By Naughtynat
October 29 2006

And indeed, MotoGP is one of the most unpredictable motor sports around.Nicky Hayden got off to a good start and he climbed up to second after the first couple of laps,while surprisingly Valentino Rossi dropped down to seventh.Like that wasn't enough, Valentino fell off his bike on lap 4. That was a very unpredictable twist to the story.While Valentino's race was f***ed up,Troy Bayliss was on a great form and leaded the pack,with Loris Capirossi passing Hayden to get into second.Rossi was now 20th and almost 30 seconds behind Hayden.Rossi slowly started to move up,passing Mc Coy's Ilmor,and gained positions after some riders fell off their bikes.The tension was increasing,as Hayden stayed third and shortly Valentino was up to fourteenth and into the points.However,Vale's progress stopped at 13th position, and Nicky who was constantly being informed about the Doctor's progress, stopped pushing and brought the bike home in third to clinch his first title.Troy Bayliss (who was replacing the injured Sete Gibernau) drove a mistakeless race and Loris Capirossi was behind him, making it a 1-2 for Ducati and finishing third in the championship.Third was a delighted Nicky Hayden, fourth was the helpful team mate Dani Pedrosa,fifth Marco Melandri,and sixth after another good performance was Toni Elias.
Full results :
Pos. Rider Team Bike Time
1 Troy Bayliss Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati Desmosedici GP-6 46:55.415
2 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati Desmosedici GP-6 46:56.734
3 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team Honda RC211V 47:04.645
4 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda RC211V 47:07.480
5 Marco Melandri Fortuna Honda Honda RC211V 47:11.721
6 Toni Elias Fortuna Honda Honda RC211V 47:12.805
7 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR 47:14.744
8 Kenny Roberts Jnr Team Roberts KR211V 47:18.589
9 Colin Edwards Camel Yamaha Team Yamaha YZR-M1 47:21.487
10 Carlos Checa Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1 47:23.609
11 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R 47:24.779
12 Makoto Tamada Konica Minolta Honda Honda RC211V 47:25.122
13 Valentino Rossi Camel Yamaha Team Yamaha YZR-M1 47:33.961
14 James Ellison Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1 48:15.428
15 Garry McCoy Ilmor SRT Ilmor X3 7 laps

Congratulations to Nicky Hayden for clinching his first world title, and for making his dream true.Valentino congratulated him immediately after the race,and showed that they're not only great riders,but they also have great personalities.Another season over,another man adding his name to the list of champions.