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/128335
1 ntino Rossi set the record e st raight at Donington Par k. Afte r two races where things haven't gone his way, in front of a reco rd crowd of 82,000, braving bad weather, the d efe nd ing World C ha m pio n go t everything just exactly right in England. He powered to pole position with a massive advantage in practice , and prom ised he stillhad more in the bag. When the TelerUnica MoviStar Gresini Hondas of Co lin Edwards and Set e Gibernau came up to check the truth of this, he proved it. In tricky, almost-raining co nditions, he eked out his advantage tenth by ten th, until form e r doub le World Superbi ke Champion Edwards realized he was beaten. Rossi cro ssed the line almost three seconds clear of Edwards , who was in turn 1.5 seconds ahead of Gibernau - the first time he has beaten his teammate, and come close to fulfilling the high preseason expectations of himself and his fans. Rossi was naturally delighted to go into the three-weekend summer break with his champ ionship lead extended from o ne point to 22, with his closest rival, Max Biaggi, finishing a distant 12th after winning the last round in Germany, troubled by gear-shifting problems when his quickshift failed from the start. V 14 "Tha t was a fantastic race for us," he said. "We got a good sta rt, but I was scared about the tire grip, because it was colder than in practice, so I went quietly at first, and I thought that the othe r riders would do the same . It was not so - Loris [Capirossi) and Sete bot h passed me on the first lap." By the end of the next lap, he was back in front , and he was never headed again, though when Edwa rds closed the gap, "it was a hard fight. The gap was 1.0. 0.9, I . 1, but my bike was working very we ll and I kept pushing unt il I got a bett e r lead," Rossi said. Edwards explained the transformation in his fortunes. Tipped by many as a potential champion after strong results in preseason testing, he has struggled to finish no higher than fifth in the first halfof the season. "It wasn't just today. The whole year has been leading up to this," he said. "Michelin threw us a surprise at the first race with a new, better tire, and ever since then I've been trying to make it work for me . We've been pushing the front and chattering, and when things are not so good , I'm not the rider to push hard for bad resu lts. "We found a good setting in Germany to make the rear work, and I asked my guys for something that would keep the AUGUST 4,2004 • CYCLE NEWS front wheel ahead of me instead of over there... (pointing wide). Whe n we got here on Friday, it felt like a new motorcycle. Everything just worked. It's easy when it works - a piece of cake. I rode out of my skin when I was closing on Rossi, but he e ked it o ut te nth by tenth, and he deserved to win today." Gibernau was pleased enough with third, after crashing out of the last two races. "The weekend had been getti ng harder," Gibe rnau said. "We didn't have the bike right , and I had some new settings I wa nted to try in morn ing warm -up. When it was raining, I thought: 'I'm r-%#ed .' But we took a chance with the settings, and they were o kay. The biggest test for me was mental. I prove d to myself that I'm mentally stronger than I thought I was." The race was twice threatened by rain; two days of dry practice ended with persistent showers on race morning. Although there were a few drops, and some riders slowed in anticipation of a red nag, the rain never did set in, and the race ran the full distance. Some 30 minutes later, the track was drenched again. Nicky Hayden was fourth, disappointed after never recovering the form that had given him provisional pole position, though less than 1.5 seconds adrift of Gibernau. Troy Bayliss' Marlboro Ducati 40th Anniversary was fifth, his best finish of the year since he was fifth in the rain-shortened Italian GP. It came after he survived a near catas trophe, rescuing a 120-mph slide at the notoriously difficult Craner Curves, on ly to go for a long and fast run acros s the wet grass before he regained the track . It mea nt he lost touch with Hayden. Fortu na Yamaha's Carlos Checa , one ride r who lost "maybe four seconds" when he slow ed for the rain, ove rcame first-lap prob lems to push thro ugh to sixth, with first -lap leade r Capirossi and his Marlbo ro Ducati droppi ng to seve nth . In the closing stages, he had been behind an inspired John Hop kins and his Suzuki, the Anglo -Ame rican sto rming through fro m 16th on the grid in "one of the best races of my life ." Only at the end, his front tire sliding, did Hopkins give way to the Ducat i. Teammate Kenny Roberts Jr. had been slipping backward, blaming a too -soft tire cho ice after finishing 18t h, a lap behind the leaders. HRC' s top rider, Alex Barros, struggled to ninth. Neil Hodgson came in a season-best 10th, beat ing d'Antin Ducati teammate Ruben Xaus for the first time . Briton Shane Byrne thrilled the home fans with a strong late -race charge , passing Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano and Camel