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/128385
MOTOGP to gO. Let's keep this thing on its wheels...• It was his second rostrum of the 7race-old season. Meanwhile. fourth was a best of the year for Hayden and his Repsol Honda. "The track was so different this morning we had to gamble a little," he said. "We changed the fork springs, and it all felt pretty good at the start. Then Rossi and Edwards came by, and I had to regroup. In the end, I got past Gibernau for a pretty lonely fourth. It's my best finish. but I really want to move on to the next group - for the whole race and not just a bit of it." Gibernau was devastated, blaming "never getting the setup" after missing his crew chief through illness for the first day of practice. "It wasn't a tire-choice problem, but I never had a good front-end feeling, and I never got my rhythm," the-Spaniard said. "That was one of the worst races of my life." Gibernau was fifth, a terminal blow to any desperate last hopes of getting back into the title battle. Repsol Honda's Max Biaggi exceeded his practice form, winning a fierce battle for sixth with Camel Honda's Alex Barros by just over a second. Fuchs Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano was eighth after qualifying fourth and running strongly in the early laps. ''All I need is some more top-end power:' he said. Three seconds back, Carlos Checa finally picked up pace when his fuel load lightened. consigning Marlboro Ducati teammate Loris Capirossi to 10th by twotenths of a second. A long way back, Camel Honda's Troy Bayliss was I Ith; then came Fortuna Yamaha's Ruben Xaus, who passed John Hopkins on the final lap. The Suzuki rider had come through with Checa, but problems with his troublesome gear-change engine-management system meant he lost everything in the final laps. An off-form Makoto Tamada and his Konika Minolta Honda was 14th, narrowly ahead of Fortuna Yamaha substitute David Checa, who took the last point. Some way back. on his father's Proton KR KTM, Kenny Roberts Jr. managed to hold off Shane Byrne. Repsol Aprilia's Sebastian Porto rode with tactics, experience and daring to claim a classic 250cc Gp, his first of the season. A scything overtaking move into the tight chicane followed by a devastating last lap kept him just far ahead enough of defending Champion Dani Pedrosa for the Spaniard to attack. Longtime leader and pole starter Jorge Lorenzo was consigned to third in the closing battle. The battle for fourth was 20 JULY 6,2005 • Round 7 June 25, 2005 ~ World Championship Road Race Series won at the last gasp by Hiroshi Aoyama from Alex de Angelis, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso, with Randy de Puniet and Hector Barbera dropping away toward the finish. "I saved everything to the end, because I know it would be a tough battle," a delighted Porto said. Stoner cursed a lost opportunity. "I didn't realize it was the last lap. I am sure fourth would have been possible:' the Australian said. Gabor Talmacsi and his KTM took a second 12Scc GP win of the season, once again as the beneficiary of a dramatic last lap, when accidents eliminated his closest rivals. Pole starter Mika Kallio and his KTM had already been pushed off in a fierce race. Frequent leader Marco Simoncelli then crashed on the last lap, taking Thomas Luthi swerving into the gravel and out of contention. CYCLE NEWS MOTOGP Gibernau led from the start. but Melandri wasted little time in diving past, and by the end of the lap. Hayden was up to second and pushing hard. Rossi had been somewhat submerged in the early rush but was now fifth behind Nakano. There was some brawling behind him, with Checa fast away, soon to drop out of contention, then Edwards, ahead of an inspired Hofmann on the second Kawasaki - his spare bike, after problems on the warmup retired his first machine. Rossi complained later about the changed track conditions, which meant a little time before he could pick up the pace. He finally passed Nakano on the third lap, and next time around, Edwards was also ahead of the Kawasaki and closing on the four leaders. Hayden was Pllshing and looking for the lead but became the victim of a shuffle on lap six at the Strubben horseshoe. Gibemau dived inside him, and as he picked up, so did Rossi. Gibernau was still getting over that when Edwards also got ahead. Rossi took Gibernau into the chicane at the end of lap eight and was breathing down Melandri's neck. Two laps later he pushed past at the Strubben. The leaders were still close at the end of that lap, with 2.2 seconds covering Rossi, Melandri, Gibernau, Edwards and Hayden. Then Rossi put the hammer down and started to ease away, with only Melandri going with him. But no! Edwards had only lost time stuck behind Gibernau, and soon he was by and closing to within a second of Melandri with five laps left before he ran into his sliding problems. Melandri was himself almost a second down at this stage, but he was not giving up, closing up steadily to start the final lap just over half-a-second adrift. Then he had wheel-spin problems while Rossi, saving his best for last, set the fastest lap of the race, a record on the revised track. He crossed the line 1.58 seconds clear. Gibernau had been struggling since half distance and succumbed to Hayden two laps after losing third to Edwards. Now he fell back as Hayden kept pushing, barely two seconds behind Edwards over the line. There was no threat from behind to the disconsolate Gibernau. A long way back, Barros had gotten to the head of a tight group on lap nine, with Capirossi, Nakano, Biaggi and Hofmann close behind, and Hopkins closing impressively a couple of seconds behind. Biaggi was the strongest, tagging on to Barros soon afterward, the pair moving away as they battled back and forth, the two Assen veterans in full flight. Biaggi took the advantage on lap 14, but Barros stayed close to the end. Nakano's only problem was a lack of top-end, his soft choice of Bridgestones staying consistent. He was alone behind the two Hondas after Capirossi lost touch on lap IS, his tires sliding. By now, Checa had picked up speed after dropping away from this group, and he was past Hopkins and pUShing his teammate hard, managing to prevail over the final laps. By the finish, Bayliss was next, passing Hopkins on the penultimate lap as the Anglo-American struggled with his misbehaving engine management, a frequent Suzuki bugbear. Hopkins lost another Colin Edwards was tough at Assen, the Texan climbing through the field to finish third and gaining momentum as he heads to his home race at Laguna Seca.