The height of British summer time means the Grand Prix at Donington Park - and the hot weather conditions actually matched the time of year on this occasion. The two pace setters from the Dutch race, Repsol Honda’s Hayden and Colin Edwards of Camel Yamaha, were joined back on row four by reigning champion Valentino Rossi - still with an injured wrist after his big Assen crash. Nicky was eleventh, splitting the team-mates, with Edwards ahead and Rossi behind. This left the way for the other title chasing riders, mostly Honda mounted, to take their places at the front end of things.

Pole position for the third time went to Repsol and HRC’s Dani Pedrosa, 42 points behind his team-mate. Marco Melandri, also still afflicted after the first lap accident in Barcelona, took his Gresini/Fortuna RCV to an impressive third, with fellow ‘invalid’ Loris Capirossi also well up in fifth. His Ducati team-mate Sete Gibernau was still away recuperating from the same crash, with Alex Hofmann again standing in.

Another good day for the Rizla Suzuki duo saw Chris Vermeulen qualify second, with John Hopkins fourth. Kawasaki were also well placed, with Randy de Puniet sixth, and for the first time ahead of partner Shin’ya Nakano, by just the one position. Casey Stoner was next for LCR Honda, from the Proton-Roberts-Honda of team owner’s son Kenny Jr.

Edwards, Hayden and Rossi were followed by Carlos Checa (Tech 3 Yamaha), Makoto Tamada (JiR Honda), Hofmann, James Ellison (Tech 3), Iván Silva (still in for Fortuna Honda’s Toní Elías) and José Luís Cardoso (d’Antín Ducati).

The race start went well for Honda RC211V pilots, with Melandri leading from Pedrosa and Stoner. Suzuki riders Vermeulen and Hopkins were in behind, with the Australian rider moving up a position as the leaders descended the challenging Craner Curves section. He was soon followed past Stoner by Hopkins. Roberts, Capirossi, Nakano, Edwards, Hayden, Rossi and de Puniet were next, and the championship leader moved up two slots on the first lap. Hopkins was up to third at the expense of Vermeulen in a move into the left-right Fogarty Esses, with Roberts attacking Stoner at the following right-handed Melbourne hairpin.

Vermeulen’s best moments were soon behind him, as he also lost a place to Stoner going out of Redgate, the right-handed first corner. Indeed, Casey was setting a hot pace as the order began to settle, with Capirossi and Hayden now pursued by Nakano, Rossi, Edwards, de Puniet and Tamada. As Roberts became the next man to move past Vermeulen, taking fifth; and Pedrosa tried to challenge leader Melandri; so third rider Hopkins set the fastest lap as he pursued the two Honda men.

The picture was to change at the Melbourne hairpin, when Pedrosa sent his machine snaking on the inside of Melandri, running wide as he tried to regain control. This dropped him to third, but then a new lap record helped him back onto the tail of Melandri and Hopkins, with the rapid Roberts also joining in. Fifth man Stoner was now falling away, whilst a certain Mr Rossi was making his way to the head of the next pack.

At this stage, Hayden took an excursion across the gravel trap at the Esses, not helping his points scoring chances as he resumed in eleventh. Team-mate Pedrosa was making the opposite sort of progress. He powered ahead of Hopkins along the back straight, or Starkeys, as they passed beyond the Dunlop bridge. When John went on to run wide at Goddards, the left-hand final hairpin, it also let Roberts through. Kenny closed in on Marco and Dani, as Hopkins began to drop into range of Stoner again.

Melandri seemed to be struggling compared to the shadowing Pedrosa, with his recent shoulder injury a likely factor. A twitch on the way out of Melbourne was not enough to lose the lead, but Dani made it happen on the far side of the circuit, passing on the inside at the McLeans right-hander. From here, the 20-year-old Spaniard just sped on into a race of his own. At two-thirds distance the lead was around five seconds, and it had moved on further as he took the flag for a fine win - his second in the top class.

The contest for second had been between Melandri and Roberts, and these two were joined by Stoner - after he’d passed Hopkins going out of Redgate and left the Suzuki in his wake. The field was fairly well spread at this stage, but these positions would not remain stable. Rossi had already overtaken Capirossi at Melbourne, then dealt with Vermeulen. Now he caught Hopkins, and went ahead on the brakes for the Esses. At half-distance he still had much to do to join the race between Melandri, Roberts and Stoner. Meanwhile, ninth man Nakano went out at this stage when his bike failed.

Sure enough, Rossi had joined the tussle for second in time to see Stoner get by Roberts at Melbourne. The dramatic action was to be between this group of riders, and leader Melandri got them started when he made a mistake and clipped the inside kerb at McLeans. This lost him a place to Stoner, and at the same time Rossi got the better of Roberts, as they all managed to follow the Australian through. Marco was not done, though, and went back ahead of Kenny on the brakes at the Esses. Roberts now started to lose touch gradually.

Melandri’s next trick was to overtake Rossi into the Esses. To secure second he now needed to get ahead of Stoner, and he made the move at the same place yet again. Rossi followed on by also taking Stoner straight away at Melbourne. Valentino then climbed further with his own pass at the Esses, defending from Melandri’s possible response at Melbourne. The pair were obviously pushing, Rossi with a harder choice of rear tyre, and it came down to the final lap.

It was somehow inevitable that Melandri got in front of Rossi with a move into the Esses, but he then made a mistake trying to ride defensively at Melbourne. Valentino went back through as Marco ran wide, and completed a remarkable ride from twelfth into second. Stoner took a secure fourth, with Roberts fifth and well clear of the rest. Edwards had triumphed over the next group, with Hayden getting back up to seventh ahead of the fading Hopkins.

Capirossi kept it together for ninth, ahead of Checa, Tamada, de Puniet, Hofmann, Ellison and Cardoso. Vermeulen was out of the picture after a lengthy pit visit. He had gone off track at one stage, and went in for a check-up with a reported fluid leak. Silva and Nakano were the only non-runners at the finish, in marked contrast to the Kawasaki man’s run to second a week earlier.

With Nicky Hayden only adding nine points to his tally, five of the next six men moved closer to him in the title chase. For podium finishers Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi and Marco Melandri, the margins closed markedly, even if the actual lead is still a handy 26 points. Pedrosa had produced the goods in no small way, but it was the charge to second by the injured Rossi that had caught the fans’ imaginations. And Melandri’s performance was similarly remarkable due to his own fitness concerns. There are surely going to be a few more twists and turns before this season is out.

Standings after nine races: Hayden 153; Pedrosa 127; Rossi 118; Melandri 114; Capirossi 107; Stoner 91; Edwards 73; Roberts 66; Tamada 59; Hopkins 58; Nakano 57; Elías 53; Gibernau 44; Vermeulen and Checa 37.
Honda 201; Yamaha 147; Ducati 110; Suzuki 72; Roberts-Proton 66; Kawasaki 61.

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