MotoGP – The Malaysian Grand Prix turn-based –

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The Malaysian Grand Prix turn-based

MotoGP - The Malaysian Grand Prix turn-based -

A high temperature, a humidity level close to saturation, enough to test the pilots. The battle ahead will therefore be nerve-racking, with our national OJ as a guest star: let’s join the 47,338 spectators !

Let’s go back a week: in 125, Luthi fell and retained his leadership thanks to the interruption of the race. Will he be level to hold his position against KTM, Kallio in the lead, after the Swiss championship leader spent the week re-educating his injured shoulder at Motegi? ?

Our French will they do better than figuration, after the misadventures in the form of counter-performances of Di Meglio and Masbou, on whom the French public has so much hope? ?

In 250, the Honda Movistar of Aoyama and Pedrosa monopolized the podium, bringing the young Spaniard even closer to his second title before his rise in MotoGP riding the 3-cylinder Honda 800..

In MotoGP, Rossi had his first fall of the season, he who had not yet come down from the podium since the start of the year! Olivier Jacque is back on the handlebars of the n ° 19 Kawasaki, hoping that he does better than figuration, as his two performances at the start of the season have led to hope. The choice of tires, on a particularly abrasive track, could well play a role of arbiter in Malaysia.

Class 125

The first day of testing was disrupted by rain. It was Mike Di Meglio who carried French hopes high by signing the provisional pole ahead of Simoncelli, Koyama and Pasini. On Saturday, Thomas Luthi, visibly well recovered from his spectacular fall by Motegi, won his 3rd pole position of the season. The Swiss won the race after his last two positions: never two without three? He is ahead of Mattia Pasini, who if he qualified in the front row in the last four Grand Prix, has scored only 11 points in the races in question. The Hungarian Talmacsi is placed 3rd just in front of the other KTM of Mika Kallio. In 2nd row, Simoncelli, Pesek, Poggiali and Simon. Mike Di Meglio, author of the best time the day before, was unable to improve his time because of an error in the choice of tires: he placed 9th behind Faubel. Alexis Masbou, he will start from 15th place on the grid. 37 drivers will be at the start.

In warm-up, under a lower temperature which allowed the pilots to drive faster than during qualifying, the 3 KTMs are at the forefront with Talmacsi ahead of Kallio, Simon, Luthi, Di Meglio, Faubel, Lai, Simoncelli , Espargaro, Masbou, Pesek, De Rosa, Gadea, Pasini and Olive.

Departure. Kallio and Pasini got the best start and took the lead ahead of Simon, Talmacsi, Luthi, Lai and Poggiali. At the 1st turn, Luthi came back 4th on the outside of the pack, and dives inside in front to take 3rd position.

At the next turn, he took the lead thanks to beautiful braking, Pasini took the opportunity to pass Kallio. Sandi, Abraham, Braillard and De Rosa fell from this first lap. Bautista also crashed but started racing again.

At the halfway point, Luthi leads ahead of Pasini, Simon, Kallio, Talmacsi, Lai, Poggiali, Koyama, Faubel. Di Meglio started 12th, passed 11th, and Masbou started badly back to 16th. Luthi is pushing ahead and taking a few steps ahead. Faubel passed 8th in front of Koyama. When braking the penultimate straight line, Simon passes 2nd in front of Pasini.

On the first lap, Luthi leads 8 / 10ths ahead of Simon, Pasini, Kallio, Talmacsi, Poggiali, Faubel, Lai, Koyama and Di Meglio. Masbou moved up to 13th place. Kallio takes 3rd place in Pasini. When braking at the end of the circuit, Talmacsi passes Pasini and joins his 2 KTM teammates in pursuit of Luthi.

In the second lap, Luthi leads far ahead of Simon, who set the fastest time, who in turn let Kallio go, and Pasini takes 4th place in the aspiration from Talmacsi. At several lengths, Faubel leads the pursuit ahead of Lai, Poggiali, Di Meglio and the peloton. When braking at the end of the straight line, Talmacsi came back to 4th in front of Pasini. Masbou came back 12th but sees Simoncelli come back who is coming back very strong.

