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/128343
- -- -l MOTOGP a y of drama at Motegi worked in favor of... guess who? Valentino Rossi didn't win the race . b ut he came way with his World Champions hip points lead even bigger. Rossi was properly beaten for once. this time by new Japanese superstar Makoto Tarnad a, whose Camel Honda and Bridgestone tires set an unbea table pace in qualifying and in the race . The ever-cheerful Tamada. who avenged disqualification from the same race last year with his convincing victo ry, too k the lead on the sixth of 24 laps of the 2.97-mile Motegi Twin Ring circuit and finally broke Rossi's dogged pursuit to w in by six seconds. He fulfilled not only his own pro mise to "have some fun with Rossi." but also Hond a's overwhelming need to win the race at its own racetrack. all this in a year when Honda's ex-champion has been kicking it wh ere it hurts . Then again. Rossi d idn't nee d to wi n. His closest champ ionship rival, Se te Gibe rnau, was at sea. languishing in sixth. The next- A Round 1 2 Sept. 19,2004 I~ Ja pa nese Gra nd P r ix closest. Max Biaggi. was one of six ride rs eliminated in a mass ive first-co rner pileup. There was little point in risking all for 25 points . when 20 w e re lying there o n the table fo r him. T he first-corner crash was a shocker, and a cruelly iro nic repeat of a similar incident last year. Rossi led into the first corner, first-time front-row qualifier Jo hn Hopkins' Suzuki right on his Gau loises-Yamaha's back wheel. At th e sam e time, Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi was steaming up the inside after a flier from the third row. The Italian rider might conceivably have made the com e r had Hop kins not already bee n cutting into the ape x. Capirossi was already out of con trol and cras hing wh en the two bikes came together. unleash ing mayhem. Both of them went loo ping off the track, w hile a jumble of bikes and bod ies mashed together in t heir wak e. When the dust had se ttled. no less than six riders were o ut of the race - Hopkins and Capirossi, Biaggi and his Camel Honda, 10 SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS Telefonica MoviStar for Honda's Colin Edwa rds . Repso l Honda's Nicky Hayden and Kenny Roberts Jr.• on the other Suzuki (see sideb ar). As usaua l, Rossi missed the problems. And typically. you might say, it was because he was in the lead. "T hat was important because beh ind me , hell arr ived. " he said later. Tamada also managed to slip through unscathed, and shortiy the pair was pulling away from the rest. When Tamada d id get by on lap six, they were already w ell clea r. and though Rossi stayed w ith him until half d istance . the gap began to grow. "Victo ry was everything to me today, and my bike and my t ires were perfect ," Tamada said. "I passed Rossi and set my rhyth m to the e nd. And it was en ough." Rossi later said: "I wo uld have preferre d to win. and I tr ied to se t a fast pace - but this time Tamada was able to stay w ith me. Wh e n I tried to follow him, it was impossible . I was sliding everywhere . Earlier th is year his Bridgestones we re inco nsiste nt. 40th Annive rsary but now it seems they are good at every track. He rode lap 12 like it was th e first. He seemed glued to th e track - the grip is incr ed ible." Shinya Na kano was th ird, a best-ever MotoGP res ult fo r the Fuchs Kawasaki, wh ich had smoked ominously in the early laps but kept going strongly to the end. "It's such a lo ng time since I was on the podium. I have forgotten when," he said later. His place meant two out of three podium finishers were on Bridgestone tires. sandwiching Rossi on MicheJins - a fine result for the relative newcome rs to the class, but an added disappointment for the similarlyshod Suzuki runners. The Suzuki boys might have expected similargood fortu ne in this hot race. run in front of a record 67.0C1J fans. at the on lyGP in Japan this year. with Suzuka off the calendar after last year 's fatal injuries to Daijiro Kato. Repsol Ho nda ' s Alex Barros was fo urt h, just tw o seconds ad rift and well clea r of Mar co Meland ri's Fo rt u na