MotoGP – The Valencia Grand Prix turn by turn –

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The Valencia Grand Prix turn by turn

MotoGP - The Valencia Grand Prix turn by turn -

The Valence circuit welcomed 124,520 spectators who came to admire the whole of the last round regardless of their position in the stands. A sold-out race because everything has been rented for a long time … And the last lap by lap of the season !

The Cheste circuit, near Valence, has become the traditional end-of-season Grand Prix meeting. 4 km long, it is very technical with its 13 bends which favor handling and steering more than pure power. Difficult to overtake on this track, where most of the turns are slow (in 2nd).

In 125, like every year, the drivers’ title will only come after the finish, although Luthi’s 23-point lead over Kallio minimizes the suspense. The constructors title also remains to be awarded.

In 250, Pedrosa already has the title in his pocket but that does not prevent the young Spaniard from wanting to appear well in front of his home crowd despite opposition from Stoner, Dovizioso and Lorenzo, also in front of his home crowd. Without forgetting that the first two in the category, Pedrosa and Stoner, will be in MotoGP next season !

In MotoGP, Gibernau in front of the Spanish public will be keen to end his season on a good note, but the opposition of Melandri, his recently victorious teammate, as well as that of the world champion Rossi, could well prevent him from saving his honor. world test champion this season … He will however be able to console himself with his new car, won by winning the BMW challenge !

Let us note on this occasion that Sete Gibernau will be driving at Ducati next year, which will allow him to "find new motivation and take on a new challenge". The Italian firm, for its part, welcomed this transfer, recalling that"Sete is one of the best pilots on the board". Aware of the year"difficult"from the Spaniard, the transalpine brand appreciated that Sete did"never abandoned, in the purest Ducati spirit".

On the other hand, Biaggi and Barros have still not signed a contract for next year … The results of this Grand Prix could therefore have a great influence on the future of these pilots, who necessarily have good things at heart. make !

Class 125

From the first tests, Gadea at home showed itself to its advantage. While Pasini beat him in qualifying on Friday, he definitely regained the advantage on Saturday by taking the first pole of his career. Pasini, Kallio and Luthi accompany him on the front line. Lai, Faubel, Cortese and Talmacsi form the 2nd row. Koyama, Di Meglio, Simoncelli and Simon are in 3rd row. Jules Cluzel is very efficient on the Malaguti by taking 17th place on the grid. Masbou, who suffered a puncture at the start of the qualifying session, could not avoid the crash and was satisfied with the 20th position.

In the warm-up, Gadea was once again the fastest in front of his home crowd, ahead of Luthi by a quarter of a second. Talmacsi follows at half a second, Koyama at 0.8 s then Iannone, Lai, Di Meglio, Pasini, Simoncelli and Faubel. Kallio is 13th fastest ahead of Masbou 14th, Cluzel is 17th time.

Departure. The over-motivated Gadea got off to the best start and took the lead ahead of Faubel and Kallio, who sneaked past Luthi on the first braking. At the 2nd corner, Luthi very careful let Talmacsi, Pasini and Lai pass but stayed ahead of Simon and Iannone. At the halfway point, behind Gadea who took a few steps ahead, Faubel led Kallio, Pasini, Talmacsi, Lai, Luthi, Simon and Di Meglio. Guiseppetti and Bonache hang on and fall. Pasini passed 3rd ahead of Kallio and Di Meglio 8th ahead of Simon.

On the first lap, Gadea is almost 1sec ahead of Faubel, Pasini, Kallio, Talmacsi, Lai, Luthi, Di Meglio and Simon. Cluzel is 16th, Masbou 18th. Pasini passes 2nd in front of Faubel.

In the second lap, the strong leader Gadea saw Pasini come back on the back of a fastest lap, then Faubel gave in to attacks from Kallio and Talmacsi. Lai passed Luthi then Faubel seeing the two KTMs take the lead. Simon and Koyama overtook Di Meglio. Pasini joins Gadea at the entrance to the third straight. Behind the two leaders, Kallio, Talmacsi, Lai, Faubel, Luthi, Koyama, Simon and Di Meglio form an already very stretched group. Di Meglio passes 9th in front of Koyama then 8th in front of Simon.