On the third lap, Luthi leads but is made up meter after meter by Simon, then Kallio and Talmacsi, who set the fastest lap, come back to Simon and let go of Pasini. Faubel broke away from the group of pursuers led by Lai in front of Simoncelli who in his ascent passed Di Meglio. In this round, Kallio and Talmacsi come back on Simon’s heels. Pesek passes Koyama in front of Masbou 14th. Kallio passes 2nd in front of Simon, quickly imitated by Talmacsi.

On lap 4, Luthi was 1.1 s ahead of the KTM trio, Pasini was alone in 5th, then Faubel 6th took a few lengths over Lai, Simoncelli and Di Meglio. Kallio accelerates and distances his teammates on this lap. Poggiali goes back to 10th. Masbou passed by Gadea is 15th. Pirro falls and gives up.

In the 5th lap, Luthi leads by 1.4s, Kallio is again joined by Talmacsi and Simon who increase their lead over Pasini, then Faubel, and even further Simoncelli passed Lai.

On the 6th lap, Luthi still precedes the KTM trio, then Faubel, and even further Simoncelli who distances Di Meglio past 8th in front of Lai. But Lai regained the advantage under braking at the end of the straight line, 7.8 s behind Luthi. Di Meglio goes back a few bends further. Halfway through, Kallio closed the gap to 1.1s on Luthi.

On lap 7, Luthi leads, the KTM trio follows in the same order within 1 second, Pasini loses ground and sees Faubel return, then Simoncelli precedes Di Meglio and Lai. Masbou returns to Nieto. In this lap, Simon seems to struggle to keep up with his two teammates.

On the 8th lap, Luthi leads in front of Kallio, Talmacsi who missed a bit at the start of the straight line lost a few lengths and was joined by Simon, then Pasini, Faubel, Simoncelli, Di Meglio 4 / 10th in front of Lai.

On lap 9, Luthi was 1 s ahead of Kallio, Simon passed Talmacsi on braking on the last hairpin, Pasini saw Faubel come back, then Simoncelli, Di Meglio and Lai. Masbou is 15th. Di Meglio returned to 7th in front of Simoncelli, but entered a little hard under braking, moved away and had to let Simoncelli and Lai pass again. Kallio makes the effort and returns to Luthi while letting go of his KTM teammates.

On the 10th lap, Luthi was less and less ahead of Kallio, Talmacsi and Simon fighting for 3rd place, then Pasini, Faubel, Simoncelli, Lai and Di Meglio. Nieto moved back to 14th ahead of Gadea and Masbou. Luthi is 0.9 s ahead of Kallio who himself is more than 2 s ahead of Talmacsi and Simon.

On the 11th lap, Luthi sees Kallio return meter after meter, Talmacsi and Simon follow, then Pasini, Faubel, Simoncelli, Lai and Di Meglio. Lai passed Simoncelli at the end of the straight. Gadea returns to 14th in front of Nieto under the eyes of Masbou.

On the 12th lap, Luthi was still 0.8 s ahead of Kallio who was still trailing behind, Talmacsi and Simon were still together at 5.8 s, Pasini was at 7.4 s, Faubel at 8.8 s. Simoncelli, Lai and Di Meglio in brawl are at 12.5 s, Poggiali, Koyama, Espargaro and Pesek are at 16.5 s, then Nieto, Gadea and Masbou are at 17.5 s. Pasini returns to the charge on Talmacsi and Simon to fight for the podium, then Masbou passes 17th, passed by Olive. In this lap, Kallio narrowed his gap to less than 1/2 s on Luthi, and Pasini got back into the wheels of Talmacsi and Simon’s KTMs..

On lap 13, Kallio almost returned to Luthi’s aspiration, then Pasini passed the two KTMs of Talmacsi and Simon in the straight. Di Meglio is ironed in front of Simoncelli and Lai.

On the 14th lap, Luthi is followed like his shadow by Kallio, Pasini, Talmacsi and Simon at 7.5s, then Faubel is 1.6s behind this trio. Luthi retains the advantage on braking and in the winding, but Kallio comes back in the fast sections.

On the 15th lap, behind Luthi and Kallio, Pasini, Talmacsi and Simon were joined by Faubel, then Simoncelli and Lai passed back in front of De Meglio. As in the previous lap, Luthi takes a little air in the 1st half of the circuit, more sinuous, then Kallio comes back in the 2nd half faster..

