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/128345
- ---. ---J Round 13 MOTOGP October 2 , 2004 Qatar Gr a nd Prix . .~ t his pair soon afte rward. He passed teammate Hayden on lap IS, Biaggi two laps later. and the tr io stuck together for a couple of laps before Hayden lost touch . Biaggi was poised to regain fou rt h from Barros when he lost the front on the fi nal lap. running off and letting Hayden by again. Some way back, Abe was soldiering on with the last surviving Yamaha. He got past Hopkins on lap nine , the Suzuki sticking with him until there were five laps to go. when the Californian ran into frightening rear chatter prob lems and backed off. The pair had been joined by the up-and-d own Capirossi at half distance. but he never got ahead and cru ised to the pits Hofmann was a long way back. followed by Tarnada, Kagayama. and the two battling Britons. Haydon was making an impressively consistent GP return after eight yea rs away, waiting until the last lap before firmly passing Ellison. McWilliams had be en running ahead o f Ho fmann when t he lo ng Ap rilia rider's engine also cr ied eno ugh after 12 laps in the hea t . Gibernau's fourth w in and his return to Ma x Biaggi (3) baNled with Alex Barros (4) and Nicky Hayden (69) before running off th e track late in th e race. Barros was fourth , Hayden fifth and Biaggi six th. "I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE NOT TO TALK TO SETE [GIBERNAU] AGAIN, AND TODAY HE GAVE IT TO ME." (From left to right) The top three celebrate: Edwards, Gibernau and third-pla ce man - 'ii "" ' - Valentino Rossi Capirossi had run off the track briefly on lap five to lose touch , soon do ing it again and eventua lly retiring. Melandri had been pulling through strongly and got ahead of Xaus on lap five. Seven laps later. the Spaniard was ahead of him again when Melandri's Yamaha also suffered a similar fue ling problem that would even tually knock him out of the race . Hayden had been caught by Biaggi. who was also cutting through t hough less obtrusively than Rossi, and then pos itions swapped just before half distance. Barros. riding impressively, had dro pped to 17th when Nakano blew up. and he had run off into t he gravel but had cut through to join 18 oaOBER 13,2004 • CYCLE NEWS 40th Anniversary form puts a who le new com plexion on the champ ionship as it draws to its close. He has 215 points to Rossi's 229. Biagg; has 168. with Edwards moving to fourth ahead of Barros. 131-128. Tarnada is next on 120. 250CC GRAND PRIX Pedrosa led away, but on the second lap Porto shot past him on the straight and was never headed . De Angelis also got away well to tag on the back of the group. and the trio left the rest trailing - the same pattern as in the 125cc class. By lap four they were already almost seven seconds clear of t he pursuing Aoyama. who had Batt aini chasing him and de Puniet passing Nieto to get to work on