Championship leader Nicky Hayden, with three podium finishes, was just twelve points ahead of fifth man Rossi. The pair were split by Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri and Casey Stoner, making it a race for honours between Honda, Ducati and Yamaha. Chatter problems for the latter, and the latest M1, had so far led to Rossi’s most challenging title defence to date - and another crown for the Italian was looking to be by no means a foregone conclusion.

Valentino’s difficulties were evident again after qualifying for the second ever Grand Prix of China. Most of the practice sessions had been in wet conditions, so the dry qualifying period had been a bit of a scramble to establish useful bike settings. As it had been in Turkey, the grid was somewhat mixed up as a result of this. Yamaha took a season’s best third position, and yet Rossi was in his worst start position since the end of 2005.

Dani Pedrosa was on pole for the 19th time in his GP career, but for the first since switching to the big 990cc machines. The Honda RC211V riders were present on each of the first five rows, with Dani’s Repsol Honda team-mate Hayden in P5. Between the pair were three other makes, Suzuki leading Yamaha and Kawasaki. John Hopkins matched his best effort in second, Colin Edwards led the way for Camel Yamaha, and Shin’ya Nakano similarly on the green machine. The leading Ducati was Sete Gibernau’s in sixth.

The top two from round three were on row three, with Stoner’s RCV leading Melandri’s example, and Randy de Puniet kept up a good Kawasaki run with ninth. Capirossi was tenth, from Makoto Tamada, Chris Vermeulen, Rossi, Carlos Checa, Toní Elías, Alex Hofmann, James Ellison, Kenny Roberts and José Luís Cardoso.

Pedrosa made a good race start, but Hopkins’ efforts to stay with Edwards saw the Spaniard pushed wide through the long curve of turns one and two. The leaders emerged with Edwards leading Hopkins, Gibernau, Nakano, Pedrosa, Stoner, Hayden, Melandri, Tamada, Capirossi, Rossi and Elías. Five of the six Hondas were now into the top nine, but all behind the Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati and Kawasaki. Capirossi quickly moved up to ninth.

The early laps saw Edwards pulling away from the field, but with Hopkins managing to go with him as the next group raced close together for third. The pace of Nakano’s Kawasaki was obviously not on a par with the Hondas, and he was fairly rapidly pushed back by Stoner, Pedrosa, Hayden (at the sweeping right of turn eight), and Capirossi (into the right of turn one). Meanwhile, Rossi was getting into a spirited battle with Melandri for ninth, which involved a few switches between them. Valentino got it wrong once, but eventually got the verdict. Both of these riders were running harder rear tyres than their opposition.

A couple of fastest laps kept Hopkins with leader Edwards, and in the meantime Pedrosa was making all the moves in the next group. The Spaniard overtook Stoner in the heavy braking zone at turn fourteen, at the end of the hugely lengthy back straight. His move on compatriot Gibernau came on the inside at the fast kink into turn six, another right-hand hairpin. This put Dani into third, where he proceeded to pull away from the next bunch. Hayden had also got by Stoner and Gibernau, and would also make the break.

The two groups of two up front evolved into a loose four-man affair, with Pedrosa the quickest man as he joined on behind Edwards and Hopkins. The 20-year-old was soon up to second, leaving Hopkins to Hayden, and always looked likely to go to the front. Indeed, Dani passed Colin on the power over the start-finish line, just after Nicky had got by John at turn fourteen. The three US riders changed order again as Hayden went by Edwards into the tight left at turn nine.

The order among the leaders seemed to settle now, with Pedrosa getting into a clear lead, and Hayden also moving away from Edwards and Hopkins. Nicky improved on the new lap record a couple of times, getting to within a second of his young team-mate, and had caught him with four laps to go. But Dani had it in hand, and was faster again as he made it 1.3s going onto the final circuit. With 23 wins already scored for Honda in the smaller GP classes, Pedrosa made it to his first MotoGP victory in only his fourth start. Hayden’s second saw him well clear of the next riders by the flag.

The race for third had become a three-way affair after the Repsol pair had escaped, with the best man from the next group joining in behind Edwards and Hopkins. As Nakano had gone backwards, so Rossi had flowed ever forwards. He had relegated Capirossi at turn six, followed through by Melandri at fourteen, and then Valentino dealt with Shin’ya at the tight left turn eleven. This allowed him into a group with Gibernau and Stoner, and he got the best of this to chase up to the two ahead.

But Rossi’s climb only took him as far as fifth this time. He was soon to be seen looking down at his rear wheel on the back straight, and he slowed as he made his way back into the pits. A hasty tyre change followed, but the champion still seemed to be cruising as he resumed the circuit. It then became apparent that an unusual front tyre failure was the problem, the failed rubber having taken some of the mudguard with it. ‘The Doctor’ returned to his garage to retire.

This left Edwards and Hopkins together for third, with the Yamaha man making it his sixth GP podium as he eased away in the late stages. Fifth at the finish had been the subject of intense competition, following an off-track excursion from Stoner, who had otherwise made it his own. He’d rejoined in tenth, behind a dramatically close group involving Gibernau, Melandri, Capirossi and Tamada. Makoto had been making progress even as Sete began to slip back, and some close moments through turn one eventually resolved this in Tamada’s favour - only for Stoner to come back through the lot.

Stoner finished comfortably fifth, with Tamada, Melandri and Capirossi close across the line in that order behind him. Gibernau finally secured ninth, with Nakano, Elías, de Puniet, Roberts, Checa, Hofmann, Ellison and Cardoso the others onto the results sheet. Other than Rossi, Vermeulen had been the only man not to finish. The 23-year-old Rizla Suzuki man had crashed out early on when placed outside the top twelve.

Nicky Hayden’s run of second and third places kept him in a handy points lead, especially with both Loris Capirossi and Marco Melandri outside the top six on the day. Valentino Rossi’s difficult season continued, and his sixth place now represents a 32-point deficit to the consistent Hayden. But the big gain was for first time class winner Dani Pedrosa, on the more standard version of the two works Honda machines. Having crashed out of the leading group in Turkey, the youngster made no mistakes this time. It was the earliest winning start in the class since Max Biaggi’s 1998 début. Meanwhile, Colin Edwards came good despite his Yamaha’s problems; and John Hopkins recorded a best of fourth as he brought his Suzuki home ahead of four Hondas and both works Ducatis.

Standings after four races: Hayden 72; Capirossi 59; Pedrosa 57; Melandri 54; Stoner 52; Rossi 40; Elías 37; Edwards 35; Nakano 28; Gibernau 25; Tamada 24; Roberts and Hopkins 20.
Honda 90; Ducati and Yamaha 59; Suzuki 29; Kawasaki 28; Roberts-Proton 20.

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