In the 16th straight line, Kallio came close to Luthi but let him keep the lead under braking. At almost 10 seconds, Pasini was joined by Faubel who passed Simon passed in front of Talmacsi. More than 17 seconds behind the leader, Di Meglio returned to 7th place ahead of Lai and Simoncelli, just ahead of Poggiali, Koyama, Nieto, Pesek, Olive, Espargaro, Gadea and Masbou. Masbou returned to 16th in front of Gadea. Poggiali passes in front of Di Meglio, imitated by Koyama, Nieto and Pesek.

On lap 17, Luthi sees Kallio show him the wheel of his fast KTM but regains the advantage under braking: Kallio’s tactics, or Luthi’s delayed braking? Faubel passes 3rd in front of Pasini, Koyama passes Simoncelli, Di Meglio passes Pesek and Masbou is 16th.

At the start of the last lap, Kallio shows his wheel to Luthi again without passing it, then Faubel, Pasini, Talmacsi and Simon follow each other to win the 3rd step of the podium, Lai, Poggiali, Koyama, Di Meglio who has passed Simoncelli again follow at a distance. Kallio patiently stays in Luthi’s wheel throughout this lap, Luthi hits all the corners really hard but Kallio comes back every time to accelerate.

At the end of the straight, Kallio tries to brake Luthi but the Swiss have closed the trajectory well and forced the Finn to withdraw. Luthi takes full advantage of Kallio’s mistake, who tries to regain the suction and pass him on the line thanks to the excellent acceleration of his KTM, but the Finn fails for 2 / 1000ths !

Luthi therefore won his third victory of the season ahead of his main opponent for the title, Mika Kallio. It was Pasini who also narrowly completed the podium, ahead of Faubel by only 25 / 1000th and Talmacsi by 2 / 10th. Simon is 6th, Lai 7th, Poggiali 8th, Simoncelli 9th, Koyama 10th, Di Meglio 11th, Pesek 12th, Nieto 13th, Masbou author of a nice final takes 2 points from 14th place, and Espargaro takes the point of the 15th.

In the championship, Luthi takes a little lead with 189 points, 8 lengths ahead of Kallio 181, Talmacsi 3rd is now 50 points behind his teammate with his 131, Pasini is 4th with 127, Simoncelli 5th with 124, Lai 6th with 113 , Simon 7th with 107. Mike Di Meglio is 11th with 64, and Alexis Masbou 18th with 22 points.

On the brands side, if KTM still leads with 258, Honda with 231 came second ahead of Aprilia 228.

Class 250

If Alex De Angelis signs the best provisional time on Friday ahead of Dovizioso, Stoner and Porto, like Mike Di Meglio in 125, the San Marinese will not improve his time on Saturday. It is Aoyama who signs his 2nd consecutive pole ahead of his teammate and leader of the Pedrosa category, in the same order as the arrival of Motegi last week. Stoner and Porto complete the 1st line.

In the second row, we find Dovizioso, De Angelis, De Puniet and Barbera. Guintoli signs a promising 9th place, Erwan Nigon, called up at the very last minute, who only arrives on Friday morning on the circuit, back on a Yamaha Kurz qualifies 25th just ahead of Mathieu Ginès who still replaces Gregory Leblanc injured on the motorcycle of the ‘French team and Arnaud Vincent, 27th on the Fantic. 28 pilots are qualified. The very spectacular Jorge Lorenzo pays dearly for his too daring maneuver by Motegi (read), since he gets a race ban for Sepang !

In the warm-up, Pedrosa was fastest ahead of Stoner, De Angelis, Aoyama, Porto, Dovizioso, De Puniet, Takahashi, Barbera, Locatelli, Corsi, Ballerini, Smrz, Guintoli and Debon. Randy’s bike was performing poorly during this warm up, but seemed to be performing well just before the start. You just have to hook up the right wagon !

Departure. It is Pedrosa who makes the hole shot and turns in front of Stoner, De Angelis author of a braking from beyond the grave in front of Aoyama, Porto, Corsi, Debon, Barbera, de Puniet.

