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Valentino Rossi rode his Yamaha M1 to a
fighting second place in Catalunya on Sunday after an
exhilarating battle with Casey Stoner, the Australian
eventually taking the flag just 0.069 seconds ahead of the
Fiat Yamaha rider after a nail-biting final few laps. Rossi
96th premier-class podium gives him yet another record as it
takes him above Mick Doohan as the rider with the most
podium finishes ever in the top class of Grand Prix racing.
His team-mate Edwards suffered from grip issues throughout
and was unable to stick with the leading pack from sixth on
the grid, eventually finishing in tenth.
After starting from pole, Rossi found
himself down in fourth on lap one and was then forced to
push hard in the first three laps to get past John Hopkins
before he could begin to close the gap to Dani Pedrosa, who
was by then following Stoner in second place. On lap eleven
of 25 Rossi made his move on the local favourite, the cheer
from the grandstands proving that there was however a
sizeable Italian element amongst the 112,600-strong crowd.
Rossi soon started looking for passing opportunities on
Stoner, making his first successful bid at the end of lap
eighteen before relinquishing the lead back to the
Australian on the next lap.
From then on the fans were treated to some vintage
wheel-to-wheel racing from the pair, with Pedrosa also in
close contention, and an incredible number of passes made in
several different parts of the track. Going into the
penultimate lap however Stoner made his decisive move and
Rossi was unable to peg him back, despite throwing every
effort at it. Despite a promising qualifying performance
yesterday, today' was not Edwards' day and he slipped
several places at the start and ran a lonely race further
down the order, although a last-lap pass on Nicky Hayden
moved him up one position to take tenth and six points.
Twenty points for Rossi on Sunday means he is
now fourteen behind Stoner after seven races, whilst Edwards
remains tenth in the standings. After two races on the trot
there is now a ten-day break before the MotoGP circus heads
to Donington for the Grand Prix of Great Britain, another of
Rossi's favourite hunting grounds.
Valentino Rossi (Position:
2nd; Time: +0.069)
"What a race! Even if I'm
disappointed not to win, it's a great emotion to be part of
a race like that and fantastic fun. It really was an amazing
battle to the end with many wonderful overtaking manoeuvres
by both of us in all different parts of the track!
Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the start and then it
was quite hard to pass Hopkins because he was fantastic on
the brakes.
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Twenty points for Valentino Rossi (above) today
means he is now fourteen behind Casey Stoner after
seven races, whilst Colin Edwards remains tenth in
the standings. |
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Valentino Rossi rode his Yamaha M1 to a fighting
second place in Catalunya today after an
exhilarating battle with Casey Stoner, the
Australian eventually taking the flag just 0.069
seconds ahead of the Fiat Yamaha rider after a
nail-biting final few laps. |
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"Then with Stoner it was a great fight and honestly I
couldn't have tried harder to win, but he was a very hard
rival. There were some places were we could have been better
today, not just on the straight but also in some corners,
but anyway it was a great experience and it will help us to
understand what we need to do to keep on improving. Yamaha
and Michelin are working very hard and the fact that we
could fight like this today to the very end showed this. Of
course I'm sad because I've won a lot of times here in
Montmelo and I wanted to win again, but like I said, I don't
think I could have done anymore today! We know that we can
beat Stoner but today he rode like a god and he's a
fantastic rival, so congratulations to him."
Colin Edwards
(Position: 10th;
Time: +35.348)
"Today was
pretty much impossible for me; I had no grip in the rear
from the start and I just couldn't get into a rhythm.
Basically I couldn't load the front or turn the bike how I
wanted. We've done everything this weekend, changed all the
settings, springs, load etc, but we haven't been able to
crack the problem. Qualifying was okay but today I just
couldn't ride it. Tomorrow's our last test until after Brno
and the only thing to do is use every single possible minute
we have on track to get to the bottom of the problem so
we're in better shape for the next few races, which are at
some of my favourite tracks."
Davide Brivio - Team Director
"Not to win after an
incredible race like that, with a rider that can fight like
Valentino, is of course a strange feeling! It was a
fantastic spectacle for everyone between three great riders
but Stoner was very strong today and he won, despite
Valentino doing everything he could. It's a very exciting
championship but we're not even half way yet and we're only
fourteen points down. Now we have to work hard to try to
give Valentino the best possible bike at every track so that
he can continue to ride like this, and win! With Colin we've
had a difficult weekend but now we have two of his best
circuits to look forward to. We'll look at the data from the
last two races and use it to try to find the right package
for him so that he can transmit his good qualifying
performances to the race. We'll keep on fighting!"
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