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/128349
Final Raund MOTOGP ~ I World Championship Road Race Series Se te Gibe rna u (15) had a fa irly disappointing race in fran t of his ho me fan s, finishi ng fou rth. The battle for second was five-strong. and they brought it to Barbera at the end but couldn 't stop him. The margin of victory was .76 1 of a second . Second went to newly crowned World Champion Andrea Dovizioso, with Seedorf Racing's Alvaro Bautista third. In short order, Pablo Nieto and Sergio Gadea were fourth and fifth, respectively. There were I I retirees in all, eight through crashes and three with mechan icals. The final World Championship standings show Dovizioso with 293. Barbera with 202 and Roberto Locatelli, sixth that day, th ird with 192. MOTOGP Biaggi got the jump for a corner, then it was Tamada in front, w ith Gibernau slotting in be hind afte r an early corner pass of Bayliss. Hayde n was fifth . The first lap ended that way. with Rossi in sixth in front o f Shinya Nakano. Rossi would later say he was asleep on the line. Rossi stuffed it under Hayden to move into fourth halfway into the second lap. When they crossed the line, Tamada had a 1.3-seco nd lead. now on Gibernau. Then Gibernau ran wide in the first of a double left, pushing Biaggi out also and allowing Rossi and Hayden past . "Whe n Gibernau overtake me, he take too much inside," Biaggi said. "Fo r sure he pass, but he made the turn . I saw him and luckily he didn't clip the bike. He was so much out . I think it was kind of a mistake . Luckily I didn't crash with him: ' . That put Rossi into second , and he 16 NO VEMBER 10 , 2004 • C Y CLE N EWS 40th Anniversary went after Tamada on the third lap. The gap fro m first to second was down to .440 of a second, with Hayden half a second back in third . Rossi drove up the back of Tamada com ing onto the front straight but wasn't close enough to draft by at the end of the straight. Biaggi was close enough to Gibernau to draft into fourth , with Bayliss just beh ind the pair. Rossi made the inside move in a loop ing right, putting Tamada beh ind him and in front of Hayden . On the front straight, Tamada thought of draft ing by but then thought better of it. The tr io stuck together, and at the end of lap seven, Tamada tried again, this time making his way by on the inside. Hayden watched from third . Biaggi was leaving the pack beh ind, with Gibernau holding off Bayliss and Checa, w ho would soon end up in a grave l trap. He remounted at the back of the pack. B1aggi closed up on the next lap, the lead four covered by 1.560 seconds. A th ird of the way into the 30-lap race and the lead quartet of Tamada, Rossi, Hayden , and Biaggi, had cleared some room on Gibernau and Bayliss. Then came Nakano fronting Abe, Barros and Edwards . Ruben Xaus crashed out on lap I I while in 13th, with Marco Melandri crashing out of 12th on the same lap. It was Xaus' 15th MotoGP crash , the most of any rider this year. Bayliss took over fifth from Gibernau on lap 12, the pair four seconds behind Biaggi, the final rider in the lead quartet. The next group was now led by Barros after he passed Nakano on lap 12. Biaggi too k third from Hayden in turn two on the 15th lap, with Rossi taking the lead from Tamada late the same lap. 'i\fte r [Tamada) slowed down , I tried to make that my rhythm , and from that point the fight w ith Biaggi and was very strong, be cause nee d to push to 100 percent to the en d ," Rossi said. "He was close to me, but at the end we are able to win, so it's very goo d - unbelievable in front of this fantastic crowd." Bayliss was leaving Gibernau behind but he had plenty on Barros and Nakano. Edwards and Abe were just behind. Bayliss was closing up on the lead four just as Rossi had the biggest lead of the race , ending lap 17. Tamada had wobbled out of the last corner, killing his drive. "I knew tha t today wasn't going to be easy and that the grip would worsen at some point, and that's why I tried to open a gap at the beginning, when I was at the front," Tamada said. "However, then Iwas n't able to be aggressive and I had to give up a few positions before finishing in fifth."