In the 2nd bend, Dovizioso goes to the high side and falls, Rous, trying to avoid him, also falls, the 2 men are out! Stoner and De Angelis pass Pedrosa and quickly outrun him. Aoyama is 4th ahead of Porto, then a few lengths Corsi precedes Barbera, De Puniet, Debon and Guintoli. In the turn which precedes the penultimate straight line, Debon loses the front and falls. On the first lap, Stoner took a little lead over de Angelis, Pedrosa was third a little further ahead of Aoyama and Porto, then a few more lengths, Randy De Puniet precedes Barbera, Corsi and Takahashi. Arnaud Vincent, who had started well, was forced to retire. De Angelis stepped up and returned to Stoner, Pedrosa also increased the pace, then Randy De Puniet let Corsi and Barbera go back to Porto. In the same turn as Debon in the previous lap, a dramatic turn of events: it is the leader of the championship, Dani Pedrosa, who makes a mistake and must give up, his motorcycle too damaged by his fall.

On the second lap, Stoner, who had the fastest lap, leads in front of De Angelis, then a few lengths ahead of Porto and De Puniet back in his wheel, then Barbera alone in 6th, Corsi alone in 7th and Takahashi alone in 8th. A scattered peloton thanks to the falls of the two 1st laps. Ballerini in turn falls and gives up. Smrz who also fell back in the race at the back of the peloton. Guintoli 10th passed West and the KTM.

At the 3rd passage, Stoner and De Angelis lead. Aoyama, Porto and De Puniet hunt but do not keep pace with the leaders, then Barbera, Corsi, Takahashi, Locatelli seek places of honor. Erwan Nigon is 16th. De Angelis returns to Stoner, then De Puniet is threatening on his teammate Porto.

On the 4th lap, Stoner and De Angelis precede Aoyama, then De Puniet passed 4th in front of Porto and comes back on the Japanese. De Angelis almost lost the rear when accelerating but managed to stabilize his bike close to the grass. Randy De Puniet passed 3rd in front of Aoyama who returned to the next braking. Randy brakes again on the penultimate straight line.

On the 5th row, Stoner leads ahead of De Angelis, then De Puniet 3rd sees Porto return, which has also passed Aoyama. Four Aprilia in front of a Honda! Barbera holds his 6th place, then West returns to Guintoli but the Australian falls and retires.

On the 6th lap, Stoner and De Angelis lead, De Puniet and Porto take a little air on Aoyama, Barbera is 6th, then Corsi and Takahashi fight for the 7th position. In this lap, Aoyama caught up with the Aprilia of De Puniet and Porto.

On lap 7, Stoner regained the lead over De Angelis, who was 2.4 s behind. Randy De Puniet is 7.5 s and precedes Porto and Aoyama, Barbera is 11.7 s, Takahashi at 14.8 s, Corsi at 15.3 s and Locatelli at 17 s. De Puniet and Porto let go of Aoyama again in the 1st part of the circuit, but the Japanese caught up with them in the fast part. Guintoli is 10th at 26.6 s behind the leader, Nigon is 16th, Ginès 18th.

On the 8th lap, Stoner further increased his lead over De Angelis which is now 3 seconds, then De Puniet, Porto and Aoyama are still fighting for 3rd position. Barbera is 6th, Takahashi 7th, Locatelli 8th, and Guintoli who benefits from the fall of Corsi passes 9th. Giansanti passes 15th ahead of Nigon.

On the 9th lap, the positions are unchanged in the lead. In the hairpin before the 9th lap, while Stoner then De Angelis crossed the line with their good lead, Aoyama passed 4th in front of Porto but widened and had to let the Argentinian pass again, who remained by his side in the exit of the turn and took over his place in an authoritarian manner. Randy De Puniet took the opportunity to take a few steps ahead of his two pursuers. Locatelli passes 7th in front of Takahashi.

On the 11th lap, Stoner maintained his lead over De Angelis by more than 3 seconds, De Puniet saw Porto return to his wheel, Aoyama a little further. Guintoli is 9th, Nigon 16th. Porto attacked Randy De Puniet again, who resisted well, and Aoyama took advantage of the fight to get back into the wheels of the two Aprilia.

