MOTOGP
Round 17
November 6, 2005
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World Championship Road Race Series
Rolfo didn't make it past the first corner before being knocked off his Team
d'Antin Pramac Ducati.
James Ellison retired the WCM prematurely.
Suzuki test rider Nobu Aoki, riding in
place of the injured Kenny Roberts Jr., suffered an electrical control fault.
"I felt something was wrong after
about five laps, as the engine didn't seem
to have the same push as before," he said.
The final nonfinisher was Proton KR's
Kurtis Roberts. After an eventful weekend
that included a major engine failure early
in Friday qualifying, Roberts was in the
points when the gearbox began to act up.
"It started skipping gears, or it was in
gear and it would fall out," he said. After he
passed James Ellison, it continued falling
out of gear. ':And then that last lap I did, the
time before it fell out, it started smelling
like oil - like buming oil. And it was kind of
dying out a little bit power-wise."
Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Dani
Pedrosa easily won his final race as a
2s0cc rider. The Spaniard took the lead
from Fortuna Honda's Jorge Lorenzo on
the 14th of 27 laps and pulled away to win
by 3.448 seconds.
18
NOVEMBER 16, 2005 •
CYCLE NEWS
It was Pedrosa's eighth win of the year
and extended his championship-winning
points total to 309 - 55 more than Casey
Stoner, who was a distant third today.
"I'm so happy for this victory," Pedrosa
said. "I think it was important for us, also
for the team, for the people. I'm happy
because, also, the bike was moving a lot
and we did good pace. It was difficult, but
the race was much faster than last year
and we improved."
Elit Grand Prix's Thomas Luthi became
the first Swiss rider in 20 years to win a
World Championship, with a ninth-place
finish in the I 2Scc GP ensuring the I 2scc
World Championship.
Luthi, 19, won the title by five points
over today's winner, Red Bull KTM's Mika
Kallio, who took the race in the mad
scramble to the nag that involved teammate Gabor Talmacsi and Totti Top
Sport's Mattia Pasini.
Ironically, it is Talmacsi who is at least
partly responsible for Kallio not winning
the title. Three races ago, in Qatar,
Talmacsi defied team orders by beating
Kallio. Those five points proved to be the
difference in the championship. Though
Luthi and Kallio would have tied in points,
