Italian MotoGP - Italian tour de force
from Motorcycles (326 articles)
Italian MotoGP - Italian tour de force
Image Gallery ( 24 images )June 5, 2005 World Champion and Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi produced one of the best performances of his career today as he outwitted a trio of Italian compatriots to take a stunning home victory at Mugello. Starting from pole position, Rossi was in turn passed by a handful of riders, despatching each in turn until he was left to battle for the victory with his old arch-rival Max Biaggi, eventually finding enough to greet the chequered flag four tenths of a second ahead of his main adversary. Biaggi was Rossi’s main protagonist and antagonist for the early part of his career in the premier class, but had faded from the spotlight in recent years and Rossi’s new arch rival Sete Gibernau crashed out early in the race after fading from the front of the pack to fourth and looking like he was going to finish much further down the points.
“I decided that only a victory would do for me at this Grand Prix and I crashed because I was trying to chase the pace at the front,” said Gibernau, who is now fourth in the championship standings, a distant 67 points (remember it’s 25 points for a win) behind Valentino Rossi.
Second in the title is now Marco Melandri who had a share of the lead during the race but faded to fourth place behind the hard-charging Ducati-mounted Loris Capirossi – though Melandri is Italian, the kinetic forces at play gave the Italian Ducati even more speed than it has had all year to give the machine its first podium of the season. The Ducatis were consistently the fastest machines through the speed traps by six or seven kmh, with checa (we don’t know if he had a better entry speed to the straight or a faster motor), regularly topping 340kmh down the main straight.
The atmospherte at Mugello was electric, with 90,000 passionate Italian fans there to witness an Italian 1-2-3-4 domination of the premier class and Ducatis third and fifth. From the perfectly choreographed Ducati grandstand to the massive fan clubs of the Italian riders, it’s hard to believe motorcycling has a more apt home than Italy.
Melandri is 49 points adrift and although improving with every ride, he’s unlikely to be able to mount a challenge to Rossi for a win, let alone a championship over a series where competitiveness in every race is vital.
He most significant outcomes of the weekend were the demise of Gibernau and the resurgence of Biaggi. Second-placed Biaggi rode his Repsol Honda RC211V like we haven’t seen him do so since Germany last year. His form proved he can still do it, but don’t go betting the ranch on him winning races just yet – he has always been capable of winning any given race, it’s just that he never does it when it counts, particularly when Rossi is in the field.
Now it’s not impossible that Rossi could lose the title from this position – Mick Doohan left Hockenheim, the seventh round of the 13 race 1992 MotoGP series with an 80 point lead (based on today’s points system – a greater lead than Rossi has now) and lost the series by four points when he broke his leg and couldn’t contest five of the last six races.
But realistically, while the season is far from over, the championship is already decided. As enthusiastic as Rossi was about the race, the fact is he features in the results every week, and there’s no-one else capable of doing that.
Valentino Rossi: “That was an incredible race and the best possible finish for the crowd, with four Italian riders in the top four positions. It was a great battle – full of passes and full of attacks. In the beginning I tried to go alone but I had some problems with the front and decided just to concentrate on my rhythm. Then Melandri arrived and we had a great fight, also with Biaggi after that. We set a high pace to the finish, I made my attack with three laps to go and it worked so of course I am very happy. My team once again did a great job and everybody at Yamaha has worked so hard to provide me with the bike I wanted – this is our reward. I want to thank them and also the amazing crowd here at Mugello; it was an honour to race in front of them.”