After the 12th lap, behind Stoner and De Angelis, Porto is up to De Puniet thanks to the aspiration, Randy delays his braking but must move aside and let Porto and Aoyama pass! But Randy, better placed, returned to 4th in front of the Japanese. Barbera is still 6th. Aoyama attacks Randy and goes up to him, but De Puniet stays accelerated out of the turn, misses out in the grass fairing against fairing and finally retains his 4th place..

In the 13th lap, Stoner was 3.8 s ahead of De Angelis, Porto was 9.4 s, De Puniet and Aoyama at 10.1 s, Barbera at 19.3 s, Locatelli at 23.1 s, Takahashi at 24 s. The Colombian Cardenas climbed 10th just behind Guintoli. De Angelis, who is forcing himself to try to get back on Stoner, misses a high side, loses the support of the footrests and recovers but has lost time again on the Australian.

On the 14th lap, behind the leaders, Porto and De Puniet let go of Aoyama, Barbera clings to 6th place, Locatelli and Takahashi follow together.

On the 15th lap, Stoner and De Angelis far ahead, De Puniet was in Porto’s wheel but could not pass it. Guintoli 9th is chased by Cardenas, Sekiguchi and Davies.

On the 16th lap, Stoner still leads by managing his lead over De Angelis, Porto and De Puniet are a few lengths ahead of Aoyama, then Barbera, Takahashi, Locatelli ahead of the group led by Guintoli.

In the 17th straight line, the positions unchanged in front, Cardenas passed 9th in front of Guintoli, imitated by Sekiguchi who in the process passed the Colombian. De Angelis reduced his delay on Stoner to less than 3 s.

On the 18th lap, Stoner leads, De Angelis is on the hunt, De Puniet is more and more pressing on Porto, Aoyama manages his 5th place. The well-paneled stoner gave the gas a boost and took another 3 s lead over De Angelis. Randy De Puniet, who was in the wheel of Porto suddenly loses contact: we will learn that he was the victim of a tight engine. He manages to continue, but has lost contact with his teammate.

At the start of the last lap, Stoner was the only leader, De Angelis alone 2nd, Porto alone 3rd, De Puniet alone 4th, Aoyama alone 5th, Barbera alone 6th, Takahashi returned to 7th in front of Locatelli, then Guintoli and Sekiguchi exchanged 9th position.

Stoner finishes by managing his race and takes his 3rd victory of the season, De Angelis, author of a good race, is 2nd, then Porto completes the podium. De Puniet still unlucky is 4th, Aoyama 5th, Barbera 6th, Takahashi 7th, Locatelli 8th, Guintoli finished 9th after having passed Sekiguchi 10th, Heidolf is 11th, Davies 12th, Giansanti 13th, Jenkner 14th, Cardenas who failed but succeeded to start again saves the point of 15th place just in front of Nigon which ends up in the worst 16th place without a point in front of Mathieu Ginès 17th.

In the championship, Stoner with 188 points did the right thing and reduced his gap to 38 points on Pedrosa remained at 226 after his fault, Dovizioso remained 3rd with 144 ahead of Aoyama who came back with 134, De Angelis climbed up with 129 and passed De Puniet 6th with 121 tied with his teammate Porto. Guintoli 10th with 62 consolidates its place of best private.

In the race for the constructor title, Honda with 259 sees Aprilia return to 6 lengths with 263.

MotoGP Category

After a 1st day of free practice which saw the domination in the dry of Gibernau and Roberts, then of Roberts who confirmed in the wet in the 2nd session, OJ being classified 6th, on Saturday, it is again Roberts who shows himself the fastest ahead of Capirossi in the 3rd free session. Capirex will be the fastest in qualifying and take pole with a new record ahead of Gibernau and Hopkins. In the 2nd row, Nakano precedes Roberts and Hayden.

Rossi 7th time 0.681 s behind Capirossi will still be forced into a start and a comeback of which he has the secret. Checa and Melandri will be his neighbors on this 4th row. Marco Melandri struggles with the pain following his misadventure at Motegi, the fall caused by his boyfriend Rossi caused him a nasty injury, his footrest having gone through his boot and his foot !

Edwards, Barros and Biaggi form the 5th row, and OJ qualifies 13th after a nice 10th fastest in the morning. 20 pilots will form the grid. Sete Gibernau therefore passes in front of Rossi in the qualifying standings which would allow him to deprive Rossi of the BMW promised at the end of the season to the best driver in qualifying, an almost derisory consolation compared to his title hopes….