On lap 4, Gadea still leads ahead of Pasini who set a new fastest time, then Kallio leads Talmacsi, Lai, Faubel, Luthi, Di Meglio, Simon and Koyama. Cluzel is 16th. Pasini takes the lead ahead of Gadea and Luthi 6th ahead of Faubel. Kallio and Talmacsi distance themselves from Lai and come back slightly to Gadea.

On the 5th lap, Pasini leads in front of Gadea but it is Kallio 3rd who does the best lap and comes back on the lead, taking Talmacsi on his wheel! A few pitches follow Lai, Luthi, Faubel, Di Meglio, Simon and Koyama. Mike Di Meglio falls and gives up…

On lap 6, Pasini led by a few steps ahead of Gadea, with Kallio and Talmacsi falling behind the Spaniard. Lai, Faubel, Luthi, Simon and Koyama are left behind but see Simoncelli come back, very badly started and launched in one of the lifts of which he has made himself the specialty! Cluzel is 15th, Masbou 16th. Koyama passes 8th in front of Simon and Cluzel 12th in front of Cortese.

On the 7th lap, Pasini, Gadea, Kallio and Talmacsi lead 1.9 s ahead of the trio Lai, Luthi and Faubel, then even further Koyama and Simon. Faubel passed Luthi and Lai under braking at the end of the straight line. Faubel puts on coal and distances Lai and Luthi.

On lap 8, behind Pasini, Gadea, Kallio and Talmacsi, Faubel took a solid lead over Lai, who passed Luthi in the draw. Cluzel, who fights between 12th and 15th place, is in the best lap with the Malaguti !

In the 9th lap, Pasini, Gadea, Kallio and Talmacsi are together. Faubel returns after letting go of Luthi and Lai. Koyama and Simon are a little further away. Masbou in full rise is 11th, Cluzel 14th.

At the 10th passage we always find the same quartet in the lead with Faubel in pursuit, then Luthi who manages in front of Lai.

On the 11th lap, at the end of the straight, Gadea took back the lead ahead of Pasini under the eyes of Kallio and Talmacsi, then Faubel was still alone in 5th ahead of Luthi and Lai, Koyama and Simon even further. Pasini regains his good from the 2nd corner. Abraham falls and gives up.

On lap 12, Pasini, Gadea, Kallio and Talmacsi were 2.8 seconds ahead of Faubel, 6.1 seconds over Luthi, Lai and Koyama and 7 seconds over Simon. Masbou is 12th and Cluzel 14th. Gadea takes the lead again ahead of Pasini.

On the 13th lap, Gadea leads in front of Pasini, Kallio and Talmacsi, Faubel is alone in 5th, then Luthi takes Lai, Koyama and Simon who have put the group back together. Gadea attacks and tries to take off: he sets the best time on the 14th lap ahead of Pasini and the two KTMs! Lai passed 6th ahead of Luthi while Zanetti and Pesek grabbed hold of and fell. Saez gives up in turn.

On lap 15, Gadea took a small advantage over Pasini, Kallio and Talmacsi. Faubel holds his 5th place, but Lai loses his 6th position in favor of Luthi under the eyes of Koyama and Simon. Masbou is 11th, Cluzel 16th.

Entering the 16th straight, Kallio attacked and passed Pasini under braking, seeing Gadea slowly pulling away. But Pasini goes back to 2nd in the suction! Behind it is Simoncelli who surprises his world by coming back to Luthi after passing Koyama, Simon and Lai coming out very wide at the entrance to the straight line.

On lap 17, Gadea is still a solid leader ahead of Pasini, Kallio and Talmacsi. Faubel is still 5th ahead of Luthi, Simoncelli, Koyama, Simon and Lai. Behind them, Poggiali made a mistake and fell after hitting Cluzel whose brake he broke … The young Frenchman started again but fell shortly after. Cortese falls and gives up in turn.

On the 18th lap, Gadea leads with 1.4s ahead of Pasini, Kallio and Talmacsi, then Faubel, and further on Simoncelli in the fight with Luthi, Koyama and Simon. Halfway through the circuit, Gadea fell and gave up when he was in the lead !

On the 19th lap, it was Pasini who led ahead of Kallio and Talmacsi. Faubel is alone in 4th, followed by Simoncelli who has taken a few steps ahead of Koyama, Luthi, Lai and Simon. Luthi returns to 6th in front of Koyama.

