MotoGP Blog

The news from the paddock after Sunday’s warm-up was that Rossi and his team had made some geometry changes to the Yamaha and as a result Rossi was much happier with the bike. He had not replicated his speed on Friday in the slightly different conditions on Saturday - radical changes were required. And they worked.

Overnight changes were also made by Ducati - holes drilled in the fairing around the handlebars and the removal of the front mudguard, in an attempt to reduce the effect of the wind on the stability of the bike.

Off the line, the surprise was Stoner’s ability to stay with Pedrosa’s rocket-launch start. Rossi slotted in behind the apparent Jerez-genius Lorenzo, and was content only to be there for the first lap, sneaking past the Spaniard to start the Stoner chase. de Puniet slams the door closed on Dovizioso at the last corner on the second lap, so hard there was contact between de Puniet’s rear tyre and Dovizioso’s forks. This was the last time anyone seriously challenged de Puniet for his position.

With status quo at the front, the action was for 7th place, with a torrid struggle going on between Capirossi, Edwards and Melandri - each leading for sections of the lap, and allowing the Dovizioso/de Puniet train.

Six laps in and Rossi has closed Stoner down and makes his move on the final corner to sweep under Stoner. Casey takes a wider line and allows Rossi room, but gets his Ducati turned and the power down sooner than the Italian to respond into turn 1 and resume his second place. It was an action replay at the end of the lap, with both Stoner and Rossi hanging out their left legs into the final turn, but this time Rossi made the pass stick. Stoner later said he waited to see if Rossi could tow him up to Pedrosa - a typical 125cc or 250 cc tactic - why slow yourself down battling for second and allowing the leader to escape?

Lorenzo by now has drifted back to be in his own race, with clear air in front and behind. Dovi takes a trip to the beach and leaved de Puniet clear and cruising in 5th place. The Capirex/Edwards/Melandri battle is now for 6th.

Dani meanwhile has established his rhythm at the front. Consistently putting in low 1:40 laps, eeking out or losing a couple of tenths per lap, his performance is again amazing. Rossi is not reeling him in with any inevitability, and Stoner is fighting to stay with Rossi. By lap 13, the tide is flowing Rossi’s way, at a rate of about a tenth a lap, until lap 16 when Rossi bites three tenths out of the gap to halve it. The scent of the lead is in Rossi’s nostrils as he repeats the feat, and passes Pedrosa in lap 17. Stoner is nowhere to be seen. Whatever Rossi did to the geometry of his Yamaha, it worked.

So where was Stoner? Slipping back into the clutches of Lorenzo. Jorge finally found his pace, matching Rossi in the 1:40’s while closing on the Ducati. Stoner seemed feted to lose his hard-fought podium place until Lorenzo choked. Pushing hard to close on Casey, he rode off the edge of the tyres, losing the bike in a low-side with just three laps and less than a second to go to Stoner. Frustrated, he tours back to the pits, pounding his fuel tank. You could hear Casey sign in relief.

The Edwards/Capirex/Melandri battle did not let up - Melandri taking 5th, Capirossi 6th and Edwards 7th - but the performance of the race was rany de Puniet’s. A fantastic 4th he had to fight for in the early stages and needed consistency to maintain, it was well deserved.

Stoner ended the race with an awesome stand-up wheelie which he reserves for his greatest celebrations, Pedrosa made it home still consistent in second and Rossi took the win, celebrating by re-living his track-side toilet joke of years ago.

It wasn’t a classic, but it was an important victory for Rossi - seeing off Lorenzo and Pedrosa on home turf, and taking maximum points in the one race of the year that Ducati always struggle at. The only issue for Rossi was Stoner doing better than expected.

MotoGPBlog Man of the Weekend: Randy de Puniet for his stunning 4th place.