MotoGP 2004

[Unknown Soldier]

Ok.. So I went home the weekend to visit my sister in Welkom. And to watch the MotoGP kick off it's world tour.

Man and was it awesome.

125cc
Locatelli started in Pole and pulled away in pole. Locatelli and Dovizioso had a little lead in the beginning but Casey Stoner clawed his way up to them and even took the lead for a few seconds. He lost it almost immediately though and was not able to keep pace with the 2 front runners. Paulo Nieto also joined the front runners but he too wasn't able to keep up with the first two bikes. He had a good fight with Casey Stoner though and even was in third place before Casey overtook him on the last lap. Locatelli though held the lead up until the final lap where Dovizioso overtook the lap leader in the second last corner and kept it to win. Damn good racing indeed. He won by 0'00"071 secs. That's what we've come to expect from 125cc racing.

01 34 A.Dovizioso Honda 0'00"000
02 15 R.Locatelli Aprilia 0'00"071 + 0'00"071
03 27 C.Stoner KTM 0'02"203 + 0'02"203
04 22 P.Nieto Aprilia 0'02"416 + 0'02"416
05 63 M.Di Meglio Aprilia 0'12"312 + 0'12"312
06 23 G.Borsoi Aprilia 0'13"270 + 0'13"270
07 6 M.Giansanti Aprilia 0'14"457 + 0'14"457
08 21 S.Jenkner Aprilia 0'15"046 + 0'15"046
09 19 A.Bautista Aprilia 0'24"835 + 0'24"835
10 3 H.Barbera Aprilia 0'25"266 + 0'25"266

250cc
Sebastian Porto took the lead from the word go and started to open up a gap but into the second lap and down the back straight he made a mistake and sparks flew. He did very well not to fall off though kept his bike going and was able to get to the oval track and then back onto the race track again. Although at this time he had dropped alot of places. Most probably around 16th. Pedrosa had in the meantime taken the lead with De Puniet just behind him. Poggiali was third but losing pace to the two front runners. Sebastian started to claw his way back and was awesome in doing so. With about 13 laps to go he had worked his way up to forth and was catching Poggiali. He did so with easy a lap or two later and eventually it seemed he decided to settle for third. Two laps later though he seemed to charge again then with 4 laps to go he really did settle for third as the 2 front runners were about 400-500m in front. De Puniet tried to make a race of it but Pedrosa at the end was just too good.

01 26 D.Pedrosa Honda 0'00"000
02 7 R.De Puniet Aprilia 0'00"536 + 0'00"536
03 19 S.Porto Aprilia 0'05"859 + 0'05"859
04 54 M.Poggiali Aprilia 0'24"561 + 0'24"561
05 51 A.De Angelis Aprilia 0'30"018 + 0'30"018
06 6 A.Debon Honda 0'30"653 + 0'30"653
07 10 A.Nieto Aprilia 0'31"458 + 0'31"458
08 24 T.Elias Honda 0'31"872 + 0'31"872
09 2 R.Rolfo Honda 0'31"940 + 0'31"940
10 21 F.Battaini Aprilia 0'35"643 + 0'35"643

MotoGP
Valentino Rossi had taken Pole Position with 2 minutes left the previous day. So the race began and Valentino took the lead with Gibernau second and Max Biaggi third. Biaggi though wasted no time in over taking Gibernau and raced onto the tail of Valentino. Gibernau would eventually drop off from the leading pair and ended third. Around the fourth lap and Valentino was overtaken by Max in the back straight but immediately retook the front at the second last corner. You could see Max had the faster bike in the back straight and in Valentino's slipstream he was able to always threaten Valentino at that position. A few laps later and Max again over took Valentino down the back straight. He held the lead for one lap and Valentino retook the lead again into the second last corner. Max then seemed happy enough to stay behind Valentino for a number of laps and with about 8 laps to go he retook the lead for a third time. This time though he seemed to pull away and Valentino fell about four bike lengths behind. With 5 laps to go, Valentino seemed to start catching Max and seemed to settle nicely behind the Roman Emporer. Third last lap and Valentino nabbed the lead again at the second last corner. This time though Max had no response to trying to catch Valentino and his best chance (the back straight) would've been he's only chance to win. Valentino though made good and Max was just too far behind him coming down the back straight on the final lap to try make any challenges. Valentino went on to win.

01 46 V.Rossi Yamaha 0'00"000
02 3 M.Biaggi Honda 0'00"210 + 0'00"210
03 15 S.Gibernau Honda 0'07"255 + 0'07"255
04 4 A.Barros Honda 0'18"667 + 0'18"667
05 69 N.Hayden Honda 0'24"094 + 0'24"094
06 65 L.Capirossi Ducati 0'24"375 + 0'24"375
07 45 C.Edwards Honda 0'28"855 + 0'28"855
08 6 M.Tamada Honda 0'36"535 + 0'36"535
09 17 N.Abe Yamaha 0'36"643 + 0'36"643
10 7 C.Checa Yamaha 0'39"284 + 0'39"284

It was awesome to watch and can't wait for next year to do so again.