In the warm-up, Gibernau is the fastest ahead of Capirossi, his future team-mate, since Gibernau is more than likely announced for Ducati next season instead of Checa. Hayden, Hopkins, Roberts, Rossi, Checa, Biaggi, Melandri, Edwards, Barros, Nakano, Elias, Jacque and Tamada followed on Sunday morning’s stopwatch, injured in his hand following a fall during testing. Rossi and Burgess seem in difficulty to correctly adjust M1 n ° 46, His Holiness, who did not qualify in the 1st row for the 4th consecutive time, will even end up annoying the gropings of his technical team, who will again changes at the very last minute before placing the bike on the grid !

Departure. Capirossi takes full advantage of his pole and the power of the Ducati to turn in the lead in front of Hayden who, while diving on the rope, touches Gibernau, who is obliged to raise his bike so as not to fall.

Checa on the outside moves away so as not to be struck in turn by the Spaniard who has left the line! Melandri and Nakano take the opportunity to infiltrate and pass 2nd and 3rd in front of Hayden, Roberts, Gibernau back just ahead of Rossi, Checa, Hopkins.

Nakano attacks and passes 2nd in front of Melandri. OJ is 14th. Gibernau passed 5th ahead of Roberts. Rossi, Checa, Biaggi and Rolfo follow. Rossi passed Roberts on braking from the tight left of the back end of the circuit. Jacque passed 13th ahead of Edwards.

On the 1st lap, Capirossi leads in front of Nakano, Melandri, Hayden, Gibernau, Rossi a little further, then a few lengths Checa, Melandri passes 2nd in front of Nakano under braking at the end of the straight line. Gibernau passed 4th in front of Hayden under braking from the tight left of the sequence. Capirossi took a little air on Melandri, Nakano, Gibernau, Hayden and Rossi, then Roberts and Checa follow at two lengths, then Biaggi at four lengths.

Edwards and Jacque pass Rolfo. Elias also passes Rolfo. When braking from the hairpin before the straight line, Gibernau, who came from a distance, still tries to delay his braking, cuts the trajectory to take the rope, but enters too quickly and Nakano torpedo by dragging it into the gravel pit: it is the abandonment once again on a big blunder of the Spanish !

On the 2nd lap, Capirossi who goes down his lap after lap leads in front of Melandri, then at some distance following the fault of Gibernau, Hayden contains Rossi, Roberts and Checa, Biaggi tries to come back, then Hopkins, Edwards, Jacque, Elias, Tamada , Rolfo, Byrne and Xaus follow. In this lap, Melandri let go by Capirossi sees Hayden and Rossi return to his wheel, Checa passed in front of Roberts, then Biaggi.

On lap 3, behind Capirossi, Hayden, who had the fastest lap, passed 2nd ahead of Melandri and Rossi, Checa leads the pursuit ahead of Roberts, Biaggi, Barros and Hopkins. Hayden lets go of Melandri, and Rossi, who sees Hayden leave, passes Melandri under tight left braking. Tamada and Rolfo pass Olivier Jacque in distress who returns to the pits, engine broken !.

On the 4th lap, Capirossi leads, Hayden comes back, Rossi is pushing forward, Melandri is hanging on, the four men have a good lead over Checa and Roberts, who themselves have let go of Biaggi, Barros and Hopkins. In this round, Hayden joins Capirossi, Rossi lets go of Melandri and looks back on the leaders.

On the 5th lap, Capirossi is under threat from Hayden, Rossi comes back, Melandri hangs on, Checa and Roberts follow the pace too, then Biaggi gradually wins. Capirossi accelerates again and distances Hayden slightly, who loses the rope at the start of the sequence and sees Rossi, the fastest on the track, return to his wheel.

In the hairpin before the 6th straight line, Capirossi, Hayden and Rossi are once again wheel to wheel. On the line, they precede Melandri alone 4th, then Checa and Roberts and further on Biaggi, Barros, Hopkins, Edwards, Elias and Tamada. Checa slowly returns to Melandri who seems to be having more and more difficulty keeping up with the pace of the race leader. When braking the hairpin, Rossi puts his foot inside as if to test the grip if necessary.

