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Valentino Rossi and Yamaha back to winning ways

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By Dan Moakes April 8 2006
Valentino Rossi had some ground to make up after his first round disappointment, as the MotoGP competition moved on to Losail, for the Qatar Grand Prix. Nobody expected him to have things all his own way, but nor did anyone feel that he would not come out fighting again.

The 2006 race marked the third visit to Qatar for the GP boys, but with three former winners in the current top class field - Rossi and Sete Gibernau joined by Casey Stoner, last year’s top man in the 250cc class here. Quite apart from the heat and the sand, the biggest atmospheric downside at Losail is the winds, and these were as strong as ever for this year’s race day.

Qualifying had produced an historic moment for the sport, with Stoner securing pole position in only his second MotoGP appearance, with the customer LCR Honda. The youngest ever pole sitter had also been riding a Honda, with Freddie Spencer taking that honour at 20 years 4 months and 3 days, back in 1982. Stoner placed himself second on that list, the Australian at 20 years 5 months and 23 days. It was a close field, with the top eleven covered by around 0.6 seconds, but still the newcomer had beaten all the top men from all the factory teams.

In fact, the Honda RC211V had secured four of the top five places, but Fortuna rider Toní Elías (third), and Repsol men Nicky Hayden (fourth) and Dani Pedrosa (fifth) were separated from Stoner by second man Loris Capirossi, championship leader on the Ducati Desmosedici. For Elías, this was his first visit to the front row in the big class. Yamaha’s Rossi was better off than in Spain, completing row two in sixth. Sete Gibernau’s second Ducati and Colin Edwards, on the other Camel Yamaha, followed on.

Shin’ya Nakano was ninth for Kawasaki, and former champion Kenny Roberts led a mixed fourth row. His Proton-Honda was a promising tenth, ahead of Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) and Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda). John Hopkins had the second Suzuki GSV-R in 13th, ahead of Carlos Checa (Tech 3 Yamaha), Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki), Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda), and James Ellison (also Tech 3), with the Pramac d’Antín Ducatis of Alex Hofmann and José Luís Cardoso at the back.

To add to the interest, two of the front row qualifiers - Stoner and Elías - admitted to feeling at least somewhat unwell. This perhaps posed a question mark about their endurance for the full length of the race. Their recovery time might have been greater, as the Losail circuit had been partially fitted out for an experimental night race, which had been tried out by Roberts, Rossi and Capirossi, and could prove an interesting future development.

But the race this year went ahead in standard daylight conditions, and it was Stoner who put himself firmly in the lead as they got going. Capirossi was second until Hayden soon took over, and the fast starting Nakano had looked to join in before settling in behind Rossi. Gibernau led Elías, who would lose out to team-mate Melandri, with Edwards taking ninth from Hopkins. After a couple of corners, de Puniet and Hofmann came to grief towards the rear, with the Kawasaki man crashing, and his rival getting away with a gravel trap excursion.

Rossi was soon past Capirossi for third, with Stoner a touch ahead of Hayden in front. Nakano’s mount obviously didn’t have front-running pace, as Gibernau, Melandri and Edwards moved ahead in turn, and Hopkins clamped on behind. Colin was on the attack, and soon passed Marco, while Elías led the second group, from Pedrosa, Vermeulen, Checa, Roberts, Tamada, Cardoso, Ellison and the trailing Hofmann.

Stoner and Hayden quickly established a bit of a margin over Rossi, with Nicky setting fastest lap as he chased his fellow Honda man. However, Valentino improved on the track record as he brought the gap down almost as soon as it had been developed. Before long, the first seven had broken clear of the next group, the face of which was about to change. Hopkins had passed Nakano to lead them, but then quickly lost out to Elías, Pedrosa and Nakano as his bike developed a smoky fault and stopped soon after. John gave it a few kicks for its trouble once he’d come to rest!

