Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MOTOGP T he master of the Phillip Island circuit, Valentino Rossi, swept to victory before a sundrenched crowd of 42,304, giving Yamaha the manufacturers' championship and keeping alive his hopes of setting a single-season mark of I3 victories. Having won I I to date, with two remaining, only a fool would bet against him. "Yes, it was a great race," he said after holding off the charging Nicky Hayden by just over a second to win his fifth Phillip Island race in a row, and his seventh overall. ''And I win a lot of times in this track, and I think I win two of the three most important races of my career - in 200 I the race and the title of the 500, and last year the race and the title with Yamaha. So I like a lot this track and is good for my riding style and is always a great emotion to ride bike in this track." Rossi took the lead from Hayden first on the third lap, and then again on the 19th after Hayden had led for three. By then, Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa had caught up, and Rossi realized it was time to make a break. In a span of two laps, he gapped Hayden by 1.266 seconds. Hayden cut it to under a second starting the last lap, but Rossi held on, celebrating the victory as he crossed the line. "Today Nicky was very tough," Rossi said. "I think except Laguna Seca, where he won in front, this is his best race in - Round 15 October 16, 2005 MotoGP. And he fight at the same level with me, and I am at the maximum, and it means for the future he is very strong." Hayden admitted his fatal mistake was giving Rossi a second late in the race. "I mean, you can't spot him a second around here - really, anywhere - with only a few laps to go; that's asking for trouble," Hayden said, though he felt he was nearly at Rossi's level for much of the race. "I felt really good, really comfortable running that pace," he said. "Even when Valentino would try to go away, I felt like sometimes when you're there it's ragged and almost painful to try to hold on, but today just felt really good." The second place gave Hayden a muchneeded championship boost at the most opportune time. Five riders were separated by I I points coming into Australia. Two of them crashed out - Loris Capirossi in practice, and Max Biaggi during the race, Hayden's second moved him into a tie with Melandri (who placed fourth on the day) at 170, with two rounds remaining. "Today I think I went from fifth to second," Hayden said. "I know it's second, but there's a lot of pride, and us guys definitely want that next spot." Melandri challenged Hayden into the final stages, holding second on the 19th lap. It was only on the 24th of 27 laps that Hayden was able to put a second on him. And then Melandri had to defend his spot from the resurgent Checa. The Spaniard had a strong motorcycle, and the 16 OOOBER 26, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Bridgestone tires had been impressively consistent during qualifying. Shadowing Melandri for the final eight laps, Checa picked the right time to make his first draft pass at the line, Sensing an opening in the final corner, where he saw Melandri struggling with grip, Checa used the superior grunt of the Desmosedici to power his way to third - his second podium of the year. "Well, for all is very positive weekend," he said after beating Melandri by .017 of a second. "Was kind of a lucky, because I was just 33 years old [on Saturday], I reach the speed 333 kph [in practice], I finish third, and I fight with number 33 [Melandri]. Then maybe next year I should change my number. Maybe I need to deal with Max [Biaggi, number three]." "I thought I had Checa under control, but he passed me in the slipstream," Melandri said, Melandri's teammate Sete Gibernau was fifth, haVing a forgettable weekend. "We've struggled all weekend," Gibernau said. "This morning I thought we took a step forward in the warmup, but in the race I had a lot of problems. The bike was sliding • • • around and I couldn't finish any higher." Gibernau managed to stay in touch with the lead four for the first 18 laps before sliding 10 seconds behind. Gauloises Yamaha's Colin Edwards had a similar weekend and similar result; he was 19 seconds behind Gibernau and I2 up on the battle for seventh. "We're chasing our butt so bad that finally we went back to original test settings, and

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