MotoGP Rd1: Rossi takes dramatic last gasp win
from Motorcycles (349 articles)
Today’s race was the GP debut of Kawasaki’s new big-bang motor. Still in the early stages of development, the 990cc four-cylinder engine displayed its future potential in today’s windswept race at Jerez. The latest generation of Bridgestone tyres, with stiffer case construction, also proved ideally suited to the conditions and the Ninja ZX-RR machines of Nakano and Hofmann. Nakano settled into fifth place on lap one and for much of the first half of the race he rode alone, as he tagged the leading group containing eventual race winner Valentino Rossi, though from a distance and an ever-incrwasing distance at that.
With a race time some 27.6 seconds slower than Rossi, over a 27 lap race, the Kawasaki is not yet good enough to win races, though Nakano was less than a second behind fourth-placed Barros and the modern-day Green Meanie will be a contender this year.
For all those that did well, there were those that didn’t. Ducati MotoGP Team riders Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi made an injury-blighted start to the 2005 MotoGP season at Jerez today, riding courageously to tenth and 13th positions. Checa, suffering from a recent shoulder injury, was even uncertain that he would be strong enough to finish the race. Capirossi meanwhile needed pain-killing injections to race with a chipped bone in his ankle.
Similarly Suzuki appears to have a bike capable of competitng against all but the Rossie/Gibernau juggernaut. John Hopkins has been fast in practise and through the preseason but when qualifying was finished, his speed had not been reflected on the time-sheets and he started eleventh. As it turned out, he secured his first MotoGP points of the season with a hard-fought 14th place after a coming together with Roberto Rolfo that relegated him down the field to 15th at the end of the first lap. Battling with the consistently high winds that seemed to affect the Suzuki GSV-R prototype race bike, the gutsy Anglo-American – who had been suffering with flu all weekend – fought against the elements to record a points-scoring finish.
Tamada on the new Konica Minolta Honda slowly drifted backwards after a good start, became embroiled in a war with Bayliss, Barros, Nakano, Edwards and Biaggi at different times and finished a disappointing eighth for someone of his ability. We’re expecting much better performances as the season wears on from the Japanese hard-charger.
Meanwhile, Rossi’s Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards kept his promise of passing as many riders as possible after starting from 15th on the grid. The American made steady progress despite the dusty track surface, making overtaking precarious anywhere off the racing line, eventually sealing ninth place on his Yamaha MotoGP debut.
The other two disappointments were from the non-Japanese teams of Team Roberts and WCM Blata.
After an eleventh hour agreement was reached between KTM and Team Roberts to use the KTM V4 engine in the 2005 Moto GP season, KTM has had to supply 2004 model engines at the first GPs in order to develop parts for the 2005 engines.
Gallery Images
Share this article
