Photographs courtesy of Dorna - click to enlarge

Circuit de Catalunya is a beautiful, flowing track set in a natural amphitheatre in the Catalan hills about 40 miles from Barcelona. That, for the benefit of our non European readers, is in Spain. And we all know what happened in Spain last time the MotoGP circus rolled into town - there were teddies thrown from prams and Dr Rossi made himself very unpopular with the Spanish fans. So here it was - payback time.

Qualifying saw payback look increasingly likely as local hero Sete Gibernau unequivocally seized pole position from his team mate Marco Melandri. Even more importantly, he relegated Rossi to third on the grid, just ahead of Max Biaggi. It looks as though the unpleasantness of the early season has been put aside, happily, as the leading riders all seem to have a grudging respect for each other even if they're unlikely to be friends, but Gibernau must have been feeling pretty pleased with himself nonetheless. Nicky Hayden did well, too, finding himself next to team-mate Biaggi on the grid, ahead of Loris Capirossi on the big, brutal Ducati. Colin Edwards, though on the third row, should take heart from the fact that he was still only eight tenths of a second off pole. In fact the pace was so good that even eleventh placed John Hopkins was within a second of Gibernau's qualifying time...

But enough of qualifying. Let's look at the race.

When the lights went out it seemed as though Rossi was asleep as he shot from third to sixth in the drag down to the first corner. Gibernau, Melandri, Biaggi, Hayden and Barros all made hay while The Doctor slept, Gibernau in particular capitalising and building a gap. Rossi, in the meantime, rapidly woke up to the fact that he may just have goofed and started making amends. That's actually a bit of an understatement. It would be fairer to say that Rossi started carving through the field as, by the time the leading pack completed the first lap he was in second place, right behind Gibernau. The crowd were delighted.

Lap two saw Melandri get past both Rossi and his team-mate Gibernau to take the lead which he held, just, until lap five when Rossi slid past. As did Gibernau and Barros. The next lap saw Gibernau take the lead and really put the hammer down, putting in a string of fastest laps in an attempt to break clear. And it worked to an extent, as Melandri, Barros, Hayden and Biaggi all dropped back. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, that Rossi fellow stayed, as of attached by elastic, firmly in touch.

The battle for third was a titanic affair which would run all the way to the wire. Biaggi suffered tyre trouble and gradually dropped back while Makoto Tamada, who had been well and truly in the chase, took it one step further and lost the front in a big style, fortunately without hurting himself. Slightly further back Colin Edwards was having a lonely ride in a respectable seventh place while a long way behind him an almighty scrap between Shinya Nakano and Troy Bayliss was finally decided in the Australian's favour, netting him a best for a long time eight place finish. Nakano just managed to avoid being mugged by Ruben Xaus who rounded off the top ten on the Fortuna Yamaha. The two factory Ducatis came eleventh and twelfth, suffering hugely from tyre problems which made their ill manners even worse as the track got hotter. Again we find ourselves pointing to the sole Brit in MotoGP, Shakey Byrne on the underpowered KTM Proton and giving him a big thumbs up. This time, not only did he not come last but he managed to finish ahead of Alex Hofmann on the factory Kawasaki and avoided being lapped as well.

As promised, third place was a vicious knife fight right down to the line, finally settled in favour of Marco Melandri by under half a second from Alex Barros who in turn pipped Nicky Hayden by just seven hundredths of a second. A fantastic ride by Barros, whose qualifying was lacklustre at best, and from Hayden who may finally be laying the ghost of crashes past to rest.

Up at the front, meantime, Rossi dropped back and appeared to lose the plot for a lap or two, running wide and allowing a yawning gulf to appear between himself and Gibernau. Then, with three laps to go, he pulled the gap back in and, seemingly without effort, simply draughted past the Honda rider on the main straight, braking deep into the first corner and extending a half second lead within three or four bends. Rossi then proceeded to take the newly set lap record, screw it up and throw it away, taking a full second and a half from Gibernau's 2004 time. Though the Spaniard fought like a lion, there was nothing he could do about Rossi's lead and he eventually seemed to accept that second was better than another gravel bath and eased off, finally finishing a second behind Rossi though six seconds clear of Melandri.

The Spanish crowd, though obviously disappointed not to see their man on the top step, are race fans first and foremost, and reacted the way you'd expect when witnessing a display of pure talent. They went crazy.

The next race is in two weeks at Assen, Holland. It's one of Rossi's favourite circuits. Anyone want to bet against him getting a sixth win there?

Thought not...

Results

1 V Rossi, Yamaha
2 S Gibernau, Honda
3 M Melandri, Honda
4 A Barros, Honda
5 N Hayden, Honda
6 M Biaggi, Honda
7 C Edwards, Yamaha
8 T Bayliss, Honda
9 S Nakano, Kawasaki
10 R Xaus, Yamaha

Championship Standing after 6 rounds

145 V Rossi
87 M Melandri
77 M Biaggi
73 S Gibernau
65 A Barros
57 C Edwards
47 N Hayden
43 L Capirossi
40 19 S Nakano
33 C Checa