Moto GP Round 5 - France
In a race that threw up a few surprises, none was more surprising than Rossi's second consecutive DNF result. Another poor qualifying result - as the Camel Yamaha Team again struggles with front end chatter issue - looked like it had been overcome as Rossi's Yamaha, with a new chassis, showed race-winning pace. Starting from seventh, Rossi led the race from lap 5, keeping a small, but consistent gap between himself and firstly John Hopkins (Suzuki), then Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and Marco Melandri until his Yamaha retired on lap 21 with an as yet undisclosed engine problem.
"Everything was working really well, the bike and tyres felt perfect and then the engine went", Rossi commented after the race. "A bike stopping on me like this has only happened to me a couple of times in my career, and never with a four-stroke, so for it to happen today is typical of our luck at the moment."
In yet another qualifying session broken by rain, Pedrosa started from pole, Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) and Hopkins making up the rest of the front row. Randy de Puniet put the other Kawasaki on the second row, but the Frenchman's home race would only last two corners, clipped by a hard-charging Rossi and crashing, almost taking Sete Gibernau (Ducati) and Colin Edwards (Yamaha) with him. The Texan dropped to the back of the field as he rejoined the circuit, while Melandri jumped to the lead. Hopkins put on a blast of pace to overhaul Melandri and put a a gap on the field for the next two laps, before he in turn was passed by Rossi.
While Rossi was making his move on Hopkins, Casey Stoner (Honda) was having his own battle with Nicky Hayden (Honda) at the back end of the top ten, the Aussie and the flu-ridden American duelling with each other for the remainder of the race. With Hopkins crashing on lap 10 and the removal of Rossi from the equation, Pedrosa inherited the lead, the Spaniard holding off Melandri until five laps from the end. Deteriorating tyres on Pedrosa's Honda enabled Loris Capirossi to snatch second place on the final lap, a last corner lunge by Pedrosa not enough to grab it back. Stoner kept Hayden at bay to finish fourth, 5.494 seconds adrift of the winner, while Edwards put in a quality ride to go from last to sixth.
With his second non-result, Rossi slips to 43 points behind current leader, Nicky Hayden in the championship race. That margin would be a nigh impossible task for most riders, but one would suspect if any rider can haul in a deficit of that size, Rossi would be the man to do it.
Results: Melandri, Pedrosa, Capirossi, Stoner, Hayden, Edwards, Tamada, Gibernau, Elias, Vermeulen, Checa.
Standings: Hayden 83, Melandri 79, Capirossi 79, Pedrosa 73, Stoner 65, Edwards 45, Elias 44, Rossi 40, Gibernau 33, Tamada 33.
250cc
The 250cc race was just as much of a pearler as the main game, as two teammates and a couple of brothers settled into their own private duels - one for first position, the other for the final spot on the podium. Yuki Takahashi and Humangest Honda teammate, Andrea Dovisiozo duked out the former, both looking to secure their maiden 250cc win. Dovisiozo did lead for most of the contest, but a late lunge from Takahashi paid off, by a mere 0.098 seconds. Dovisiozo's only consolation is that the runner up spot extends his championship lead.
The battle for third was another close fought affair, Shuhei Aoyama (Honda) just edging out big brother Hiroshi (KTM) by two tenths of a second. Ant West was fastest in a wet qualifying session, the Aussie's hopes for rain in the race not met, his satellite Aprilia not up to the pace of the factory bikes in dry conditions. A poor start further compromising West's chances, pushed wide and almost collecting a fallen bike on the opening lap, eventually finishing 11th.
Results: Takahashi, Dovisiozo, S. Aoyama, H. Aoyama, de Angelis, Locatelli, Barbera, Simoncelli, Guintoli, Smrz, West.
Standings: Dovisiozo 92, Barbera 78, H. Aoyama 75, Takahashi 67, Lorenzo 63, Locatelli 57, Guintoli 38, de Angelis 35, Simoncelli 31, S. Aoyama 27.
