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Courtesy
of MotoGP and Eurosport - click to enlarge
Valentino Rossi scored the biggest
win of his career on Sunday when he emerged victorious
from an intense battle with Max Biaggi to win the South African
Grand Prix, elevating him into the history books as the first
rider to win back-to-back races with two different manufacturers.
Before the start of the race, Valentino Rossi
made it extremely clear that his intention was to win the
opening race of the season, not only to get his Yamaha career
off to a perfect start, but to prove to former employers Honda
that he is the best rider currently in MotoGP.
Starting from pole, Rossi got the holeshot
into turn one with Honda rivals Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau
chasing hard but the defending champion was quick to up the
pace, stretching out the field over the first few laps. Biaggi
and Gibernau managed to stay with the Doctor and there began
a great 28-lap battle for supremacy.
The Honda riders had a clear power advantage
but Rossi delved deep into his unique abilities to hold Biaggi
and Gibernau at bay, but on lap five Biaggi decided to take
the initiative, blasting past the M1 and into the lead. However,
Rossi stayed with the Emperor and within a couple of corners
was back underneath his rival and into the lead.
The intensity increased, the lap record was
broken time and time again, and Sete Gibernau simply could
live with the leading duo, dropping back to finish a couple
of second adrift at the flag.
But up ahead, Rossi invited Biaggi into the
lead with five laps remaining and it was the perfect moment
for the Honda ace to pull away should he have anything in
reserve. But once again Rossi somehow kept his Yamaha right
behind the more powerful RC211V and regained the lead with
three laps remaining before putting in the killer penultimate
lap.
 Biaggi
fought back with a new lap record on the final lap but the
damage was done and Rossi took a historical win. Even Biaggi
came to congratulate the race winner before the emotion got
too much for the champion and was forced to park his M1 against
a tyre wall and shed some tears.
"It is difficult to describe all my
emotions in this short moment," Rossi said at the press
conference. "This is probably the best weekend of my
career. I rode very hard and had a great battle with Max,
it was a great show with good overtaking and I'd like to thank
everybody."
Results South Africa
1 Valentino Rossi (ITA) Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha 43:50.218
2 Max Biaggi (ITA) Camel Honda Team 43:50.428
3 Sete Gibernau (ESP) Telefonica Movistar Honda 13:57.473
4 Alex Barros (BRA) Repsol Honda 44:08.885
5 Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 44:14.312
6 Loris Capirossi (ITA) Marlboro Ducati 44:14.593
7 Colin Edwards (USA) Telefonica Movistar Honda 44:19.073
8 Makoto Tamada (JPN) Camel Honda Team 44:26.753
9 Norick Abe (JPN) Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha 44:26.861
10 Carlos Checa (ESP) Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha 44:29.502
11 Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha 44:34.024
12 Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing 44:34.138
13 John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki Grand Prix 44:46.246
14 Troy Bayliss (AUS) Marlboro Ducati 44:46.776
15 Shane Byrne (GBR) Aprilia Grand Prix 45:04.049 |
