david
01-06-2009, 06:23 AM
Third place world have been good enough to secure Valentino's eighth World chimpionship. But it wouldn't have been good enough for Rossi. Racing's modern giant had the opportunity to crown his title with another win. 'He took it with both hands.
The Fiat Yamaha rider consigned the outgoing champion Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati) to a clear second place, in spite of the Australian's best efforts Stoner set a new lap record, and led for nine of the 24 laps of the 4.801km Motegi circuit, in the mountains a couple of hours north of Tokyo.
And his other erstwhile title rival Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), who led from lap two to lap five, was left trailing by the pair, finishing a lone but relatively distant third and only narrowly fending off a sustained late attack from second Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi celebrated his win and the championship with an extraordinary post race pantomime, with a mock Italian notary at a trackside desk rubber stamping his certificate. He also wore a T-shirt with the legend 'Scusati Ritardo', (sorry for the delay).
The crowd of almost 58,000 appreciated the show, even iffew of them could have understood it. They had packed into the circuit from the early hours on a day that stayed cool and dry, after rain had spoiled the first day of practice.
Afterward Rossi spoke jubilantly of how this had been one of his hardest titles and the year had been one in which he had ridden the best ever. His last championship was in 2005, and he had grown up a lot since then, he said.
"At the end of 2005, I had won all the important targets of my career." He took the 125 title in his second year, likewise the 250, and then also the 500, before going to four more straight wins in MotoGP.
"I was like unbeatable and in 2006 when I didn't win early in the year I thought we had time to fix it. This was a mistake. "It was very important for me to learn how to lose. This year, the level of concen¬tration and effort was the highest of any year."
The decision to win the race came after he had moved swiftly through from fifth on lap one to join Pedrosa and Stoner up front. The colder temperatures of the dry had helped with tyre grip and when he caught the pair, "the race was like the championship."1 had to decide whether second was okay or to try to risk to win. But I had a great pace, so I went ahead."
Stoner gave him a good fight after losing the lead to Pedrosa after the first lap. "I had a harder tyre and it was a struggle to warm it. I was losing the rear and I nearly spilled it," he said.
500
Once it warmed up he attacked again, but his pass on Pedrosa wasn't planned. "I misjudged my braking or how well Dani's brakes would work." He'd had to release the brakes to move inside him to avoid hitting him, and pushed past roughly, waving an apology mid-corner. "It wasn't a friendly pass," he said later.
Mid-race the cost of his wrist injury and the fact that crashes at Brno and Misano meant he hadn't done full race distance in the dry for a while, meant that he became tired. "Just changing direction was hard, so 1 was having to brake earlier," he said. Then with five laps to go "I felt a bit better and I started to close the gap. Until I made a mistake at the bottom of the hill and then the race was over.
By the end Pedrosa had his hands full with pole qualifier Lorenzo, whose late charge came close enough for the pair to collide last time round the hair¬pin, putting Lorenzo off line and effec¬tively out of contention. His safe fourth was more than a second behind. "I tried hard to pass Dani and the hairpin before the back straight was the only place I had the chance but I couldn't do it. But I am very happy with fourth."
His result helped Yamaha and his team to secure the manufacturers and team titles. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) had run with the top three in the early laps, but gradually lost ground. "I just didn't have the pace." Then at the end he was caught by a group of four and had to fight hard to stay ahead of Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), Shinya Nakano (San Carlos Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Team Scot Honda), the five crossing the line in the space of 1.6 seconds.
Capirossi had dropped back into their clutches while Dovizioso had closed from behind, but there was no passing in spite of the close combat. John Hopkins (Kawasaki) finally outbraked James Toseland (Tech 3 Yamaha) on the last lap to take tenth, another 11 seconds behind, with Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) right behind. Marco Melandri (Marlboro Ducati) was a couple of seconds back in 13th, after running off in the early stages and fighting back; Sylvain Guintoli (Alice Ducati) and Kawasaki's Ant West took the last points.
