Rossi takes fifth MotoGP title but Ducati wins

Complete report and image library: Valentino Rossi won his fifth consecutive World MotoGP title yesterday afternoon, though the race was won by Ducati-mounted Loris Capirossi who won his second Grand Prix in a week, giving Ducati its best ever MotoGP result when his team-mate Carlos Checa finished third. Having won a 125 and 250 title prior to his string of five consecutive MotoGP titles, Rossi’s championship t-shirt featured a Barry Sheene-style 7, for seven world titles, and a white commemorative helmet was created by AGV for the moment, also with the number 7 on it.

In taking the title, Rossi became only the third rider in history to win the premier-class title on five occasions, emulating the achievements of his long-time mentor Mick Doohan and the legendary Giacomo Agostini. Now a seven-time World Champion, Rossi stopped on his victory lap and launched into his now customary riotous celebration with his fan club, dressed as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to commemorate the occasion with one dwarf for each championship.

The Italian secured the championship with four races to spare thanks largely to the swift action of his mechanics, who resolved a series of tyre and set-up problems during this morning’s warm-up session and allowed him to charge from seventh on the grid to a sensational second place behind eventual winner Loris Capirossi (Ducati).

Rossi commented on his title victory: “I am very happy with this championship. I know I gave more than 100% today, and we had a lot of problems this weekend. This morning I wasn’t sure if I could fight for the podium! After the start I stayed calm as some riders made some mistakes, and I was able wait for things to clear. Step-by-step and metre-by-metre I moved through the pack and I used every second of the race. I got to third behind Nicky and I thought I could fight because the bike was feeling okay and I knew that Nicky was having some of the same problems as me. Eventually I passed him and caught up to Loris and at some places I was faster, some slower. I passed him but when he passed me back I knew that he had been playing with me, like a cat with a mouse, because in the last seven laps he changed gear and I couldn’t stay with him, he was incredible! “This morning in the warm-up we made some changes and found a better feeling. Michelin worked really hard to give us a competitive package for the race and this showed, because it was a great improvement to yesterday. “So I am World Champion for the seventh time and it’s a great feeling. It’s been great to come back from the bad result at Motegi last week and do so well; we made a good race today. This title is not just down to me but to everybody involved; Jeremy Burgess, all my mechanics, all the Yamaha engineers and all the people on the management side, including Davide Brivio. “Today I put the number 7 on my t-shirt because this is the number of my championships but also because it was the number of Barry Sheene, who was a great hero of mine and a truly great racer. The celebration with my fan club, dressed as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was just a bit of fun to celebrate the seven titles, and also because I always liked the story as a child! Now I go back to Italy for a couple of days but we can also make a little party here – I have my mother and some of my best friends from Italy to help me celebrate! “This year Yamaha has worked so hard again to give me the bike I need. At the start of the year we had some problems with the M1, but then we found the right way forward and the bike started to fly. The M1 has been great fun to race this year. Last year was a surprise to win but this time everyone was ready for me and I was the target. It has been a great achievement to beat all my rivals this year, because they have been very strong. “I think for me the race at Mugello was the biggest emotion of the season, because it was in front of my home fans. Every year there is a different story to the championship, and this year has been a hard battle. The emotion to win a seventh world championship is difficult to explain. The first is like a dream, the second unbelievable; there are just no words to describe the seventh! The feeling is different to when I won the 125cc and 250cc titles, but just as good! “Racing with Yamaha gives me a great taste and a great motivation to win; these last two championships have been two of the best.”

The Tyre War hots up

The race was also memorable in many other ways, in that the tyre war between Michelin and Bridgestone reached new heights in Malaysia. Everyone had expected Bridgestone to be competitive in Japan, as much of the testing of Bridgestone tyres takes place at the Motegi circuit, but from the moment practice started at Sepang, Bridgestone tyres were clearly very competitive there too. Suddenly, the Ducatis, the Kawasakis and the Suzukis in particular were flying.

By the time Loris Capirossi had snared his second pole position in a row, Sete Gibernau was the only Michelin rider to finish on the front row, with the second Michelin/Honda on the outside of the second row – Nicky Hayden – and world champion elect Rossi (Michelin also) relegated to the third row. John Hopkins qualified for the front row for the first time on the greatly improved Suzuki, with Shinya Nakano’s Kawasaki and Kenny Roberts’ Suzuki filling fourth and fifth on the grid. Compared to the start of the year, fans could have been excused for wondering if the grid had formed up backwards.

So concerned were Michelin with the competitiveness of their Japanese adversary that a special batch of tyres was turned around in short order and flown in overnight from France for the race.

The race itself was one of immense attrition, as one would expect with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees in the shade and the track temperature running as high as 58 degrees.

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