In the 20th round, Pasini still contains Kallio and Talmacsi. Faubel is alone 4th ahead of Simoncelli alone 5th, and further on Luthi takes Lai past Koyama and Simon. Pasini tried to accelerate, but on lap 21 Kallio and Talmacsi came back. Lai passed 6th ahead of Luthi. Further on, it’s Koyama who crosses the Swiss.

On lap 22, Pasini still leads but sees Kallio and Talmacsi stuck to his wheel and particularly threatening. Simon passed 8th in front of Luthi who seemed to be content to manage a position which guaranteed him the title. Masbou, who had just returned to 12th in front of Espargaro, falls and gives up.

As the final lap begins, Pasini still has Kallio in him. Talmacsi is a little further. Faubel is 4th, Simoncelli 5th. Koyama, Lai and Simon follow, a few lengths ahead of Luthi. Kallio shows his front wheel to Pasini but the Italian resists well. At the entrance to the last left which closes before the finish straight, Kallio gets inside Pasini, delays his braking and passes! Entering the straight, Kallio snaps back from the vibrator inward to avoid getting sucked in, but he catches Pasini’s front wheel! The Italian almost crashed but recovered after a big caper, not without having to let Talmacsi pass…

Kallio takes the victory while Talmacsi achieves the KTM double and Pasini completes the podium. Faubel finished 4th, Simoncelli for his last race 125 is 5th, Koyama 6th, Lai 7th, Simon 8th and Luthi 9th secures the world title! Nieto finished 10th, Espargaro 11th, Bautista 12th, De Rosa 13th, Olive 14th and Iannone 15th.

Thomas Luthi is therefore crowned world champion with 242 points, Kallio vice-champion with 237, Talmacsi 3rd with 198 ahead of Pasini 183, Simoncelli 177, Lai 141, Simon 123, Koyama 119, Faubel 113, Poggiali 107 and Di Meglio 104. Alexis Masbou finished 18th with 28 points but above all a potential which only asks to be revealed! KTM consoles itself by winning the constructors’ title with 332 points ahead of Honda 304 and Aprilia 296.

Class 250

If Lorenzo dominated the first free session and Stoner the first qualifying session, it was Dani Pedrosa, the already titled world champion, who took command of operations on Saturday. Stoner and De Puniet made a mistake during practice and it was Pedrosa who took pole ahead of Barbera, De Angelis and Lorenzo. Dovizioso, Aoyama, Stoner and Takahashi form the 2nd row ahead of Porto, De Puniet, Smrz and Heidolf. Guintoli will start from 17th position, Ginès from 23rd, Vincent from 26th and Nigon from 28th.

In the warm-up, Pedrosa was again the fastest, ahead of Stoner, Aoyama, Lorenzo, Barbera, Takahashi, De Angelis, Dovizioso, De Puniet, Locatelli, Debon and Guintoli. Vincent, Nigon and Ginès are respectively the 26th, 27th and 28th time. Porto is forfeited due to excessive back pain.

Departure.

Barbera took the best start ahead of Pedrosa, De Angelis and Dovizioso. In the first quarter of the circuit, Dovizioso, who was too optimistic on braking, almost crashed, trying to avoid De Angelis on whom he came too hard. He is forced to shoot in the gravel. Behind Barbera are Pedrosa, De Angelis, Lorenzo, Aoyama, Takahashi, Stoner, De Puniet and Smrz. Guintoli is 11th.

At the first pass, Barbera leads ahead of Pedrosa, Lorenzo, De Angelis, Aoyama, Takahashi, Stoner and De Puniet. Behind them, Debon 9th is already behind, then Locatelli leads the 2nd group ahead of Guintoli. Lorenzo passes 3rd in front of De Angelis on the last left then, on the momentum, passes 2nd in front of Pedrosa !

On the second lap, Barbera led and Pedrosa passed Lorenzo again, but the latter braked again at the end of the straight line. Stoner, who had the fastest lap in the race, was 6th ahead of Takahashi. Guintoli passed 10th in front of Locatelli. Nigon is 23rd, Vincent 26th, Ginès 27th. Lorenzo takes the lead in front of Barbera.

On the 3rd lap, Lorenzo, who set the best time, leads in front of Barbera and Pedrosa who returns to suction, then De Angelis, Aoyama, Stoner, then further and in a fight Takahashi and De Puniet.

