World ChampionshIp Road Race S&rllis
The KTM team protested Gadea's
position because he, too, had passed
Gabor Talmacsl under a yellow flag, but
Race Direction decided the protest was
unfounded, since Gadea let Talmacsl pass
him a few meten later (a move not
shown on TV). KTM appealed, but the
FIM stewards confirmed the decision of
Race Direction.
MOTOGP
Hayden led away, but by the end of the
lap Edwards was In front, with Capirossi
third, and the three Immediately started
to open a gap, Melandrl in fourth waiting
for his tires to start sticking. Checa and
Byrne had already crashed out, the former taking Roberto Rolfo off the track
with him.
Rossi finished the first lap sixth, one
place ahead of G1bemau, and only a little
faster to get going.
It was lap three before he started to
push through, passing Nakano and
Melandrl In successive comers to start
working on a 1.7-second gap on the leading trio. k took him just two laps to dose
up, and one lap more to pass Capirossl,
who almost immediately lost touch, blaming a too-soft rear-tire choice.
Hayden managed to hold Rossi at bay
for three laps before succumbing to the
relentless pressure, and immediately losing a second. Now Rossi settled behind
Edwards. the pair pulling away and Rossi
looking very cool and collected. k was
clearly only a matter of time.
Glbemau had been following through
some way behind, still seventh on lap
fMl, then he quickly dispatched Barros
to close on a battle between Melandrl
and a flying Nakano. He passed the
Kawasaki on lap seven but had much
more trouble getting by his teammate,
the pair going back and forth a couple of
times before Gibernau made It stick for
good on lap nine.
Now he was less than five seconds
adrift, and though It took him flYe laps to
catch and pass Caplrossi, he was closing
all the time on the three up front, with
Hayden a relatively easy target, now
dropping away.
Gibernau was already running below
the lap record, in the I:33s, and when he
got to third on lap 16 with yet another
fastest lap, he was less than two seconds
behind Edwards and Rossi. Another flyer
on lap 18 closed him. Then came Rossi's
only mistake. when he tried to pass
Edwards, only to run Into the second
chicane too fast. He took to the curbs,
and both Edwards and Glbemau got
ahead of him.
32 MAY 25, 2005 • eyeLl NEWS
