Rossi Sets Pulses Racing in Estoril Thriller
Valentino Rossi bounced back from his Misano heartbreak to take a gripping victory in the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal.
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 Valentino Rossi bounced back from his Misano heartbreak to take a gripping victory in the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal. The Italian was at his exciting best onboard the factory Yamaha M1 at Estoril, winning at the track for the fifth time in the premier class after out-manoeuvring Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. The duo were virtually inseparable from the beginning of the race, battling amongst themselves after MotoGP World Championship leader Casey Stoner was effectively removed from the equation in the early stages. Rossi had teased a move on his Spanish rival on several occasions, feinting and stalling with some textbook attacks before pulling out from Pedrosa for the final time. The ultimate challenge went unanswered, and Rossi could make the decisive gap and cross the chequered flag nearly two tenths of a second ahead. He dedicated the victory to former World Rally Champion Colin McRae, one of his heroes who died tragically yesterday. Unable to catch the Michelin-shod pairing, Casey Stoner could still be happy with a third place which edges him ever closer to a maiden MotoGP World Championship. The Australian now holds a 76 point lead over Rossi in the classification, with 25 points less on the table for his rivals to catch up with him. A clutch problem hindered Stoner’s push somewhat, but he maintains his superb run of podium finishes despite the conclusion of his consecutive winning streak. Poleman Nicky Hayden had a nervous moment when fighting for the holeshot, with Pedrosa darting in front of him and forcing him off his line. Having lost the top spot, the reigning MotoGP World Champion dropped back slightly when overtaken by the eventual podium finishers, concluding the race in fourth despite a valiant effort to rejoin the pack. Marco Melandri had another fine performance to finish fifth, as did John Hopkins who stormed through the field after a disappointing qualifying session yesterday. The tyre bragging rights were evenly distributed in Estoril, with both Michelin and Bridgestone placing three riders each in the first six past the line. Carlos Checa, last year’s race winner Toni Elias, Loris Capirossi and Colin Edwards completed the top ten. The five riders who failed to finish the bwin.com Grande Premo de Portugal were Makoto Tamada, Randy de Puniet, Kurtis Roberts and the Pramac d’Antin Ducati pairing of Alex Barros and Alex Hofmann. 250cc Alvaro Bautista took victory at Estoril for the second consecutive year, following up last season’s 125cc win with his second triumph of the season in 250cc. The Spaniard rode a superb race in which he shook off all the top names in the quarter litre class, taking a deserved top podium spot. Things hadn’t looked so good for the Spaniard on the opening lap, as the Aspar rider made an atrocious start which saw him drop down to twelfth from the second row. Mixing his own riding skill with some new parts debuted on his Aprilia for the race, Bautista was able to quickly work his way back up the field and power past frontrunners Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso. Dovizioso moved back up into second in the standings with second place on his Honda machine, with reigning World Champion and classification leader Lorenzo completing the podium. The gap between the two stands at 51 points with four races to go. Lorenzo was on the podium in Portugal for the first time in the 250cc class this afternoon, and the championship now heads to another track at which he didn’t win in 2006, Motegi. Thomas Luthi, Hector Barbera and Alex de Angelis completed the top six past the line, the latter dropping behind Dovizioso in the classification after a recent dip in form. Marco Simoncelli, Julian Simon and Karel Abraham joined him in the top ten. 125cc Hector Faubel cut the gap between himself and team-mate Gabor Talmacsi to five points in the 125cc World Championship, having slipstreamed the Hungarian on the line for victory in Portugal. The Aspar duo finished first and second in one of the best races of the season, separated by just a tenth of a second as they crossed the chequered flag. Another Spaniard stepped onto the podium after a magnificent ride, with young rookie Pol Espargaro showing no fear as he challenged the established stars for victory. Espargaro’s first rostrum finish could easily have been a victory, as he fought until the end and even led the race at one point. Overcome with emotion, the Aprilia rider pulled over on his cool-down lap to have a moment to himself, having begun what will surely be a successful podium run in the 125cc class. Also involved in the action, Simone Corsi had to settle for fourth place when the front three just broke away too far on the final lap. Joan Olive was the final rider in the tightly-packed group, with Stefan Bradl rounding off the top six a further seven seconds back. Poleman Mattia Pasini made a mistake at the midway point when leading the race, crashing out whilst under no pressure at the chicane. The Italian got back on track to finish eighth, behind Tomoyoshi Koyama. Raffaele de Rosa and Randy Krummenacher completed the top ten. The next round of the MotoGP World Championship, the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan, takes place next week at Twin Ring Motegi. Motogp - Estoril Race Result Pos-Rider-Team-Time 1-Valentino Rossi-Fiat Yamaha Team-45m 49.911s 2-Dani Pedrosa-Repsol Honda Team-+ 0.175s 3-Casey Stoner-Ducati Marlboro Team-+ 1.477s 4-Nicky Hayden-Repsol Honda Team-+ 12.951s 5-Marco Melandri-Honda Gresini HONDA-+ 17.343s 6-John Hopkins-Rizla Suzuki MotoGP-+ 18.857s 7-Carlos Checa-Honda LCR HONDA-+ 31.524s 8-Toni Elias-Honda Gresini HONDA-+ 40.535s 9-Loris Capirossi-Ducati Marlboro Team-+ 43.107s 10-Colin Edwards-Fiat Yamaha Team-+ 44.674s 11-Shinya Nakano-Konica Minolta Honda-+ 45.403s 12-Anthony West-Kawasaki Racing Team-+ 54.562s 13-Chris Vermeulen-Rizla Suzuki MotoGP-+ 1m 00.002s 14-Sylvain Guintoli-Dunlop Yamaha Tech-+ 1 lap not classified -Makoto Tamada-Dunlop Yamaha Tech-+ 5 laps -Alex Barros-Pramac d'Antin -+ 6 laps -Randy de Puniet-Kawasaki Racing Team-+ 9 laps -Alex Hofmann-Pramac d'Antin -+ 17 laps -Kurtis Roberts-Team Roberts -+ 26 laps World Championship Standings Pos-Rider-Team-Points 1-Casey Stoner-Ducati Marlboro Team-287 2-Valentino Rossi-Fiat Yamaha Team-211 3-Dani Pedrosa-Repsol Honda Team-188 4-John Hopkins-Rizla Suzuki MotoGP-150 5-Chris Vermeulen-Rizla Suzuki MotoGP-147 6-Marco Melandri-Honda Gresini-137 7-Colin Edwards-Fiat Yamaha Team-106 8-Loris Capirossi-Ducati Marlboro Team-105 9-Nicky HaydenRepsol Honda Team -105 10-Alex Barros-Pramac d'Antin Ducati-83 11-Toni Elias-Honda Gresini-71 12-Alex Hofmann-Pramac d'Antin Ducati-65 13-Randy de Puniet-Kawasaki Racing Team-58 14-Carlos Checa -Honda LCR-54 15-Anthony West-Kawasaki Racing Team-45 16-Shinya Nakano-Konica Minolta Honda-42 17-Makoto Tamada-Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3-33 18-Sylvain Guintoli-Dunlop Yamaha Tech-30 19-Kurtis Roberts-Team Roberts -10 20-Roger Lee Hayden-Kawasaki Racing Team-6
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