On the 4th lap, Lorenzo set another best time ahead of Barbera, Pedrosa, De Angelis, Aoyama and Stoner. De Puniet passed Takahashi again. De Angelis passes Barbera, but he responds by diving under his wheel, forcing the San Marinese to straighten his bike and let Stoner and Aoyama pass! In the maneuver, Lorenzo and Pedrosa widened the gap.

On the 5th lap, Lorenzo and Pedrosa, who scored the best lap, lead as a duo, then Barbera and Stoner form another duo a few lengths ahead of Aoyama and De Angelis, then finally De Puniet and Takahashi. Guintoli is 11th, Vincent 25th, Nigon 26th and Ginès 27th. De Angelis returns to 5th in front of Aoyama.

In the 6th lap, Lorenzo regained a slight advantage over Pedrosa, then Barbera and Stoner, De Angelis and Aoyama, and De Puniet and Takahashi. Baldolini shoots straight into the gravel but sets off again. Molina and Vincent hang on and give up.

On lap 7, Lorenzo, who had another fastest lap in the race, still leads in front of Pedrosa, then Barbera and Stoner, De Angelis and Aoyama, De Puniet and Takahashi. Guintoli is 11th, Ginès 23rd, Nigon 24th. Dovizioso moved up to 12th place.

On lap 8, Pedrosa responded to Lorenzo with a better lap and returned to the leader’s saddle. Behind them, De Angelis has let go of Aoyama and returns to Barbera and Stoner.

On the 9th lap, Lorenzo and Pedrosa still do not leave each other. Behind them, Stoner took 3rd in front of Barbera and De Angelis got back into the Spaniard’s wheel. On lap 10, behind Lorenzo and Pedrosa, Stoner made an effort to let go of Barbera and De Angelis. Further on, Dovizioso passed 11th ahead of Guintoli and attacked Debon 10th.

On lap 11, Lorenzo and Pedrosa still lead in front of Stoner, then Barbera and De Angelis, and De Puniet passed 6th in front of Aoyama.

On the 12th lap, Pedrosa is still glued to Lorenzo’s wheel. Stoner secures his 3rd place and things are moving in 10th position with Dovizioso passing Debon.

On lap 13, Pedrosa took the lead ahead of Lorenzo. Stoner is still 3rd, then Barbera and De Angelis, De Puniet, Aoyama and Takahashi.

On the 14th lap, Pedrosa still takes Lorenzo with him. Stoner is alone 3rd, Barbera and De Angelis follow, then De Puniet contains Aoyama and Takahashi. Dovizioso is 10th and Guintoli 12th. In this lap, Pedrosa who accelerates seems to take the measure of Lorenzo who takes down meter after meter.

In the 15th lap, Pedrosa, who had the best lap, confirmed his domination and let Lorenzo go. Pedrosa’s lead was over the second. De Angelis passed 4th in front of Barbera and the distance gradually.

On lap 16, Pedrosa set another fastest time and flew ahead of Lorenzo and then Stoner. Takahashi returned to 7th in front of De Puniet. Guintoli takes the 11th position from Debon. De Puniet returned to 7th in front of Takahashi.

On the 17th lap, Pedrosa lined up a new fastest lap 2s ahead of Lorenzo alone 2nd, then Stoner alone 3rd, De Angelis alone 4th, Barbera alone 5th and Aoyama alone 6th. De Puniet and Takahashi offer the first fight for 7th place !

On the 18th lap, the gaps only widened in the lead. Debon returned to 11th in front of Guintoli. Nigon was forced to retire due to a mechanical problem because his Yamaha overheated.

On lap 19, Pedrosa was 2.6 s ahead of Lorenzo, 9 s over Stoner, 11.9 s over De Angelis, 15.1 s over Barbera, 22.7 s over Aoyama, 23.6 s over De Puniet and Takahashi and 30.8 s over Locatelli and Dovizioso.

On lap 20, Pedrosa stabilized his effort, 2.7 seconds ahead of Lorenzo. The positions are unchanged in the top ten.

On the 21st lap, while in the lead nothing moved, Cardenas passed 12th ahead of Guintoli !

On lap 22, Pedrosa crushed the competition and was content to keep the lead on Lorenzo. Places remain unchanged in the top ten.

With four laps to go, the positions are unchanged in the lead. Randy De Puniet keeps Takahashi 3 / 10th behind him, then Cardenas passes 11th ahead of Debon.

