British MotoGP: Rossi in a class of his own

Gauloises Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi extended his advantage at the top of the MotoGP World Championship to 104 points, with his seventh victory from nine races this season in the British Grand Prix today. The Italian splashed his way through several centimetres of standing water and lashings of torrential rain to clinch his fourth MotoGP win at Donington Park after a treacherous race that saw no fewer than eleven riders crash.

Rossi didn’t get the best of starts as he dropped from pole position to seventh but fought his way back to the front by the fourth lap. A slight mistake at the midway point saw him lose ground on the lead group but two fast laps brought him back into contention. Another burst from the Italian seven laps from the end shaved over 2 seconds from the fastest lap of the race up to that point and left Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) and Alex Barros (Honda) trailing in his wake.

Rossi’s Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards joined in the battle for a top three finish but settled with fourth place at the end of the intense race, another solid points haul moving him up to third in the championship, just one point behind Marco Melandri (Honda), who crashed out of the race.

Kenny Roberts Jr started the race in 16th position and by lap three had moved up to fourth place. He then became involved in a five way tussle for the victory with Valentino Rossi, Alex Barros, Suzuki’s own John Hopkins and Colin Edwards. The lead changed hands between all the riders before a break away from World Champion Rossi gave him the victory, leaving Roberts Jr to battle it out with Barros for second.

As the rain continued to fall heavily, Team SUZUKI MotoGP racer Roberts Jr made a fearless last-lap overtaking manoeuvre to seal a fantastic second place at the end of the exciting 29-lap race. Over 75,000 fans braved the sodden conditions to witness one of the best races of the season.

Hopkins made a great start to the race and was leading by lap three, but a serious misting problem with his helmet visor caused him to run off the track and fall from his Suzuki GSV-R.

The brave Anglo-American re-mounted his bike and forced his way back to the pits to repair the damage before re-joining the race and finally finishing in a courageous and points scoring 11th place.

Team SUZUKI MotoGP now travels to Sachsenring in Germany for round 10 of the MotoGP World Championship next weekend, hoping to build on today’s result.

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