Rossi Two Races Clear of Stoner

It is the race that may well define the 2008 MotoGP season. Bookmakers couldn’t pick it, and scriptwriters couldn’t dream it up. The end of the day would see Stoner’s championship hopes fading fast after the weekend looked so promising. As a tense looking Casey Stoner lined up in pole position next to a relaxed and energetic Valentino Rossi no one could pick the outcome of the dramatic Brno MotoGP.

Rossi’s smile evaporated soon after the start as the Ducati rider led the pack into turn one, Stoner led by more than a second after the first lap, and set a new lap record on lap two and again on lap five.

With more than a second and a half to next place Rossi and a further seven seconds back to the group vying for third Stoner looked comfortable, until a clumsy low-side on lap six took the Australian out of the race. Stoner managed to remount the Ducati but failed to make it back to pit lane and eventually stopped on the side of the track, his torn and tattered leathers a fitting simile for the reigning champion’s title hopes.

As Rossi settled into a rhythm and eked out a 15 second advantage over the field, the race for second sizzled behind him. Dani Pedrosa fired his Honda from 12^th on the grid into fifth part way through lap one before slowly fading backwards, while the two Kawasaki’s of Anthony West and John Hopkins battled with Capirossi and Vermeulen on the Rizla Suzukis for the final podium spot. On lap four the hard charging Elias signaled his arrival with a daring move on Dovizioso which also displaced Ant West. Randy De Puniet made yet another brief but romantic congress with the asphalt on lap five, and on lap six Stoner’s Ducati seemed to hit a bump in the track on a long right hander, throwing the number one machine down the road, and gifting Rossi 25 championship points.

With the battle group for third now a battle group for second tempers flared and the pace heated up, Capirossi, Vermeulen, West and Hopkins carving each other up lap after lap until on lap 10, Tony Elias from 13^th on the grid launched the satellite Ducati into second, saving face for Ducati on a disastrous day and simulataneously reviving his flagging career. Shinya Nakano caught up to the battle group. Vermeulen was balked by Elias and never really recovered, fading to sixth behind Nakano and West while teammate Capirossi sealed a welcome podium for the Rizla team. Marco Melandri was a solid seventh ahead of Alex De Angelis and Andrea Dovizioso, once as high as 5^th was the best of the Michelin riders in ninth. Jorge Lorenzo rounded out the top ten pipping John Hopkins in the dying stages of the race.

The MotoGP championship leaves Brno with Rossi 50 points clear of Stoner, and Pedrosa a further 15 points back in third. It will be a hard task for the field to catch Rossi from here, however the drama of the final few rounds of 2006 is not such a distant memory and with six rounds remaining the fight is certainly not over. The MotoGP circus now heads to San Marino, a crucial round for the title hopes of Stoner and Pedrosa, and also for the future of Michelin who are once again lagging behind Bridgestone.

MotoGP Race Classification 

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Motorcycle	Total time	Km/h	Gap
1	25	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	43′28.841	164.025
2	20	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	Alice Team	Ducati	43′43.845	163.087	15.004
3	16	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	43′50.530	162.673	21.689
4	13	56	Shinya NAKANO	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	43′54.700	162.416	25.859
5	11	13	Anthony WEST	AUS	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki	43′58.306	162.194	29.465
6	10	7	Chris VERMEULEN	AUS	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	43′59.449	162.123	30.608
7	9	33	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	44′05.294	161.765	36.453
8	8	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	RSM	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	44′05.591	161.747	36.750
9	7	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	JiR Team Scot MotoGP	Honda	44′07.663	161.620	38.822
10	6	48	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	44′08.414	161.575	39.573
11	5	21	John HOPKINS	USA	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki	44′08.451	161.572	39.610
12	4	50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Alice Team	Ducati	44′09.733	161.494	40.892
13	3	52	James TOSELAND	GBR	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha	44′40.331	159.651	1′11.490
14	2	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha	44′49.974	159.078	1′21.133
15	1	2	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	45′05.879	158.143	1′37.038
16		14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	45′07.248	158.063	1′38.407
Not classified
		1	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	11′49.228		16 Lap