With three laps to go, Pedrosa is 2.9 s ahead of Lorenzo and 11.8 s of Stoner.

In the 25th lap, behind the leaders who maintain their positions, Takahashi passes 7th in front of De Puniet and Smrz 13th in front of Guintoli.

At the start of the last lap, Pedrosa slows down and assures after giving Gines a lap … Smrz passes 11th ahead of Cardenas and Debon. On the last lap, Corsi crashed just like Ballerini while Pedrosa soared to his 15th victory in 250, the 23rd of his career! Lorenzo, furious at being beaten, still finished in a nice 2nd place and Stoner completed the podium. De Angelis is 4th, Barbera 5th, Aoyama 6th, Takahashi 7th, De Puniet 8th, Dovizioso 9th, Locatelli 10th, Debon 11th, Smrz 12th, Cardenas 13th, Guintoli 14th and Sekiguchi 15th. Mathieu Ginès finished 20th in one lap.

In the championship already won by Pedrosa, the young 20-year-old Spanish drives home the point with 309 points ahead of Stoner 254, Dovizioso 189, Aoyama 180, Lorenzo 167, Porto 152, De Angelis 151, De Puniet 138, Barbera 120 and Guintoli 84. Côte brands, Honda wins the 250 title with 349 points ahead of Aprilia 339.

MotoGP Category

French fans will have noted the absence of Olivier Jacque, who was scored by Kawasaki for the Spanish event. But with the 2006 engine not ready, Kawasaki officials decided to cancel OJ’s participation altogether….

At Honda Pons, alongside Barros, it is Kiyonari who takes the place of Vermeulen to replace the dismissed Troy Bayliss. Biaggi, after being fired from the HRC, is recalled for the last race of the season, probably thanks to intense pressure from his sponsors! Kurtis Roberts looks back on the Proton of his legendary dad’s team …

In Friday’s free practice sessions, Melandri, Checa and Gibernau showed themselves to their advantage. On Saturday morning, Gibernau and Checa beat Rossi and Hayden by 6 / 10th, Edwards, Melandri and Tamada by a second. In the qualifying session, after Melandri had consistently shown ahead in race tires, Gibernau took pole ahead of Melandri and Hayden. In 2nd row, Checa, Biaggi and Edwards are at 0.5 s. Capirossi, Barros and Nakano form the 3rd row, Tamada, Hopkins and Hofmann the 4th. Elias, Aoki and … Rossi will start from 15th row !

A very unusual grid classification for the world champion, who fell with his first qualifying tire. After fumbling around and going in the wrong directions in practice, Rossi pushed too hard to set a time anyway: he will not only stay 1.6s off the fastest time but he will also lose the front, luckily without physical consequences. On a reputedly single-lane course where overtaking is difficult, starting from the 5th row is likely to be too heavy a handicap for His Holiness…

During the warm up, Rossi’s team found solutions that allow them to ride in correct times, but it is again Gibernau who is the fastest in front of Checa, Melandri, Hayden, Rossi, Edwards, Capirossi, Tamada , Hopkins, Barros, Aoki and Biaggi only 12th in time.

Departure. Marco Melandri did the hole shot ahead of Hayden, Gibernau, Checa, Biaggi, Capirossi, Edwards, Barros, Elias, Tamada and Rossi. Rolfo collides with Nakano at the exit of the first corner and falls in a spectacular cabriole. Miraculously, no one touches his motorbike or him who gets away with it..

From the 2nd corner, Rossi passes Tamada while Biaggi and Capirossi pass Checa. Halfway through the circuit, Melandri and Hayden took a few steps ahead of Gibernau, Biaggi, Checa passed Capirossi, Edwards, Barros and Rossi already 9th! Barros passed 7th ahead of Edwards. On the last corner Rossi infiltrates Edwards: he is 8th !

On the first pass, Melandri, Hayden and Gibernau who come back lead, Biaggi and Checa follow, then Capirossi takes Barros, Rossi and Edwards. At the end of the straight, Rossi brakes at Barros, but gets off the ideal line and must let the Brazilian get back to the next corner. Melandri, Hayden and Gibernau form a first group with a few steps ahead of a second line made up of Biaggi, Checa and Capirossi. Then Barros takes the chase with Rossi and Edwards on his heels.

