Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha, won his second consecutive Moto GP yesterday at the Le Mans circuit in France, making it his 90th victory and putting him in second place of the all time winners list equalling the Spanish rider, 61-year-old, Angel Nieto.
Nieto donned black leathers with ‘Bravo Valentino 90′ on the front and jumped on Rossi’s bike to take him back to the pits on his parade lap, while Rossi waved a flag with ‘90+90′ on.
Rossi now leads the Moto GP Championship by three points ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo who are both on 94 points after yesterdays race.
Dani Pedrosa on the Honda, led the race at the start but was soon passed by Casey Stoner who started in third on the grid for the Ducati Marlboro team.
Britain’s James Toseland crashed out on lap 3 when he tangled with Andrea Dovizioso after being in third place which ended his race while the Fiat Yamaha bike of Rossi’s moved up into second place behind Stoner.
Rossi passed Stoner while Pedrosa tried to steal that second place slot off of the Ducati Marlboro rider. The amazing Lorenzo moved up to sixth place while Rossi increased the gap in the lead to almost a second.
Lap 11 saw Pedrosa move ahead of Stoner and Edwards tried to follow Pedrosa but ran wide and the young Spaniard snatched back his third place.
Further down the field, Nicky Hayden on the Honda ran wide and went off track, he kept the bike upright but allowed John Hopkins on the Kawasaki Racing machine to move up a place.
Lorenzo passed Chris Vermeulen for fifth place and then the rain that blighted the 125cc session earlier in the day returned to the track bringing out the white flags and lots of preparations begin in the pit lane ready for the riders to change their bikes to the wet weather set-ups.
The chain flew off the bike of John Hopkins and went across the track ending his race while Lorenzo passed Colin Edwards to take third place.
With only eight laps to go, Stoner developed a mechanical problem on his bike which saw him retire from the race and moved the outstanding Lorenzo, who can barely walk, up into second position.
Rossi had built-up a lead of almost 10 seconds with 6 laps to go and Edwards passed Pedrosa to take that final podium place while Randy de Puniet in tenth place, passed Shinya Nakano for ninth position.
With the two front runners miles ahead of the others, Edwards and Pedrosa were stuck together to battle for that third place but Edwards was determined to hold onto it.
Another exciting race and only a two weeks break until the next round at the Mugello circuit in Italy on Sunday June 1.
Here are the results;
Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 44:30.799
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) + 4.997
3. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) + 6.805
4. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) + 10.157
5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) + 21.762
6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) + 22.395
7. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) + 27.806
8. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) + 27.995
9. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) + 29.344
10. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) + 30.822
11. Toni Elias Ducati (B) + 35.154
12. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) + 36.216
13. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) + 52.038
14. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) +1:29.307
15. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) + 1 lap
16. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) + 2 laps
Retirements:
Rider Bike Laps
John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 16
James Toseland Yamaha (M) 2
250cc
Alex Debon won the 250cc Grand Prix after leading every lap after starting on pole position yesterday. He did not get a good start but by the end of the first lap he dominated the race.
After a damp start, Debon seemed to have made the right choice by opting for the slick tyres ahead of Marco Simoncelli.
Simoncelli and Mattia Pasini were battling for that second place with Pasini looking as if it would be his. With only four laps to go he overtook Yuki Takahashi, but two laps later Simoncelli did the same and then chased after Pasini eventually taking him on the last corner of the last lap while setting the fastest lap of the race.
Takahashi had to be content with fourth place ahead of Mika Kallio and Manuel Poggiali. They were followed by Hiroshi Aoyama, although eight seconds behind and Julian Simon.
Finishing off the top ten but by another 15 second gap were Aleix Espargaro and Hector Faubel.
Alvaro Bautista had a disastrous race after starting badly and never really picking up the pace to finish way back in fourteenth place.
Here are the results;
Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Alex Debon Aprilia 47:27.406
2. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 4.816
3. Mattia Pasini Aprilia + 4.998
4. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 5.770
5. Mika Kallio KTM + 6.197
6. Manuel Poggiali Gilera + 6.474
7. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 14.909
8. Julian Simon KTM + 17.526
9. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 32.925
10. Hector Faubel Aprilia + 36.719
11. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 48.968
12. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 56.837
13. R.Locatelli Gilera + 57.827
14. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia +1:05.407
15. R.Wilairot Honda +1:24.336
16. Alex Baldolini Aprilia +1:24.577
17. Federico Sandi Aprilia + 1 lap
18. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
19. Russell Gomez Aprilia + 1 lap
Retirements:
Rider Bike Laps
Karel Abraham Aprilia 24
D.T.Pradita Yamaha 24
Lukas Pesek Aprilia 21
Fabrizio Lai Gilera 13
Eugene Laverty Aprilia 11
125cc
At his home race, the French rider Mike di Meglio took the win for the 125cc Grand Prix and is now leading the Championship.
The race was red flagged on lap 15 out of the 24 scheduled laps as the rain began to fall, making the track far to dangerous to continue. The race was restarted 25 minutes later and the riders took their grid places in the same positions from which it was stopped.
Joan Olive who had been leading when the race was stopped got away poorly for the restart and fell back down the field allowing Esteve Rabat to take the lead but not for long. On the second corner Rabat slid across the track leaving the position open for Nicolas Terol who was then passed by Gabor Talmacsi.
On the second lap, Talmacsi had started to build a gap but fell off on the last corner moving him back to twenty-first place. Terol retook the lead followed by British Bradley Smith and di Meglio.
Smith then took Terol on the third lap and then di Meglio did the same. Di Meglio was then chasing Smith and on the penultimate lap he claimed the front position to take the victory in front of his home crowd.
Smith came in second with his careers best finish so far, followed by Terol in third place. Espargaro was in fourth place with Andrea Iannone in fifth and Bradl in sixth.
Here are the results;
Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Mike Di Meglio Derbi 10:08.574
2. Bradley Smith Aprilia +0.800
3. Nicolas Terol Aprilia +3.077
4. Pol Espargaro Derbi +10.407
5. Andrea Iannone Aprilia +11.697
6. Stefan Bradl Aprilia +11.881
7. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM +16.372
8. Joan Olive Derbi +16.545
9. Raffaele De Rosa KTM +19.163
10. Randy Krummenacher KTM +22.391
11. Sandro Cortese Aprilia +22.847
12. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia +23.195
13. Simone Corsi Aprilia +23.553
14. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia +23.695
15. Alexis Masbou Loncin +24.240
16. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia +26.196
17. Esteve Rabat KTM +26.411
18. Roberto Lacalendola Aprilia +26.895
19. Louis Rossi Honda +27.446
20. Sergio Gadea Aprilia +31.829
21. Daniel Webb Aprilia +34.810
22. Robert Muresan Aprilia +35.190
23. Dominque Agerter Derbi +47.840
Not classified
Michael Ranseder Aprilia 4 laps
Robin Lasser Aprilia 2 laps
Steven Le Coquen Honda 1 lap
Gioele Pellino Loncin 1 lap
Scott Redding Aprilia 0 laps
Steve Bonsey Aprilia 0 laps
Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM 0 laps
Marc Marquez KTM 0 laps
Stefano Bianco Aprilia 0 laps
Efren Vazquez Aprilia 0 laps
Pablo Nieto KTM 0 laps
Hugovan den Berg Aprilia 0 laps
Cyril Carrillo Honda 0 laps
Tobias Siegert Aprilia 0 laps
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