US

 

[hjs]

incredible, his First race on a Yamaha and still he wins
The guys at the Yamaha HQ must have had some party

 

[Unknown Soldier]

yep.. and seeing where his teammate Carlos Checa(and other yamaha) ended makes it an even better win and goes to show his true potential.

09 17 N.Abe Yamaha 0'36"643 + 0'36"643
10 7 C.Checa Yamaha 0'39"284 + 0'39"284
11 33 M.Melandri Yamaha 0'43"806 + 0'43"806

US

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Rossi tries Ferrari for size

On Wednesday, MotoGP champ Valentino Rossi tried a Formula One car on for size.

The Italian accepted an invitation of the title-winning Ferrari team to take to the wheel of an older F2003-GA model in an unannounced maiden test at Fiorano.

One notable analyst in Italy lauded Rossi's performance as 'very impressive.'

Although Ferrari didn't release any lap times, Italian media sources said 25-year-old Rossi did a few more than 20 tours with a best time of 59.5 seconds.

Michael Schumacher, by contrast, lapped at a tad over 58 seconds on Wednesday.

'It was a very exciting day for me,' Rossi said in a statement.

'Driving an F1 car was an amazing experience.

'It was great for me to follow in Schumacher's footsteps for a day.'

Also at the sunny circuit was Luca Badoer who shook down the Imola- bound F2004s, and Rubens Barrichello who, like Schumacher, did a few laps in a Maserati MC12.

News Source: F1 Live

 

[hjs]

I think it was very difficult voor Rossi to sit still in a corner
Very fast time btw, only a second slower then schummi?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Well there's been conflicting times at the various sites. One says, 59.9sec another says 59.5 sec and another 59.0 sec.

Either way.. for only 20 laps ... that's damn impressive in my books.

US

 

[Unknown Soldier]

So who saw the MotoGP this weekend at Mugello??

Damn it was awesome racing. Valentino deserved the win 100x over.

For those that missed the racing this is a brief synopsis of the race.

Official Brief

Valentino Rossi held his nerve and maintained his race-long aggression to outpace his rivals not once but twice at Mugello in today's Italian Grand Prix.

In doing so he seized his second win since joining the Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team, in outstanding style. His team-mate Carlos Checa fell on the 4th lap in the first sector of a two-race event, putting himself out of the subsequent re-start, the only one which would count for points.

The initial race was stopped with five laps remaining after the riders raised their hands to signal that the threatening rains had actually started. A six-lap restart would determine the ultimate classification of the race, with the first section now nullified.

Rossi, who had led Sete Gibernau's Honda on the last of the laps in the first running, repeated the trick in seemingly impossible conditions. The 25-year-old from Tavullia won by 0.361 seconds in the restart. With treacherous conditions to deal with Rossi was in a six-rider group at one stage, before asserting his class and quality to outrun Gibernau and third placed Max Biaggi (Honda) in what proved to be a sprint race of maximum risk and changeable traction.

If the second running was a minor classic, the opener was conducted on a no less grand scale. Rossi drew roars from the crowd as he took the advantage from the start, leading into the first corner with his great Italian rival Max Biaggi in second place. Checa, in eighth position, had already made a three place jump from his 11th place start, only to fall on lap four.

A huge crash on the main straight for Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) saw debris littering the track surface; the Japanese rider escaped serious injury by a whisker, although the race continued until the rains descended on lap 17.

The riders lined up for the restart in the order in which they finished the first segment, with Rossi on pole, Gibernau second and Biaggi third. Checa, having fallen in the first part, was not allowed to restart.

With this second Yamaha victory Rossi now sits second in the championship on 76 points, ten behind leader Gibernau and four ahead of Biaggi. Checa ended his Mugello race weekend in overall fifth, with 36 points.

VALENTINO ROSSI (1st)
"To win in front of all these people is incredible. It's hard to explain the emotion I felt when I heard the crowds cheering for me on the last few laps. I need to say thank you to all of them. It was like winning twice today. The first one was in the dry, where it seemed like I made thirty or forty overtaking manoeuvres. Every lap there was a fantastic battle with Sete, Max and Tamada. It would have been difficult to win in the dry with Gibernau, but the new race in the rain was held in incredible conditions. To run with a slick on a wet track was very strange at the beginning but fortunately it stopped raining and it was possible to push to the win."

JERRY BURGESS -VALENTINO ROSSI'S CREW CHIEF
"It was very satisfying to win after the second running as Valentino did so well in the first race, which didn't count in the end. We always make preparations in case of rain so we were ready. We had to put him on full slicks in the six-lap race, just like most others. It was a little tricky as the rain was probably heavier then than it had been when they first stopped it, but it all worked out."