On the second lap, Melandri took a little distance from Hayden, but it was Gibernau who set the fastest time. Biaggi, Checa and Capirossi slowly took the lead 1.9sec behind the leader, then Barros contained Rossi’s assaults as Edwards watched. Rossi finally passed 7th in front of Barros and very quickly came back on Capirossi’s heels. In the lead, Melandri takes a few steps ahead of Hayden who press Gibernau.

On the 3rd lap, Melandri, who set the fastest time, seemed to be able to start alone ahead of Hayden and Gibernau, followed by Biaggi, Checa, Capirossi and Rossi who tried to limit the gaps. Barros, coached by Rossi, returns slightly to the group in front of him by leading Edwards in his wake. Suddenly, Gibernau slows down suddenly and ends up parking his smoking Honda, engine broken! Brutal end of the season for Sete, a time expected to be Rossi’s main challenger and who only had the merit of animating the tests and the start of the races … Meanwhile, Checa passed 3rd in front of Biaggi.

On the 4th lap, Melandri sets another fastest lap in the race. Hayden remains within range, then Checa quickly distances Biaggi now under the threat of a supercharged Rossi who passed Capirossi on the braking of the last corner! Barros and Edwards follow while Hopkins passed 9th ahead of Tamada. In the process, Rossi passes 4th in front of Biaggi !

On lap 5, Melandri and Hayden took a 4s advantage over Checa, followed by Rossi. Then come Biaggi, Capirossi, Barros and Edwards who can only admire the rear of the Yamaha n ° 46 which has reviewed them all … Under the pressure, Checa deviates from the trajectory for the first time but succeeds to tighten the rope. In the next turn, the forcing of Rossi again causes Checa to lose the trajectory and His Holiness passes 3rd !

In the 6th lap, Melandri is 0.6 s ahead of Hayden, 4.9 s on Rossi, 5.2 s on Checa, 5.8 s on Biaggi, Capirossi and Barros, 7.2 s on Edwards, 9.5 s on Tamada, 10.3 s on Hopkins and Nakano, 11.5 s on Aoki, 12.6 s on Elias, 13.1 s on Hofmann and Kiyonari and 20 s on Ellison.

On lap 7, Melandri slowed down slightly and Hayden almost got back into his wheel. Rossi picked up 0.4s and let go of Checa who himself left Biaggi, Capirossi and Barros behind. In this lap Rossi makes a small mistake which allows Checa to come back.

On the 8th lap, behind Melandri and Hayden, Rossi passed more than 5s behind the leader with Checa in his wheel. Nobuatsu Aoki, replacing Roberts, suffered an engine failure on his Suzuki and had to retire when he was 11th ahead of Hopkins.

At the 9th passage, Melandri and Hayden are together again. Rossi leads Checa, the fastest on the track in this lap. Barros passes 6th in front of Capirossi who replicates two turns further and passes the Brazilian again.

On the 10th lap, the gaps are stabilized: the four leaders have turned in the same time. Biaggi, for his part, turns 7 / 10ths slower than the leaders and regularly loses ground. Elias passed 12th ahead of Hopkins.

On the 11th lap, the leading positions are unchanged but Melandri takes a little distance on Hayden, just like Rossi on Checa. In this round, Checa returns to Rossi’s heels again.

In the 12th lap, the Melandri / Hayden duo was 6.5 s ahead of the other Rossi / Checa duo, 9.5 s over the Biaggi / Capirossi / Barros trio, 12.3 s over Edwards, 14.5 s over Tamada, 18.5 s over Nakano, 20.3 s on Elias and 21.5 s on Hopkins, Hofmann and Kiyonari.

On lap 13, Melandri and Hayden still turn slightly faster than Rossi and Checa. Behind them, Capirossi is pushing for a return to Biaggi.

On the 14th lap, Rossi accelerated and caught up a little behind the leaders, but above all he let go of Checa and reduced his gap to less than 6 seconds. Ellison gives up.

On lap 15, Melandri and Hayden lost another 4 / 10ths ahead of Rossi in the middle of an attack which literally dumped Checa. Barros passes Capirossi who replies and passes him again. In this lap Rossi reduced his delay to less than 5 s. Kurtis Roberts gives up on mechanical breakdown.

