Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Once again Rossi gets the break, .;'. while lady luck slaps Gibernau in th~.face By MICHAEL $con PHOTOS BY GoLD "ja vu? The lap charts and results sheets may say so... but things were slightly different at Sunday's Czech Republic GP. Yes, Valentino Rossi won, as usual, fighting most of the way with Sete Gibernau's MoviStar Honda, changing places seven times in the race, only to nip past on the penultimate lap and impose his authority for his ninth win of the year, and the 77th in his career of 151 starts. He also claimed a new lap record, early in the race, and opened his points lead to 132 points. He can now afford to lose seven points to new runner-up Max Biaggi at the next round at Motegi and still take the title with five races to spare. But who could say that the Gauloises Yamaha rider was not favored once again by fate? Or, to put it another way, that Gibernau was not disfavored once again by luck so bad that he seems singled out this year for special misfortune. Qualifying on pole and fastest in morning warmup, Gibernau led for most of the race, giving his pursuer Rossi "the toughest battle of this year." This being so, per- D & GooSE haps he might have gone on fighting all the way to regain the lead, as he had done earlier in the race. Perhaps he couldn't. But he would never know. Instead, his Honda slowed and died at the bottom of the hill, and he couldn't even finish the race. A failure in the electronic fuel management system - a first, according to HRC - meant he had to walk back to the pits. Had he run out of fuel? "Yes," a team spokesman said. The system that managed the consumption had failed, causing excessive consumption and draining the tank. "No," HRC said. There was still fuel in the tank, but an error message in the fuelinjection system meant it was not delivered to the engine. Clearly in a tizzy, they declined to answer further questions, but shortly afterward, further information leaked out that they were getting mixed messages and the tank was in fact empty. "I don't know, and I don't care," an angry Gibernau said. "The real question is why I was not able to maintain my pace in the race. On Friday and Saturday and in Sunday warmup, I could do the pace. In the race, I couldn't. I was almost one sec- 26 SEPTEMBER 7, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Rossi (46) pIayecI cat-and-mou.. with Gibemau (15) for most of the race. ond a lap slower. Stopping on the last lap was just the end of it. I have demanded an answer, and somebody from my team is investigating with HRC and with Showa and will give me an answer. And if I don't get one, then I will not be testing the new bike tomorrow." In spite of this, he had given Rossi a more torrid time than usual. Gibernau led 12 of the 22 laps of the 3.34-mile Brno circuit, and the two had changed places no less than seven times. But by the time of the failure, he already knew he was beaten. "For two or three laps before, the engine had been dying," Gibernau said. "Sometimes I didn't even know which gear I was in, because the engine wasn't revving. I was running wide, and having trouble stopping. Then, on the last lap, it just died completely." The big race was the only one not to suffer dodgy weather at the fine track outside the Czech Republic's second city, and the 80,000 fans packing the hillsides were treated to a great display of MotoGP racing, the top five still within 4.3 seconds at the finish. There would have been six but for Gibernau's untimely departure. His misfortune promoted Loris Capirossi to second, Marlboro's Ducati's best finish since the Australian GP in 2003 and a follow-up to. a big step forward in the Bridgestone tires. Repsol Honda's Max Biaggi was a magnificent third, pulling steadily through after starting from 10th on the grid and finishing the first lap I Itho The unexpected result, at a track where he has claimed seven previous wins, lifted him to second overall in the championship.

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