honda, who proclaimed loud and strong that Rossi was winning thanks to their bike … Decay also for Checa, who finished behind the much criticized Abe and 40 seconds behind Rossi on the same bike … Decay at Ducati with the two D’Antin broken and only Capirossi good 6th pulling out of the game … Confusion at Suzuki who expected more from Roberts and had to be content with Hopkins’ 13th place. Relative satisfaction for Kawasaki, Nakano finishing 11th. Even if the Hondas really lacked focus, it is now clear that Rossi and the Yamaha will be present in the championship !

The only great victory is not that of a brand: it is that of a man proving that he is truly one of the greatest motorcycle riders of all time … Rossi indeed becomes the first driver to have won two GP in a row in the premier class with two different brands! He equaled Barry Sheene’s record by having won the opening GPs four seasons in a row and lined up his 23rd podium in a row … The legend is on the march and the challenge taken up by the Italian genius by passing to Yamaha is to ores and already noted with brio !

J. ARSOUILLE

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