MotoGP 2007 – Jerez Wrap Up

After a strong display at the second round in Jerez, Spain, Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha M1) is now leading the MotoGP championship from round one winner Casey Stoner on the Ducati.

Aussie Stoner struggled with the bike early in the race and was lucky not to get knocked off by some exuberant passing traffic early on in the shape of Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa. Rossi was never headed after taking the lead from pole-sitter Dani Pedrosa. Stoner recovered well late in the race (after dropping to eighth) to comfortably overtake 2006 champion Nicky Hayden with seven laps to go and finish fourth behind Toni Elias.

John Hopkins also performed well. However, he had an accident while battling Hayden for fourth on lap 16. Hopper has shown great pace in these first two rounds but in this race just could not stay on the bike. He restarted the race after the fall to finish a gallant 19th.

Hayden found some form after a disastrous first round to take seventh place. At the start of the race he blitzed the field, getting an unusually great start to be fourth, but faded late and let Stoner, Melandri and Checa beat him over the line.

The real news, however, was Rossi’s total domination in his 85th career victory. The M1 Yamaha was simply perfect the whole race. The victory broke a five-race drought for the popular Italian, who hadn’t won a race since September.

Speaking on the Yamaha website, Rossi said: “After the situation at this race last year, this is much, much better! Our first priority today was to get points and I knew that to win I would have to ride at the maximum, but today my Yamaha really flew and I was able to do a great race. It feels like a long time since I last won and this is a great emotion and a very special victory for me, especially in Jerez in front of this great crowd.

“Qatar was good but to taste victory again is a wonderful feeling. We had some problems on Friday and again yesterday and then after this morning’s warm-up we made some more small modifications. My tyres worked well today and Michelin have done a good job. I got a great start, didn’t make any mistakes and had a good battle with Pedrosa, who we knew would be the danger today.”

Rossi’s team-mate Colin ‘Texas Tornado’ Edwards also had a return to the podium with a solid third place behind Honda’s Pedrosa. Another strong consistent top-ten finish by Aussie Chris Vermeulen did his chances no harm for a solid 2007 on the improved Suzuki.

The top ten finishers were: 1. Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha), 2. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), 3. Colin Edwards (Fiat Yamaha), 4. Toni Elias (Gresini Honda), 5. Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro), 6. Carlos Checa (Honda LCR), 7. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda), 8. Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda), 9. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki), 10. Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda).

So the 2007 championship is two races old and again more questions were raised than answers given. Will Rossi be able to continue this form for the rest of the season? Will a maturing Casey Stoner replace Pedrosa as the title threat? And can Nicky Hayden find his missing ‘mojo’ to stake his rightful claim on the season?