Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128240
ee l r::l World C h a m pi o n s h ip R oad R a c e S e r ie s n F in a l R o u n d : Marlbo ro C o m m u n ity o f V a le n c ia G r a n d P r ix Valentino Rossi (46) leads Lori s Caplrossi (6 5 ), Nicky Hayden (69), Sete Glbemau 115) and the rest of the field ea rly In the race. By T he Repsol Honda rider toyed w ith T elefonica Mov iS tar Honda 's Sete Gibernau for 24 laps before showing why he 's won five W orl d C h am p i o ns hips . Befo re 12 1, 342 of Gi bernau's cou ntry men, Ro ssi dropped the hammer wi th six lap s t o go, lowering the la p -record time and again while pull ing away to his ni nth win of th e year. Gi bern a u ended up .681 of a second ba ck , with Marlboro Ducati's HEN NY R A Y A BRA MS PH OT OS BY G O LD £, G O OSE VALENCIA, SPAIN, NOV. 2 h e fina l G ra nd Pr ix o f th e year was some t hi ng of an anticli max. It h ad to b e r u n , but t he r e sul t wo u l dn ' t e ndure u nless there was somet hing out of t he o rdi na ry , and Valen t ino Rossi made su re that wasn 't the case. T 8 NOVEM BER 12, 2003 ' e y e I e n e vv s Loris Capirossi th ird, about 10 seconds later. But it was what Rossi wo uld say about three ho ur s later that everyone was wai ti ng fo r. Hon da had sched ule d a 6 p .m. new s co nfere nce wh ere he wo uld announce that, aft er three successive W o r ld Ch amp i on sh ip s and fo u r yea rs with Ho nda , he was leav ing , moving to take on a new chal lenge . He d idn't say wh ere he was goi ng , but soo n after the news co nference Yamaha issued a press release say ing it was finalizing it s c o nt rac t w ith h im. F or h i m it ' s a p e rs on a l cha llenge, to prov e that it' s not just th e a ll-conq uerin g Honda RC -21 1V that makes him so go od , that he has m ore than a littl e t o do w ith it. He certainly did today. Rossi took th e le ad in th e first turn b y p a ss ing C ap i r oss i w ith Repso l Hon da's Nic k y Hayd en third after his fi r s t start fr om th e fr ont ro w . Cap iro ssi got back in front to lead th e first lap before Ros si to ok control. Gibernau mov ed int o second on the fourth lap , by which time Hayden was o ut. Hayden exp lains: "I k ind of go t excited and was rea lly try ing to g et past Loris [Cap iros si ]. W ent in turn tw o , and th e l ap before Set e [Gibernau] c ame up the insid e and ac t ually touc he d m e, and t h is lap I go t in ho t , but al so I wanted to m ak e sure he came back past m e. Actua ll y when I was in the corner - it's a first gea r c o rn er - I to uc h ed the sh ifte r, knocked it into second gear and spun o u t. I ju s t l o ok e d o n th e data . I tho ug ht th at' s what hap pened. " J u st a mi st a k e . It ' s a m i st a k e , and it h ap p en s. It' s th e fi rst t im e I c rashed a bik e all year in th e dry that was my fau lt. " Th en i t w a s Gib ernau c hasi ng Ros si, which he d id unt il th e 11th lap when h e too k o ver f or on e pass ac ross the stri pe , aft e r whi ch Rossi was back in front. Nearing midr ac e the front two pulled away to what would become a two-rider race , then one. Rossi 's le ad cracked the one -seco nd ba rrie r end ing th e 24 th lap , his lap .6 of a second faste r than Giberneu 's and the final lap rec ord after a string of v ery f ast l a ps . H e added an other .7 o n t he next lap wi th the g a p of 1.704 certa in t o b e i ns u r m ountable. "I make already a good rh ythm at th e b eg in n in g , b ut Set e [Gi be rna u] co m e with m e, so wait a little bi t and try a n ot he r tim e , but a ny w ay Set e sta y : Rossi sai d. "In the end , on th e last laps, I try anoth er time m ak e fiv e laps under th e reco rd and is possibl e take a little bit of advantage and for sure make a fan tastic v ictory. " Gib ern au saluted th e new ch am pi o n , w ho m he th o ug ht he cou l d run with . At one point Rossi even looked back , and Gibernau was there, wav ing " Hi." Once Ros si upped th e pace, Gibernau didn 't have an answer. "We were having fu n and also la pp ing under the lap record every once in a w hile, so it was a ve ry sp eci al sit uation ," Gib ern au said . Capirossi lost to uc h w it h the leaders near th e halfway point. His only job after tha t was to drop Max Bi agg i, wh ich he d id in th e final 10 laps of th e race.