West had run off earlier in the race, with a brake lever that was coming back to the handlebar. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) also had a braking problem and retired after running into the gravel.
The Fiat Yamaha rider consigned the outgoing champion Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati) to a clear second place, in spite of the Australian's best efforts Stoner set a new lap record, and led for nine of the 24 laps of the 4.801km Motegi circuit, in the mountains a couple of hours north of Tokyo.
And his other erstwhile title rival Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), who led from lap two to lap five, was left trailing by the pair, finishing a lone but relatively distant third and only narrowly fending off a sustained late attack from second Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi celebrated his win and the championship with an extraordinary post race pantomime, with a mock Italian notary at a trackside desk rubber stamping his certificate. He also wore a T-shirt with the legend 'Scusati Ritardo', (sorry for the delay).
The crowd of almost 58,000 appreciated the show, even iffew of them could have understood it. They had packed into the circuit from the early hours on a day that stayed cool and dry, after rain had spoiled the first day of practice.
Afterward Rossi spoke jubilantly of how this had been one of his hardest titles and the year had been one in which he had ridden the best ever. His last championship was in 2005, and he had grown up a lot since then, he said.
"At the end of 2005, I had won all the important targets of my career." He took the 125 title in his second year, likewise the 250, and then also the 500, before going to four more straight wins in MotoGP.
"I was like unbeatable and in 2006 when I didn't win early in the year I thought we had time to fix it. This was a mistake. "It was very important for me to learn how to lose. This year, the level of concen¬tration and effort was the highest of any year."
The decision to win the race came after he had moved swiftly through from fifth on lap one to join Pedrosa and Stoner up front. The colder temperatures of the dry had helped with tyre grip and when he caught the pair, "the race was like the championship."1 had to decide whether second was okay or to try to risk to win. But I had a great pace, so I went ahead."
Stoner gave him a good fight after losing the lead to Pedrosa after the first lap. "I had a harder tyre and it was a struggle to warm it. I was losing the rear and I nearly spilled it," he said.
500
Once it warmed up he attacked again, but his pass on Pedrosa wasn't planned. "I misjudged my braking or how well Dani's brakes would work." He'd had to release the brakes to move inside him to avoid hitting him, and pushed past roughly, waving an apology mid-corner. "It wasn't a friendly pass," he said later.
Mid-race the cost of his wrist injury and the fact that crashes at Brno and Misano meant he hadn't done full race distance in the dry for a while, meant that he became tired. "Just changing direction was hard, so 1 was having to brake earlier," he said. Then with five laps to go "I felt a bit better and I started to close the gap. Until I made a mistake at the bottom of the hill and then the race was over.
By the end Pedrosa had his hands full with pole qualifier Lorenzo, whose late charge came close enough for the pair to collide last time round the hair¬pin, putting Lorenzo off line and effec¬tively out of contention. His safe fourth was more than a second behind. "I tried hard to pass Dani and the hairpin before the back straight was the only place I had the chance but I couldn't do it. But I am very happy with fourth."
His result helped Yamaha and his team to secure the manufacturers and team titles. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) had run with the top three in the early laps, but gradually lost ground. "I just didn't have the pace." Then at the end he was caught by a group of four and had to fight hard to stay ahead of Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), Shinya Nakano (San Carlos Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Team Scot Honda), the five crossing the line in the space of 1.6 seconds.
Capirossi had dropped back into their clutches while Dovizioso had closed from behind, but there was no passing in spite of the close combat. John Hopkins (Kawasaki) finally outbraked James Toseland (Tech 3 Yamaha) on the last lap to take tenth, another 11 seconds behind, with Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) right behind. Marco Melandri (Marlboro Ducati) was a couple of seconds back in 13th, after running off in the early stages and fighting back; Sylvain Guintoli (Alice Ducati) and Kawasaki's Ant West took the last points.
West had run off earlier in the race, with a brake lever that was coming back to the handlebar. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) also had a braking problem and retired after running into the gravel.