above: Capirossi on the 2004 Marlboro Ducati - photo © www.SportsPics.co.za

The Japanese Grand Prix took place at the Twin-Ring Motegi, a modern facility built by Honda and comprising an IndyCar oval and separate challenging road course. The motorcycles race along several fast straights, the longest of which takes them past the secondary pit lane, then dives downhill to a 90° right-hander where the oval crosses overhead for the second time. The first crossover, after turn five, takes them onto a section of sweeping turns.

Rossi’s title may have looked virtually inevitable, but the first three rows of the grid were devoid of Yamahas. Six of the seven Hondas qualified ahead of Rossi, joined by four of their Bridgestone shod rivals. The Japanese tyre manufacturer had won here in 2004 with Makoto Tamada (fourth on the grid this year for Michelin and JIR), and they led the way again with the Ducati of Loris Capirossi (pole) and the Suzuki of John Hopkins (second).

Marco Melandri joined them on the front row, leading the Honda contingent, with Tamada followed by Biaggi, Nicky Hayden and Sete Gibernau. Next came the second Bridgestone pair of Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) and Carlos Checa (Ducati), and then Alex Barros’ Honda. Rossi would start eleventh, ahead of the Kawasakis of Alex Hofmann and Shin’ya Nakano, these split by the second Gauloises Yamaha of Colin Edwards.

There were a few changes in the latter placings. Tohru Ukawa returned on the second Camel Honda, in place of the injured Troy Bayliss. This machine would be handed to Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne for the following Malaysian race and beyond. Rolfo and Elías followed on, in front of wildcard Naoki Matsudo - the former 250cc podium man on the Moriwaki. Xaus and Battaini were the last runners, with James Ellison not starting due to an injured left arm. The Proton KR team were not present.

The race start saw Honda’s Melandri and Biaggi get ahead of Capirossi for an Italian 1-2-3. Hopkins dropped to fourth, from Tamada, Hayden, Gibernau, Barros and Rossi. Both Sete and Valentino were quick to move up a place, whilst Loris regained second from Max at the end of the back straight. A fairly hectic first lap or two also saw Hayden run wide to give Rossi another place.

Tamada got ahead of Hopkins at the turn one right-hander, and soon Rossi had made another place to sixth at the expense of Gibernau. Matsudo’s one-off was short lived, as the 32-year-old went off at the right-hand hairpin before the alternate grid. His bike went down in the gravel trap. Rossi soon gained another place with a pass on Hopkins, and fastest lap for Capirossi brought him right onto the tail of leader Melandri.

The early stages saw Melandri and Capirossi heading Biaggi, Tamada, Rossi, Hopkins, Gibernau, Checa, Hayden and Barros. Loris went faster still as the first three began to break away, with Rossi looking to join them as he overtook Tamada at the sharp right-hander of turn five. This pair were also getting clear of Hopkins and the rest. Hofmann and Rolfo came to grief as they crashed together, whilst Ukawa was into the pits and of the race not long after.

The race for victory had resolved into two groups, with the Italian trio pursued by countryman Rossi with Tamada in tow. The gap behind Biaggi looked to be coming down, but a Valentino mistake saw him lose ground as Makoto went on the attack. Meanwhile, at one point Biaggi outbraked himself into the hairpin, just avoiding a collision with Capirossi and yet closing back up fairly quickly. Nakano now retired from P11 with a smoking Kawasaki engine.

Things began to happen up front when Capirossi went for the lead on the inside of Melandri for a right-hander. The Ducati rider went way too wide in the move, letting both the leading Honda pair in front of him, and dropping to half way between Biaggi and fourth man Rossi. Max was now in a position to take over the challenge on Marco, going for a move at the 90-degree corner but also sending himself too wide. His next attack was successful, and Capirossi followed him through at the ‘90’ turn.

With five men already out, the next to go was Gibernau, the MoviStar Honda rider exiting with a crash. Meanwhile, team-mate Melandri was beginning to suffer with his softer compound Michelin tyres, and seemed to be trying hard to compensate. Coming out of a left-hander, he ran onto the dirt beyond the kerb on his right, allowing Rossi and Tamada to close in. Ahead, Capirossi went to pass Biaggi at the ‘90’, but went wide once again and resumed in second.

Half distance had gone by when the dramatic exit of two of the leaders occurred. At the same ‘90’ corner, Melandri and Rossi crashed when the champion hit his younger rival from behind on the inside as Marco turned in. Valentino didn’t look happy with himself, especially as his rival was obviously hurt. Melandri’s leg had apparently been hit by the Yamaha footpeg, and he was stretchered out of harm’s way. Rossi later admitted it was his own braking mistake, making the collision unavoidable, and not an attempted pass gone wrong.

All of which left Biaggi and Capirossi clear in the lead, with Tamada now in a solitary third. Checa had already dealt with Gibernau, before his crash, and Hopkins, and was now fourth but out of touch. Barros crashed while sixth, gifting it to Edwards, and Hayden had taken the next place from Roberts. But the main action now was between the two remaining Italians - not including the lapped Battaini.

The change of leader came when Capirossi took a tighter line through a right-hander and squeezed ahead of Biaggi. With five laps to go, the Ducati man’s hard-medium Bridgestones were obviously up to the job, and Loris was soon building a gap. With two to go this was almost two seconds, and he motored on for his fourth top class GP victory. Biaggi was second at the flag but no longer in touch.

Tamada came in third, his best result of the year on a track where he’d won in 2004, and Checa was also on a season’s best with fourth - as was Hopkins in fifth. His three countrymen were next, in the order Edwards, Hayden and Roberts, with Tech 3 Spaniards Elías and Xaus next, and Battaini last home in eleventh. Nine had not finished, but only two with technical problems.

Valentino Rossi’s crash - his only non-podium result of the year to date - obviously meant that he failed to tie up the title, but Loris Capirossi’s great ride had seen him deny Max Biaggi a further five points to bring the gap down. That margin is now 112 in favour of Rossi, and it means he only needs third place in Malaysia. The non-finishes of Marco Melandri, Sete Gibernau and Alex Barros affected the battle for second, with Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden and Capirossi moving up, and Biaggi edging away from this group.

Standings after twelve races: Rossi 261; Biaggi 149; Edwards 133; Melandri 126; Hayden 121; Capirossi 117; Gibernau 115; Barros 114; Checa 72; Nakano 69; Tamada 64; Bayliss 54.

In other Grand Prix news: Both Loris Capirossi and John Hopkins have been confirmed as staying on with their respective teams into next season. In the case of Ducati, Loris could well be joined by Sete Gibernau. In the case of Suzuki, John will also have a new team-mate. 2000 champion Kenny Roberts is to be dropped, and rumours have linked him with a return to his father’s Proton team, where he rode the 3-cylinder Modenas 500 in 1997-98.

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