no RossI joined the podIum of all-time greats with his
76th Grand Prix victory.
The six-time World Champion did it with his usual flair,
passing Sete Gibemau on the final lap to
win the red flag-interrupted German
Grand Prix before a crowd of 95,364 at
Sachsenring.
That Gibernau made a foolish mistake
and gave the race away mattered little.
What mattered was that in his I50th GP,
Rossi drew equal with Mike Hailwood for
third on the all-time list, the pair of greats
trailing only Angel Nieto (90) and
Giacomo Agostini (122) in victories.
No one doubts he'll pass Nieto, and
Agostini seems increasingly within reach.
On his victory lap, Rossi was handed a
flag that read: "76 Rossi, 76 Hailwood, I'm
Sorry Mike."
He explained, "When another rider
arrive at your level, usually you are disappointed, no? And Ithink he was one of the
greatest riders, and was a great occasion
to remember him also. So we are on the
podium of history, and I'm very happy."
The less generous would say Rossi was
gifted the race by Gibernau. Others say it
was merely the end result of a familiar
pattern: Gibernau leads, Rossi passes,
Rossi wins.
Today, Glbemau took the lead from ~~'7
Rossi soon after the restart. (The race
had been stopped on the sixth of 30 laps
when John Hopkins' second highside of
the weekend landed both him and his
motorcycle on the track.)
Rossi pressed most of the race,
except for six laps when Repsol
Honda's Nicky Hayden displaced
him for second. That period
ended on the 19th lap.
Gibernau had the victory in sight.
But he made a slight gaffe in the final
corner ending the penultimate lap and
then biffed the first turn of the final
lap. His reason, if true, was certainly unique: The Spaniard
claimed he'd been distracted by
his crew's exhortations from the
pit wall.
"Unfortunately enough, when I
went to the main straight, my whole
team was like half over the straight and I
looked at them," he said. "When I just
went back to see I was already on the
braking."
•
Rossi had more than he needed to
notch his eighth win in 10 tries. The win
was also a victory for the team that had
turned around his recalcitrant Mlover
16 AUGUST 10, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS
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