At the 7th lap, Capirossi, Hayden and His Holiness are largely leaders, Melandri 3rd is joined by Checa who regularly goes down his lap and dropped Roberts still 6th ahead of Biaggi, Barros and Hopkins. At the end of the straight, Hayden shows his wheel to Capirossi who does not let himself be counted so easily and retains the command. Checa passed 4th in front of Melandri in the penultimate corner, then in the last hairpin, Rossi took advantage of Hayden’s error who lost the rope to take 2nd position.

On the 8th lap, Capirossi still leads, but ahead of Rossi and Hayden, then Checa and Melandri. Biaggi passed 6th ahead of Roberts followed by Barros and Hopkins. Capirossi and Rossi take a few lengths at Hayden in this lap.

On the 9th lap, Capirossi leads, Rossi follows, Hayden picks up, then Checa 4th gradually releases Melandri behind whom Biaggi distances Roberts. In the 1st part of the circuit, Capirossi and Rossi distance Hayden whose bike moves a lot under the effort of the American who stuck again when braking the end of the turn pin..

On the 10th lap, the leading trio lost some of their lead over Checa, the fastest on the track, who let Melandri go. Biaggi is 6th, Roberts 7th ahead of Barros and Hopkins. Capirossi who deviates from the rope in the sequence sees Rossi immediately take the opportunity to take the lead. But in the final hairpin, Rossi in turn deviates and Capirossi returns politeness, Hayden who had somewhat let go after the passage at the head of Rossi also takes the opportunity to pick up !

At the 11th lap, Capirossi, Rossi and Hayden are wheel to wheel again. Checa is only 4th, Melandri alone 5th, then Biaggi, Roberts, Barros and Hopkins. At the end of the straight line, Rossi delays his braking and takes the lead again! Checa gets closer to 1.7 s from the leader having gained 0.7 s in this round in favor of the fight. Rossi then tries to take off, Capirossi follows, but Hayden seems to win and sees Checa return who reduces his delay on Rossi 10th after 10th.

At the entrance to the penultimate straight line, Hayden again made the junction with the leaders but slightly lost contact when crossing the line. Checa still goes back, 1.1 s behind the American, then Melandri clings to 5th place, Biaggi, Roberts, Barros and Hopkins at a good distance.

On the 13th lap, Rossi had Capirossi stuck in his exhausts, Hayden hangs on but does the accordion a bit, Checa comes back very strong, Melandri stabilizes the gap on his pursuers Biaggi, Roberts, Barros and Hopkins. At the end of the straight line, Capirossi seizes the lead at Rossi’s expense at the cost of superb braking of which he has the secret, his bike slips from it that he stabilizes in a masterly way: great art! Checa takes the opportunity to come back in Hayden’s wake. Capirossi attacks thoroughly, slides into each turn, Rossi does not let go but Hayden seems to bear the brunt of the Italian’s acceleration and not only wins but is under the increasingly direct threat of Checa.

On the 14th lap, Capirossi and Rossi took a notable lead over Hayden almost followed by Checa, Melandri is 5th, then Biaggi slightly back on his compatriot still holds the high for Roberts, Barros and Hopkins. Halfway through the circuit, Checa is in Hayden’s saddle and begins to show him his front wheel when entering a curve. The Spaniard passes the American braking the last hairpin but widens and must let his opponent pass.

On the 15th lap, Capirossi and Rossi took off, Hayden resisted Checa with delayed braking, Melandri 5th held on, then Biaggi, Roberts, Barros and Hopkins precede Edwards returned. Capirossi, still on the attack, gradually gained the upper hand over Rossi who let go meter after meter on the Ducati 65. When braking the hairpin, Checa attacked and passed Hayden again, but again lost the rope, moved away even more than in the previous lap and must again be content to cross the line in 4th position.

On the 16th lap, Capirossi was 0.6 s ahead of Rossi, 2.6 s over Hayden, 2.9 s over Checa who returned to contact again at the end of the straight line. Melandri 5th is at 10.8 s, Biaggi at 12.6 s, Roberts at 13.1 s and Barros who always precedes Hopkins and Edwards at 13.6 s. Capirossi increases his lead 10th after 10th. In the tight left which begins the sequence, Checa passes Hayden who resists well but must this time give up his 3rd place, the Spaniard although poorly placed on the outside remained gas open to maintain the advantage.

