MotoGP Round 5 - Le Mans

[R8RMR]

After a completely dry qualifying over Friday and Saturday, rain affected the racing on Sunday. The 125 race was stopped and ended up being a sprint of 5 laps on being restarted. The 250 race was a gamble of tyre choice which greatly affected the race outcome. But the MotoGp was started as a dry race with rain threatening several times and some moisture making it on to the track.

The race itself started off with all the hallmarks of a classic battle between old adversaries. Stoner, Pedrosa, Rossi and Edwards started off well and it seemed that the problems of the poor handling experienced by the Ducati riders were resolved when Stoner took an early lead and managed to stay in the lead group for a while. But his race was not to finish well. As Pedrosa had been fast all weekend and as he is well known for being very quick off the line, you could have expected him to get the lead and disappear into the distance. Not this time. It was Rossi, fresh from his victory in the last race that took the initiative after a mediocre start he made his way to the front and aapplied pressure to the rest of them. Indeed it was he that disappeared into the distancelike the Valentino of a few seasons back, leaving the rest to sort out the minor places.

Though this was a dominating performance that gives Rossi the lead in the championship, the most impressive performance was again from Lorenzo. Despite having severe problems with both ankles that could not have been helped by excursions into the kitty litter 3 times in practice, he battled his way from the expected poor start to finish in second place. A feat that even Rossi found difficult to comprehend.

The podium was rounded out by another Yamaha rider, Colin Edwards. He had a great race on a bike that still lacks top end power but his overall performamce through practice, qualifying and the race itself should perhaps have been deserving of more than 3rd place but he seemed very happy with that under the circumstances.

As is ususal with a Rossi win, he pulled a stunt. This was his 90th GP win equaling the achievement of Angel Nieto. So parade lap saw Rossi stop his bike among admiring fans and Nieto, in appropriately decorated leathers, took control of the bike chauffeured Rossi back to the pits.

Next stop Mugello.