alentino Rossi may be a serial winner,
but he is no angel. And if you thought
otherwise, he proved you wrong at
the opening round of the 2005
MotoGP season,
The Gauloises Yamaha rider completed a dominant weekend at Jerez with his 43rd top-class victory, This one was rather more controversial than
usual, however, after a last-lap battle with
Telef6nica MoviStar Honda's Sete Gibernau ended
with a last-comer collision, Rossi, on the inside,
sent Gibernau careening off into the gravel trap,
and the Italian went on to an important victory
while an angJy Glbemau was left to recover In sec-
V
ond place.
Rossi smiled on the rostrum as Gibernau
scowled, and 137,000 Spanish fans made theirfeelings clear. "Hijo de pUla," (son of a whore) they
screamed at Rossi, an epithet usually reserved for
soccer referees.
"I think I lost 30 to 40 percent of my Spanish
fans here today," Rossi said later, but he was far
from contrite. "I know Sete is angry. and I can
understand his feeling. But this is motorcycle racing, and I was going for the win."
Gibernau refused to comment on the incident.
"I will talk about anything except the last lap,"
he said. "I think that will do no good to anybody.
