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 Round IVI-,",~~~. __.. . ~~ Biaggi took sec ond from Tamada on the drive down the straight, with Hayde n drafting him into turn one . Bayliss closed right up on Tamada and made a run down the fro nt straight, taking him easily into the first turn. Lap 20 ended with Rossi holding 1.55B seconds on Biaggi, Hayde n and Bayliss in his wake and Tamada falling off the back. Gibernau was 2.6 back and co uld close on the Japanese ride r if Tarnada's tire continued to deteriorate. Fro m Gibernau back, the order was mostly processi ona l, w ith Barros we ll in fro nt of Nakano, then Edwar ds and Abe , with Capirossi closing in on th e top 10. Hayden made a run on Biaggi down the front straight, but he was too late on the bra kes and skitte red deep into the outs ide of turn one , with Bayliss and Tam ada getting past to start the 22nd lap. "Go ing in turn one, Bayliss was up the inside , and the lap before, he show ed me a wheel ther e and I was in Biaggi's draft and just got in hot. And Biaggi bro ke a little bit ea rlier than I expected, and I was right in his draft and nowhe re to go to th e inside - Bayliss was o n the inside ," Hayden said. "I had to go to the right and kept it on the trac k. I lost a lot of time and thre e pos itions. 5till, I felt like I might still at least get a podium." The n it ended for Hayden on the 23rd lap, when he low-sided out of fifth place in a left-hander. W or ld Champions hip Road Rac e S er ies "I got right on the back whee l of Tamada and was just trying to loo k for a way past and just pushed the front, " he said. "I mean just so easy, I just kind of lost it, it was going - I thou ght I had it saved on my knee. No t to make a big excuse , but my left knee is definite ly not as strong as it should be and I co uldn't quite pick it up with my knee, and that was it," Gibernau got going late in the race and was on Tamada w ith four laps to go. By then, Tamada wa s cle arly having tra ction problems and it was up to Gibernau to take advantage. The pass came into the first turn start ing the 29th lap . Gibernau was too far be hind to make a run at third and had to settle for fourth. In the final stages, Rossi ke pt the lead at ove r 1.5 seconds unt il the final two laps, when Biaggi cut it to one second. But there was plenty of time at the line, .425 of a second. As he cut into Rossi's lead, Biaggi left Bayliss behind. But it was still the Aus tr al ian 's Loris Capirossi gets the Ducati airborne on his way to ninth. best finish of th e year by one spot. "As soon as we pulled the bike out on Friday it felt good again, like it did at Philli p Island afte r the test, so I just knew I was going to have a good we eke nd ," he said. Biaggi had 2.7 seconds o n Bayliss, and the gaps through the rest of the top 10 suggested litt le in the way of racing. Gibernau was next, then Tamada, w ith Barro s nea rly sev en seconds bac k. Nakano was even fart he r behind , then Edwards and Capirossi, with Abe in 10th. Hoffman had plenty on Hopkins, in 12th. 25 0CC GRAN D P RI X Po rto got out to the lead , Pedrosa went with him and the tw o were gone. Te n laps in, there was a te nth of a second between them , and th ird place was nearly seven sec o nds back. The n Pedro sa took the lead and started easing away. The gap was ove r 2.5 seco nds whe n Porto pitched it awa y. "I don 't know what happ e ned ," Porto said . "It was a shame because we had a podium for sure and I wan te d to finish the year with a good result," Th at left Pedrosa to romp to his seven th w in of the yea r. "The track didn't have much grip and it was difficu lt to set a fast pace," Pedrosa said. "Po rto set a fast rhythm at the start, but I o pened up a gap ove r him as soo n as I could and was able to build a comfortable advantage until he crash ed . At the e nd of the race , I began to have proble ms with the bike and I was wo rried tha t I wouldn't make it to the end. This is the end of a marve lous year wh ich started YCLE NEWS 40th Anniversary with a lot of doubt but has finished in the best possib le way." The fight for seco nd was between Toni Elias and Hiroshi Aoyama. Three laps fro m the e nd, Elias took over the spot and built up over two seco nds at the flag. "It wa s a pretty toug h ra ce an d Aoyama rod e hard today. But, in the end , I was able to get past him in the last few laps and set a rhythm which he co uldn't match ," Elias said. Aoyama said the batt le with Elias was intense - but it mea nt noth ing. Well afte r the e nd of t he race, he was disqualified when his Ho nda NSR2S0 was found to be SODgram s ( 1.1 Ibs.) undervveight. "We are all very upset about the disqualificatio n," Aoyama said. That put Randy de Puniet, who was 27 seconds out of fi rst, up to third. De Puniet was ru nning fourth when Alex de Ange lis crashed in fron t of him on the fourth lap , upsett ing his rhythm. That cost him the dr aft and any chance at a pod ium, unt il the stewards interven ed. Campete lla Racing's Franco Battaini was elevate d to fo urth , with Aprilia Ge rmany 's Chaz Davies e arning fifth, just in front of Rep so l-Aspar Team 2S0's Fonsi Nieto . eN VALENCIA GRAND PRIX VALENCIA, SPAIN RESULTS: OCTOBER 31 , 2004 (ROUND 16) MOTOGP QUALIFYING: I . r-takct c Tamada ( I:32.9 15); 2. Max Biaggi ( I:32.8 31); 3. Vale ntino Rossi ( I:32.9 13): 4. Set. Gibemau ( I:32.936); 5. Nicky Hayden ( I:32.999); 6. T,oy BayliSS (I :33.08l) ; 7. John Hop,"ns ( 1:33.422); 8. Col in Edwar ds ( 1:33.438); 9. Carlos Checa ( 1:33.504) ; 10. Shinya Nakano ( 1:33.. 57): II. Alex S Ho fmann ( 1:33, 723); 12. Alex Barros (1:33.733); 13. Lo ris Ca pirossi ( 1:33.78 1); 14. Jeremy McWilliams (1:34.101 ): 15. N ori ck Abe (1:34. 175); 16. Marco Melandrl ( 1:34.209): 17. Ruben Xaus (1:34.280): 18. Ne il Hodgson ( 1:34.602); 19. Gregor io Lavilla ( 1:34.974): 20. Garry McCoy ( 1:35.064): 2 1. Nobu Ao kl ( I:35.082); 22. 0 1 ""', Jacque ( 1,36.934); 23.