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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128347
- Round 15 MOTOGP October 17, 2004 t World Championship Road Race Series o Valentino Rossi wins his sixth World Championship - and his first for Yamaha By MICHAEL Scon PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE The World Champion. Again. Valentino Rossi earned his fourth premier World Championship in Austral the sixth title of his career. n bright sunshine, and at a circuit he loves, Valentino Rossi did it - he conq uered his two-year ti tle challe nge to Honda and his rivals in just one year, added an eighth race win to his tally th is year, garnered a fo urt h su c cess ive premier-class ti t le, and became only the third rider in history to do so on different machines and t he sec ond (after Eddie Laws on) to do so in consecutive years. And he handed out a drubbing to his newly hated rival, Sete Gibe rnau. Being Rossi, he did in the style that more than 40,000 avid Australian fans appreciated, risking everything for adventure in a last lap that saw him and Gibernau change places three times. Rossi's final overtake was at maximum I 12 OCTOBER 27, 2004 • risk, and it left t he Span iard discon solate, visibly upset o n the rostrum an d in the pos trace press con ference. Ross i, of course, was jubilant. It had been more impo rtant for him to beat the rider than the machine, he said. "I ride for Yamaha and, of course, to beat Honda is a great pleasure," Rossi said. "But for me , t he race is against the other riders, and it's the same for me whatever kind of machine they are on. " Th is sporting spirit was clear from his midrace change o f tactics. Until that po int, he had been happy to follow Gibernau, who led from the first lap. "He was very fast - faster than me in some places , so I stayed beh ind him," Rossi said. Second would have been good enough CYCLE NEWS for the title , but it was n't good e no ugh for Rossi . ':A fter half-race , I saw that t he people in third and fourt h we re d ro pping away," Rossi said. ':And when t he tires were sliding, there were two o r three places where I was fast e r than Sete. I love this track and racing on it. So I thought... I will try to win ." Rossi was less than a te nt h of a second ahead over the line , but it was enough to leave Telefonlca MoviStar Honda rider Gibernau grim -faced after the race. " I tried my best," he said, "but I had a throttle problem that made it hard to race ," Gibemau said. "I want to congratulate Valentino and his tearn . They won this time , but I will be back to try again next year." The two leaders were 10 seconds 40th Anniversary clear of the pursuit by the finish, led by an equally jubilant Loris Cap irossi, the Ita lian riding his Marlbo ro Ducat i. He had start ed fro m the front row for the second time this year and dr o pped back to fourth behind Repsol Hon da's Alex Barros after a strong start. The n Capirossi fo ught back, getting ahea d of the Honda fo r his and the factory team's (but not Ducati's] first rostrum of the year. Capirossi also claimed a new lap record in the process. On the final lap, Barros lost another place to Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Colin Edwards, with the American less than half a second off Capirossi. Edwards had played a leading role in bringing a gang of five up to th is pair disput ing third and then managed to escape from it for a strong finish.