MotoGP – Portuguese Race Results

Well what a cracker of a race. The end of this race would have to be this years closest. Toni Elias beat Valentino Rossi by 0.002 seconds. The difference in the end might have been the thickness of the stickers on the front fairing of the bike!!

Full credit to Elias, he triumphed after some incredible pressure for Valentino,
taking the lead on the final lap to out gun the world champ.
Elias has been on the fringe for a long time and thoroughly deserved to win his maiden GP.

Valentino admitted he had some scary moments on the track,
with one in particular where it seemed he didn’t see Elias who was right on his shoulder attempting to overtake.

Rossi’s second place along side the fact that Nicky Hayden was knocked out of the raceby an apologetic Dani Pedrosa in the first ten minutes of the race, will give him a decisive edge for the next race.

The incident could only be described as a ‘brain explosion’ by the normally cool headed Pedrosa. Honda currently does not have a policy of ‘team orders’, however after this incident I am sure they will unofficially introduce them in 2007.
In fairness to Pedrosa, Hayden did almost knock him off before this incident.

The results from this race mean that Valentino is now 8 points ahead of Hayden
with only one race to go in the championship, setting up an exciting race at Valencia.

If Hayden wins, Valentino can still retain the title with a second place.
What the American needs is for a victory and Rossi to come in third or lower.
I don’t see this happening as Valentino is a true champion and he will rise to the occasion to win his 6th world title.

Congratulations to both Chris Vermuelen who backed up his podium at Phillip Island with a ninth on the Suzuki, and to Garry McCoy, who was riding a prototype 800cc machine to gain a point in the championship by finishing 15th.
I hope that ‘Gazza’ gets a ride in 2007 he is a highly under-rated rider.  He has had to ride a lot of bad machinery over the years (for example the ‘Foggy Petronas’ anchor), and unfortunately this has tarnished his reputation unfairly.

Race results (Top 5 finishers):

1st = Elias
2nd = Rossi
3rd = Roberts Jr
4th = Edwards
5th = Tamada

The championship Top 5 standings are:

Rossi = 244 points (yeah!!!)
Hayden = 236 points
Melandri = 217 points
Caparossi = 209 points
Pedrosa = 202 points

Look out for my review of the Valencia round next week…

Cheers

Dave