Italian MotoGP - Italian tour de force

Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team) 14th: “I didn’t get a good start today and I found myself making a hard pass on Kenny Roberts to make up for it. I also had a good fight with Rolfo, but it took me a while to get past him because his Ducati is just so fast down the straight. By the time I did the group in front had already made a huge gap, so it was a lonely race. The main goal today was to finish in the points, and we did manage to do that. Because I kept a good rhythm I’ve managed to get more comfortable on the bike and that put me in a good frame of mind for Barcelona.”

Kenny Roberts Jr. again did not give a quote to the media. The Suzuki press office issued a statement saying Roberts “finished in 15th position after a difficult race where he struggled to find what he wanted from his bike. He was very disappointed with the result as both his crew and he had worked tirelessly all weekend.”

Sete Gibernau, Movistar Honda MotoGP: crash: “I decided that only a victory would do for me at this Grand Prix and I crashed because I was trying to chase the pace at the front. I’m not going to start looking for excuses – we’ve done a bad job here, myself more than anybody, and that’s it. I can’t explain why we can do such a good job all weekend and then not come out with the result in the race because we are capable of being competitive. I can’t deny that the championship is slipping away from me already but I’m not going to throw the towel in. I just want to win as many races as possible and not think any further than that. I’d like Catalunya to be a turning point.”

Italian MotoGP Pos/ Rider / Nat / Team / Motorcycle / Time/ KM/H 1 / Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Gauloises Yamaha Team / YAMAHA / 42'42.994 / 169.444 2 / Max BIAGGI / ITA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 42'43.353 / 169.421 3 / Loris CAPIROSSI / ITA / Ducati Marlboro Team / DUCATI / 42'46.868 / 169.189 4 / Marco MELANDRI / ITA / Movistar Honda MotoGP / HONDA / 42'46.973 / 169.182 5 / Carlos CHECA / SPA / Ducati Marlboro Team / DUCATI / 42'50.892 / 168.924 6 / Nicky HAYDEN / USA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 42'51.198 / 168.904 7 / Alex BARROS / BRA / Camel Honda / HONDA / 42'54.566 / 168.683 8 / Makoto TAMADA / JPN / Konica Minolta Honda / HONDA / 43'08.388 / 167.782 9 / Colin EDWARDS / USA / Gauloises Yamaha Team / YAMAHA / 43'08.479 / 167.776 10 / Shinya NAKANO / JPN / Kawasaki Racing Team / KAWASAKI / 43'19.543 / 167.062 11 / John HOPKINS / USA / Team Suzuki MotoGP / SUZUKI / 43'24.631 / 166.736 12 / Alex HOFMANN / GER / Kawasaki Racing Team / KAWASAKI / 43'26.653 / 166.606 13 / Troy BAYLISS / AUS / Camel Honda / HONDA / 43'26.910 / 166.590 14 / Ruben XAUS / SPA / Fortuna Yamaha Team / YAMAHA / 43'34.569 / 166.102 15 / Kenny ROBERTS / USA / Team Suzuki MotoGP / SUZUKI / 43'53.269 / 164.922 Fastest Lap (Unofficial new record): Max BIAGGI 1'50.117 171.472 Km/h Lap 5 Lap Record: Sete GIBERNAU 1'51.133 169.904 Km/h 2004

World Championship Positions: 1 ROSSI 120, 2 MELANDRI 71, 3 BIAGGI 67, 4 GIBERNAU 53, 5 BARROS 52, 6 EDWARDS 48, 7 CAPIROSSI 39, 8 HAYDEN 36, 9 NAKANO 33, 10 CHECA 28, 11 JACQUE 25, 12 BAYLISS 24, 13 XAUS 18, 14 HOPKINS 16, 15 TAMADA 16.