MotoGP Rd 2: Gibernau crashes, Barros/Honda win, Rossi extends title lead

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Barros celebrates after the event

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As the rain came and went over the next few laps, different riders were caught at different times, and first Troy Bayliss, then Colin Edwards both crashed, but both remounted and continued in the hope of still grabbing some valuable points.

Edwards was the luckiest. His low speed crash saw him remount so quickly he only lost two positions, while Bayliss lost four spots to drop to eleventh.

In the final wash-up, Barros took an easy win, with Rossi taking 20 points and a one-race lead over his closest rival in Gibernau – unless luck deserts Rossi, it’s unlikely that Gibernau will find it easy to get back on equal terms with Rossi from here.

Barros’ seventh career win catapults him into contention for the championship. He has shown previously that he has the talent to run with Rossi but two wretched years followed his purple patch of form in late 2002. Now after two races he sits just seven points behind Rossi and he was so fast today that Rossi could not run with him.

While Rossi dominated the bookies odds prior to the event, going into the race as a long odds-on favourite (1.66), Barros went to Estoril as an outside chance for the race with odds of 20/1. With each session, his odds fell, until by the time he had qualified for pole position, he had firmed to 4/1 (5) with only Rossi (1.66) and Gibernau (3.5) ahead of him in the betting. After today’s warm-up, where he was again the fastest, Barros’ odds firmed further to 4.5. By contrast, Biaggi was forth favourite at 15.0.

Odds prior to the race: V Rossi 1.66, S Gibernau 3.75, A Barros 4.5, M Biaggi 15.00, N Hayden 17.00, M Melandri 21.00, C Checa 21.00, C Edwards 26.00, M Tamada 41.00, J Hopkins 41.00, L Capirossi 51.00, Kenny Roberts 51.00, T Bayliss 67.00, S Nakano 67.00, R Xuas 81.00, T Elias 101.00, S Byrne 101.00, R Rolfo 101.00

Marco Melandri backed up his first round fourth place with a second round third and Melandri now holds third place in the points race ahead of Biaggi, Gibernau and Kawasaki’s Shinya Nakano. Nakano again rode an uneventful but sound race for his eighth place and holds sixth place in the title.

Alex Barros, Camel Honda, first in race and now second in championship points table: “I made a strike today, I’m unbelievably happy, this has been a perfect weekend. I have to thank both the team and Michelin, they have given me great things to work with. We’ve taken every session here, pole position and victory too. I also want to thank my sponsor Camel, who have filled me with confidence. This morning the conditions were difficult, and in the warm-up we went out on wet tyres but the track wasn’t that damp. The race was even more complicated. The track was virtually dry at the beginning but then there were a few drops. There was a moment when Sete took a bit of an advantage, then he slowed and I caught him up. I began to push and push, trying to put pressure on him, even though I could feel the raindrops on my helmet and on the bike. Then he lost the front end and crashed out, he was at the limit. They put out the white flag, but I didn’t think about coming in for one moment, it wasn’t raining enough for that, and it wasn’t even worth putting on intermediate tyres. It was a tough race, the track was in difficult conditions, but the satisfaction is enormous. Valentino pushed me hard at the end, and though I tried to respond, I lost a few seconds on the last laps, but only because I was preparing my celebrations!”

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