Race Results
Valentino Rossi took on all challengers for the victory at the MotoGP of Spain and in so doing placed himself in the number one position in the charts.
The five time MotoGP World Champion was never troubled after passing pole sitter Dani Pedrosa midway through the opening lap, and ended his five-race longest ever winless streak with a masterful display of how to lead a Grand Prix.
"The Doctor" has won at
Hyped up as a battle between Rossi and Pedrosa for dominance of the Spanish circuit, the race never really became a duel between the two riders. As the Fiat Yamaha rider continually upped his race pace, Pedrosa was left with little to do but follow his rival into second. Whilst clearly unable to keep up with Rossi, he was likewise unfazed by the presence of third placed Colin Edwards nearly three seconds behind him. For the "Texas Tornado" the race marked a welcome return to the podium after a strong ride.
Aiming to give the Spanish fans another reason to be happy, Toni Elias was right up there with Rossi’s fastest speeds, even though he started further down the grid. The exciting rider finished in fourth after some excellent overtaking, just edging out Casey Stoner who couldn’t repeat his dominance from two weeks ago. Stoner was once again mature in his overtaking choices, and was rewarded with some valuable points for the World Championship.
Carlos Checa, starting from the front row for the first time since the 2005 Portuguese Grand Prix, rounded off the top six, ahead of reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden. Hayden made a fantastic start, but looked uncomfortable and was unable to get near the leaders and dropped off towards the end of the race.
Marco Melandri, Chris Vermeulen and Shinya Nakano completed the top ten, while John Hopkins suffered a crash on lap 16, having just overtaken Hayden for fourth place, but picked the Suzuki GSV-R800 up to finish the race, albeit in 19th. The brave Anglo-American was once again racing despite pain in his broken right hand.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 1stTime: 45'53.340: "After the situation at this race last year, this is much, much better! Our first priority today was to get points and I knew that to win I would have to ride at the maximum, but today my Yamaha really flew and I was able to do a great race. It feels like a long time since I last won and this is a great emotion and a very special victory for me, especially in
"I got a great start, didn't make any mistakes and had a good battle with Pedrosa, who we knew would be the danger today. I'm really happy for Colin too and to have both Yamahas on the podium shows that we're in good shape for what's going to be a long season. Now we have two race tracks which might be difficult for us so it's very important to leave here leading the championship."
Colin Edwards - Position: 3rdTime: +2.701: "On Friday morning you wouldn't have thought we would end up on the podium, but here we are and it was a good race for me. I've got to say an enormous thank you to all my guys because they worked non-stop all weekend and came up with some pretty good solutions to the problems we had. Michelin also had something up their sleeve for us and seemed to know what would work and they were proved right - they've done a good job for us this weekend."
"I got a good start and my best move was getting past Checa so quickly; I knew I had to find some clear air and try to hang onto the back of Valentino and Pedrosa. I made a couple of small mistakes and they were able to pull away from me a bit which was a pity, but my bike was working well so I was able to keep a pretty good pace throughout. Towards the end I could see Elias had appeared behind me and I didn't like the idea of him getting spurred on by his home fans and trying to snatch a podium, so I really had to keep hammering away! The last few laps were a little hairy at times as I started to slide but anyway we managed to make it and it feels great to be up here on the podium again."
2007 MotoGP - |
Circuit Length: 4423 |
Temp: 19 |
Weather: Sunny |
|
Race 1 - 27 Laps |
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time |
1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 45'53.430 |
2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'1.246 |
3 Colin Edwards Yamaha |
4 Toni Elias Honda ESP 0'4.351 |
5 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'4.993 |
6 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'10.000 |
7 Nicky Hayden Honda |
8 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'19.969 |
9 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'24.786 |
10 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'24.955 |
11 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'25.008 |
12 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'25.852 |
13 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'26.445 |
14 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'36.653 |
15 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'36.744 |
|
Best Lap |
Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time |
Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'40.905 |
|
Rider Standings |
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points |
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 45 |
2. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 36 |
3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 36 |
4. Colin Edwards Yamaha |
5. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 19 |
6. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 17 |
7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 16 |
8. Toni Elias Honda ESP 15 |
9. John Hopkins Suzuki |
10. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 12 |
11. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 12 |
12. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 10 |
13. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 5 |
14. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 4 |
15. Olivier Jacque Kawasaki FRA 4 |
18. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 2 |
19. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 2 |
|
Team Standings |
Pos. Team Points |
1. FIAT Yamaha Team 71 |
2. Repsol Honda Team 53 |
3. Ducati Marlboro Team 40 |
4. Honda Gresini 34 |
5. Rizla Suzuki 29 |
6. Pramac D'Antin 17 |
7. Konica Minolta Honda 12 |
8. Honda LCR 10 |
9. |
10. Tech3 Yamaha 4 |
11. Team Roberts 3 |
|
Manufacturer Standings |
Pos. Manufacturer Points |
1. Yamaha 45 |
2. Ducati 36 |
3. Honda 36 |
4. Suzuki 20 |
5. |
6. KR212V 3 |
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