DAVIDE BRIVIO - GAULOISES FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
"That was a really strange day but what a result! Valentino and the team worked so well to come out on top from the restart in such difficult conditions. I think we will all remember this race for a very long time. Unfortunately at the same time it was not a good day for Carlos; he started a difficult race from 11th on the grid, he knew it would be hard and didn't make it to the end. Hopefully he can keep his motivation because he's done a good job in the past rounds and Barcelona could be a great chance for him.

-------------------

My own Synopsis of the Race

Qualifying
Sete Gibernau and Nicki Hayden put Honda in Pole position after Saturday's qualifying and only Valentino Rossi on his Yamaha prevented Honda from getting a 1-2-3. Barros(Honda), Melandri(Yamaha), Biaggi(Honda) and Tamada(Honda) filled the rest of the top 7 grid positions. One could clearly see the Yamaha was lacking alot of straight line speed down Mugello's main straight passed the pits with the Honda's clocking 328km/h(210mph).

Race
When the lights went green on race day though, it was Valentino who kept his head and took the lead into the first corner with Sete dropping down into about 7th place. Tamada and Biaggi both had awesome starts and were behind Rossi by the end of the first lap. Tamada would challenge Biaggi for second by lap 3 and he was after Rossi then. At end of lap four Tamada would overtake Rossi with the powerful Honda down the main straight and Rossi being able to do nothing, but coming into the first corner Rossi brakes late and cuts inside of Tamada to lead again. This gets repeated by the end of lap 5. Into lap6 and Tamada overtakes Rossi again but covers the inside so Rossi can't overtake him with Biaggi also trying to overtake Rossi. For the next 2-3 laps Rossi and Tamada tussle over first position with some awe inspiring moves. By then Sete had moved into third place ahead of Biaggi. So by around lap 11/12 Tamada's Honda screams past the start line with Sete and Max in second and third and Valentino can do nothing as the Yamaha doesn't have the same straight line speed and the Honda's. But in this lap Valentino overtakes Biaggi into the first corner then a couple of corners later, overtakes Sete for second and by corner twelve or so overtakes Tamada and flies into the lead once again. In the next two laps Biaggi starts to fall back and Tamada loses his engine with only Sete keeping Valentino honest. So they ride around for a couple of laps and by lap 17(or there around) it starts to rain. The race is stopped with 6 laps to go.

Enter the new rules. New rules for this year allows the race to be stopped for 21 min. and the last few laps to be run as a "Last Few Laps Shootout". This means the racers will begin from the position they ended in when the race was stopped. It also means they can change to "intermediate wets" or "full wets" or even "slicks" if they so desire. There would also be a 2 lap warmup lap before the race.

As this is the first time this year(remember this has never happened before), you could see the drivers were a bit tense/apprehensive while mechanics were changing tires/oil/petrol etc. By the time the riders had to comeout of the pits, some teams/racers chose to go with intermediates/full/slicks. Sete had a full front wet with back slick and Valentino had full slicks on. After the initial 2 lap warmup the racers came into their grid positions. Last second changes were made(Sete changed full wet front to slick). The race restarted again with 6 laps to go. Then it started to rain again. By end of first lap Bayless, Xaus, Barros and Biaggi were all in the mix with Rossi and Gibernau in at 5th/6th. By lap 2 the rain stopped again but the positions were still roughly the same. By lap 3 Rossi started to move up and Sete following. By lap 4 Rossi into second and Sete third. Rossi took the lead going into lap 5 and kept it to win with Sete Second and Biaggi third.

MOTOGP - Mugello

Pos. Num. Driver Team Time Gap
01 46 V.Rossi Yamaha 0'00"000
02 15 S.Gibernau Honda 0'00"361 + 0'00"361
03 3 M.Biaggi Honda 0'01"540 + 0'01"540
04 12 T.Bayliss Ducati 0'01"782 + 0'01"782
05 11 R.Xaus Ducati 0'02"389 + 0'02"389
06 4 A.Barros Honda 0'02"446 + 0'02"446
07 17 N.Abe Yamaha 0'05"842 + 0'05"842
08 65 L.Capirossi Ducati 0'06"228 + 0'06"228
09 33 M.Melandri Yamaha 0'06"461 + 0'06"461
10 67 S.Byrne Aprilia 0'07"198 + 0'07"198
11 50 N.Hodgson Ducati 0'09"048 + 0'09"048
12 45 C.Edwards Honda 0'09"626 + 0'09"626
13 9 N.Aoki Proton KR 0'14"201 + 0'14"201
14 66 A.Hofmann Kawasaki 0'48"091 + 0'48"091
15 84 M.Fabrizio WCM 0'50"498 + 0'50"498
16 99 J.McWilliams Aprilia 0'56"572 + 0'56"572
17 88 A.Pitt Moriwaki 0'59"267 + 0'59"267

Read More MotoGP News Here

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