Rossi’s nearest challenger in qualifying was Loris Capirossi on the Ducati, but there were another five Honda RCVs in the next seven places, with the leading Yamaha riders not far off. Only Troy Bayliss, fifth on the second Desmosedici, got in among the Japanese machines. The Hondas of Sete Gibernau (third), Max Biaggi (fourth), Nicky Hayden (seventh), Tohru Ukawa (eighth) and Makoto Tamada (ninth) had opposition from the Yamahas of Shin’ya Nakano (sixth), Carlos Checa (tenth) and Alex Barros (eleventh).

This was Checa’s 120th Grand Prix, and he was in better shape than Barros, who was still troubled with a shoulder injury. The Aprilia of Colin Edwards completed the third row, and Garry McCoy’s thirteenth place represented the best so far for Kawasaki. Gibernau, Olivier Jacque and John Hopkins had all been fallers during practice, but only Hopkins was a non-starter as a result, leaving Kenny Roberts as Suzuki’s sole rider.

At the start it was Capirossi that took the lead, only for Gibernau to quickly get through on him. They were followed by Rossi, Biaggi, Hayden, Bayliss, Nakano, Ukawa and Tamada. Gibernau’s early pace was pretty strong, as he had built a small gap even before lap one ended. Meanwhile, Tamada’s Bridgestone-shod Pramac Honda moved past both Ukawa and Nakano in quick succession.

Rossi saw that Gibernau was getting clear of Capirossi, and he went inside the Italian for the right-hander at the end of the first lap, taking over in second as they crossed the line. The order was Gibernau, Rossi, Capirossi, Biaggi, Hayden, Bayliss, Tamada, Nakano, Ukawa, Checa, Barros, Marco Melandri, Jacque, Nobuatsu Aoki (Proton), McCoy, Edwards, Jeremy McWilliams (Proton) and Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia).

As the leaders put in some fast times, with Rossi breaking the lap record, the field began to string out quite early on. Biaggi beat Rossi’s time, and so the first four started to break clear. Hayden was able to respond and go with Biaggi, but the man on the move was Tamada. The former Superbike rider went past Bayliss for sixth and, his tyres obviously enjoying the extreme heat, then made short work of Hayden’s second Repsol Honda.

By now, Gibernau and the tracking Rossi had pulled a gap over Capirossi and Biaggi, and a fastest lap from Tamada helped him join the two ahead and start attacking Max. The first two were clear, but the battle was on for third. Biaggi went by Capirossi on the inside at the final right-hander, and started to pull away, and Loris then lost out to Tamada in a near-identical move a lap later on.

The time had come for Rossi to make his decisive move. He dived onto the outside of Gibernau at a left-hander, getting inside him for the immediately following right. The question of whether Sete could stay with his rival was settled straight off, as Valentino improved the fastest lap and put an instant gap behind his RC211V. The whole field was spreading out more and more and, at half distance when he went even faster, Rossi was up to 2.6s in front.

The gap to Gibernau stabilised at around three seconds for the rest of the race, although Rossi was indulging in one or two spectacular slides on his favourite circuit, keeping the situation in hand. Sete was equally safe from Biaggi, but the interest now centred on P3. Tamada was having the race of his GP career to date, and had caught Max as the pair of them dropped Capirossi into the clutches of Hayden.

Makoto attacked the Camel Pons machine of his ‘stablemate’, going inside the Roman at the end of the back straight. From here he built a lead, while Biaggi was left to deal with the sliding Hayden, who had already got the best of the two Ducatis. The AMA champion pushed hard, but Max eventually managed to get clear. Rossi, Gibernau, Tamada and Biaggi therefore finished in that order, all separated from one another at the flag.

Hayden kept fifth place, equalling his best result, with Capirossi finally sixth. The next finisher was Ukawa, who’d got the best of Nakano (eighth) and Bayliss (who ended up back in tenth). The Yamahas of Checa (ninth), Melandri (eleventh) and Barros (twelfth) were joined in the points by Edwards, Haga and Ryuichi Kiyonari. Out of luck today were Jacque, withdrawing his Gauloises Yamaha because of ankle injuries; Chris Burns, whose first race run on the Harris WCM ended in the pits; Aoki and McCoy, two others to return to their garages.

With four races remaining, Valentino Rossi now has a lead of 51 points. A couple of second places are likely to be enough for him now, but of course he will want to win a few more. Sete Gibernau has a bit to do, but is 37 ahead of Max Biaggi, whose title hopes are now virtually gone. With Honda riders having been on the rostrum 27 times this year, the constructors’ title is secure. But will Ducati add to their seven appearances, or Yamaha improve on one third place?

Standings after twelve races: Rossi 262; Gibernau 211; Biaggi 174; Capirossi 123; Bayliss 112; Checa 93; Ukawa 94; Hayden 85; Barros 80; Nakano 77; Jacque 58.

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