On the 17th lap, Capirossi held on ahead of Rossi who stabilized the gap, Checa gradually distance Hayden, Melandri saw Biaggi, Roberts, Barros, Hopkins and Edwards return. Capirossi accelerates again and increases his lead to almost 1s over His Holiness, Checa 3rd doing the same with Hayden. Capirossi takes his lead over Rossi in seconds, then Checa, who runs in the same lap times as his distance teammate Hayden and comes back slightly to Rossi. Biaggi 6th is 1.7s behind Melandri and remains under threat from Roberts.

On the 19th lap, Capirossi was 1.3 s ahead of Rossi, 2.9 s over Checa, 5.4 s over Hayden. Ellison retires with WCM one lap from the finish.

At the start of the last lap, Capirossi extended his lead over Rossi to 2.1 s, and Checa 3rd, the fastest on the track, is only 6 / 10ths behind the Yamaha 46! Hayden at 7.2 s left at the end of the race. Under the threat of Checa, Rossi attacks to the maximum but the Ducati is now glued to its wheel. In the penultimate straight line, Rossi attacks the hairpin from the middle of the track to close the door to Checa who was coming up to him, His Holiness releases one of those brakes of which he has the secret, takes the rope under the nose of Checa while Capirossi already crosses the line victorious by saluting his victory with a triumphant wheelie, and Rossi manages to accelerate by keeping the Spaniard behind him and crosses the line 70 / 100th in front of Checa !

Hayden takes 4th place, Melandri despite his recent injury finishes 5th in courage, Biaggi is 6th, Roberts who is looking for a handlebar for 2006 is 7th, Barros 8th, Hopkins 9th, Edwards 10th, Elias 11th, Tamada 12th, Rolfo 13th, Byrne 14th , and Xaus 15th takes the last point awarded in front of the last classified, Battaini 16th.

What great performances reflect this podium: this is the first time that Ducati and Bridgestone have won two Grand Prix in a row! After the 1st victory of a European machine in Japan last week, Capirossi is on a roll that could well lead him to 2nd place in the final! And what about Rossi’s 7th title, 5th in premier class, 2nd on Yamaha? !

His Holiness, with the help of his fan club, will put on a “7” t-shirt and a white helmet with the same “7” decoration. He joined in the grass that borders the circuit 7 accomplices disguised as dwarfs who each wear a t-shirt from the years of his world champion titles, being kissed by a very realistic Snow White to celebrate his triumph under the clamors of the public !

In the championship, after this 7th title of Valentino Rossi who now has 281 points, Biaggi 2nd with 159 sees a Capirossi approaching a possible 2nd final place with 142, the Italian passed on this occasion in front of Edwards 139, Melandri 137 and Hayden 134. Behind them, Barros took advantage of Gibernau’s blunder to move to 7th provisional with 122 ahead of the Spaniard stuck at 115 from his 2nd place in the Sachsenring! If Checa is far from his compatriot with 88, he took advantage of Nakano’s mowing to distance him, the Japanese 10th remaining at 69.

In the race for the constructors’ title, Yamaha with 295 points consolidates its 1st place ahead of Honda 251, Ducati which consolidates its 3rd place with 152, 50 points in 2 races, Kawasaki with the white result of Japan and Malaysia remains at 97.

As for the teams, Gauloises Yamaha crushes the race with all its height with 420 ahead of Repsol Honda 293, Movistar Honda 252 which sees Ducati return with 230 with its beautiful Pacific tour !

Strongly Qatar, where in 125, the fight promises to continue to be hot between Luthi and Kallio, under the arbitration of the outsiders !

In 250, Pedrosa, who is not familiar with the crash, will certainly be keen to correct the situation after his crashes in the tests in Japan and Malaysia then in the race at Sepang !

As for the premier class, if Rossi has already won the title, it will certainly be necessary to count on his panache and his desire to crush Honda with all his class! Not to mention that he will probably want to erase in the most beautiful way possible, on the track, the memory of the famous claim of last year, just to sweep away this bad memory….

See you next week, Qatar is Saturday !

J. ARSOUILLE – Photos O. BERGAMASCHI and DR

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