Buzzin MotoGP

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi took the victory yesterday at the Japanese Grand Prix and also claimed his sixth MotoGP World Championship title.

The Fiat Yamaha rider only needed a third place to regain the title for the first time since 2005 but took the lead from lap fourteen to finish 1.943 seconds ahead of Casey Stoner on the Ducati Marlboro.

Rossi was slow off the line and Stoner took the lead after shooting ahead of pole sitter and team-mate of Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo.

Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda followed Stoner in second with his team-mate Nicky Hayden slotting into third ahead of Lorenzo.

Rossi soon passed Lorenzo to claim third place and set about hunting down the front two riders.  He passed Pedrosa on lap ten before taking the lead four lap later.

Of course, Rossi could not leave the track without one of his awaited antics and did not let his fans down as he stopped at a desk set up on the track with a friend acting as a lawyer.  He produced a helmet with the number 8 as well as him and all the team wearing T-shirts with ‘Sorry for the delay’ written on in Italian.  His lawyer then had Rossi sign the helmet and it was given a stamp, the helmet was later signed by everyone in Rossi’s garage before going to the museum set up in Rossi’s home town.

Rossi dedicated his championship to the late Norick Abe who was killed in a road accident last year and who was a hero of Rossi’s.

Here are the results;

Pos  Rider             Bike            Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)   43:09.599
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)   +   1.943
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)   +   4.866
 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)   +   6.165
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)   +  24.593
 6.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)   +  25.685
 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)   +  25.918
 8.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)   +  26.003
 9.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)   +  26.219
10.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)   +  37.131
11.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)   +  37.574
12.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)   +  38.020
13.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)   +  39.768
14.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)   +  45.846
15.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)   +  55.748
16.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)   +  59.320
17.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)   +1:12.398

Retirements:

     Rider             Bike           Laps
     Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  16
     Kousuke Akiyoshi  Suzuki    (B)  0