On lap 16, Melandri and Hayden accelerated again and lost only a tenth to Rossi. In the following laps, Melandri and Hayden, probably well pitted by their pits, stabilized their lead over Rossi and Checa. Melandri even regained a little lead over Hayden once again, while still trailing Rossi 10th after 10th. Barros passes Capirossi again and returns to Biaggi’s saddle.

On lap 19, Melandri and Hayden managed their 5s lead over Rossi and Checa a few lengths behind the Italian.

In the 20th lap, Melandri was 0.4 s ahead of Hayden, 5.3 s over Rossi, 7.5 s over Checa, 13.8 s over Biaggi and Barros, 14.9 s over Capirossi – who seemed to let go, perhaps following his detachment from the pleura not yet fully healed -, 17.2 s on Edwards, 20.8 s on Tamada, 26.31 s on Nakano and Elias and 31.6 s on Kiyonari, Hopkins and Hofmann. Barros passes Biaggi inside the hairpin but comes out too wide and has to let the Roman pass through.

On lap 21, Melandri and Hayden still manage their 5s lead while Checa manages his 4th place and Biaggi resists Barros.

On the 22nd lap, Hayden got back into Melandri’s wheel again. Rossi recovered 6 / 10ths from the leader and maintains the pressure by preventing the first two from managing their lead too comfortably: His Holiness does not let go !

On the 23rd lap, Rossi came back 3.8s from Melandri by having again taken 6 / 10ths from the leaders !

On lap 24, Melandri and Hayden reacted again and stabilized the gap at 3.8s over Rossi.

In the 25th lap, Rossi reduced his delay to 3.5 s while Checa is definitely released is at 9.2 s. Biaggi, Barros and Capirossi are over 17 s, Edwards at 19 s, Tamada at 27 s, Nakano at 31.7 s followed by Elias, Kiyonari, Hopkins and Hofmann at 39 s.

With four laps to go, Melandri and Hayden got back a bit of a lead again. Rossi is 3.6s behind but keeps the pressure on with the two leaders in sight.

In the 27th straight, Hayden is pretty much in Melandri’s exhaust! Rossi maintains the pressure and comes back to 3.2 s. And while Hayden shows Melandri his front wheel from time to time, Rossi drops his delay below 3 seconds !

On lap 28, with two laps to go, Melandri and Hayden were 2.9 s ahead of Rossi … Melandri accelerated and tried to outrun Hayden. Rossi took 4 / 10ths back from the leaders! Halfway through the circuit, Melandri was 4 / 10ths ahead of the American. Barros passes 5th in front of Biaggi.

On the last pass, Melandri on the attack however saw Hayden return who did not want to let go but was unable to get himself in position to attack. In the second part of the circuit, Hayden comes back meter after meter and places himself right in Melandri’s wheel, sliding down the long left which closes to enter the straight line! The American shifts inside, delays his braking, but Melandri crosses his path, closes the door and manages to keep Hayden behind him to the finish line !

Second victory in a row for Marco Melandri, confirming his position as Rossi’s runner-up. Hayden, also the author of a good race, climbs on the 2nd step and Rossi completes the podium by showing once again that he is the master of the discipline, so much it is he who set the pace despite his poor tests and his start in 15th position. Too bad for the records, but so much the better for the show! Checa finished 4th, Barros 5th, Biaggi 6th, Capirossi 7th, Edwards 8th, Tamada 9th, Elias 10th, Nakano 11th, Kiyonari 12th, Hopkins 13th, Hofmann 14th and Xaus 15th.

In the championship, the first three are the same who occupy the podium of the last round: Rossi is far ahead with 367 points, Melandri winner of the last two GP is runner-up with 220 and Hayden 3rd with 207. Edwards 4th improves his classification with 179 points ahead of Biaggi 173, Capirossi 157, Gibernau 150, Barros 147 and Checa 138. On the constructors ‘side, Yamaha had already obtained the constructors’ title, just like the Rossi and Edwards team.

This last MotoGP round leaves suspense hovering both on the riders who will make up the 2006 field and on the possibility of a new title for Rossi … The young people who go up, Melandri and Hayden in the lead, gave a hard time at the end of the season to the best current driver. But the head of Valentino Rossi, if he was fair in congratulating his two opponents on the podium, says a lot about his tremendous desire to win … No doubt that next season, His Holiness will be there for take one more title! Answer from next year on Moto-Net, with all the information to follow during the offseason !

J. ARSOUILLE – Photos O. BERGAMASCHI and DR

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