By now, Stoner, Hayden, Rossi, Capirossi and Gibernau had got clear of Edwards and Melandri, who were a bit ahead of Elías and Pedrosa. Colin was soon to lose sixth from his Honda rival, then gradually fall into the clutches of the young Spanish duo, with Pedrosa now ahead of his former 125cc team partner.

The gaps between the leading five had been moving around, but never grew to anything substantial in these early stages. Things developed as Rossi joined battle with Hayden for second. He went inside for a left-hand corner, only to go wide as they got into an exchange of places. Valentino got the verdict in short order, and quickly tagged on to Stoner, reducing his lead of nearly a second.

Going into lap ten, Rossi went for the inside of Stoner for the right at the end of the long main straight, and took over the lead. At half distance, a couple of laps later, the Italian had a slight advantage, with Stoner tracked by Hayden, and the Ducatis of Capirossi and Gibernau still close. The next change came when Hayden braked late, again at turn one, running out wide but taking his RCV ahead of Stoner’s through the following left-hander.

Rossi now had 0.6s over Hayden, but the 24-year-old was equal to the challenge and tagged on behind. Meanwhile, Capirossi took third from Stoner with an inside pass through a left-hander, and Loris was soon bringing Casey and Sete back into range of the first two again - only for things to spread out again as the leaders kept up the pace.

With four laps remaining, Capirossi was almost alone, now a little way off the men ahead. A lap later, Hayden took the lead from Rossi, pulling ahead on the right as they sped along the straight and approached turn one. Valentino looked behind just after this, to see that Loris was still not out of touch. Next time, ‘the Doctor’ re-took his advantage at turn one, and began to pull out enough speed to gradually ease away. By the final lap he was out clear by sufficient to run on to victory.

Hayden took a secure second, with Capirossi likewise for third. In the latter stages they had dropped the next pair, and fourth was resolved for Gibernau, getting the benefit when Stoner got out of shape at the last corner, two laps from home. Sete had gone by on the straight, and made it to the end clear of the youngster.

Sixth place had been the source of some entertainment, as a pair of Honda men duelled it out for sustained periods. Pedrosa had got clear of Elías, then dealt with next target Edwards as he chased Melandri. Dani duly caught Marco, and certainly seemed to have the better straightline speed on his works machine. However, the 23-year-old Italian was more than capable on the brakes, and the pair would go back and forth dramatically in this manner, or as Pedrosa ran wide and re-caught. They changed places a few times in some tight manoeuvres, but with Dani just ahead at the flag.

Elías got the better of Edwards to come home eighth, and fifth of the Hondas. Roberts came through on Nakano for tenth, with Checa, Ellison, Tamada, Hofmann and Cardoso the final finishers. Vermeulen was the third non-finisher, parking the Suzuki in the pits after running between Roberts and Checa. Yamaha got all four machines home, but with seven rivals between winner Rossi and team-mate Edwards.

The pressure had been on Valentino Rossi and Yamaha after a worrying opening to the season at Jérez, and he was plainly delighted with victory as he played to the gallery on the lap of honour - including a stunt with one trackside camera. His 80th Grand Prix win had also been his 54th in the top class, putting him level with Mick Doohan, and behind only Giacomo Agostini - winner of 68 events in the 500cc category.

Nicky Hayden was pretty happy to have bested his young Honda rivals this time, although Casey Stoner had surely served notice that he means business in the MotoGP class, just as Dani Pedrosa had done in Spain. Ducati and Bridgestone had done well on a track that had given them problems a year earlier, with a second podium for Loris Capirossi, and Sete Gibernau also among the leaders. Loris held onto the points lead by five from Hayden, with Rossi closing in on third man Pedrosa, and taking fastest lap on the day.

Standings after two races: Capirossi 41; Hayden 36; Pedrosa 30; Rossi 27; Elías and Stoner 21; Melandri 20; Nakano and Roberts 14; Gibernau 13; Edwards 12.


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