Round thirteen of the series was at the Italian track of Misano, for the San Marino GP. Misano is close to Rossi’s home, and therefore he could count on even greater support than he usually receives. The track, in its modified clockwise incarnation, had returned to the series in 2007 after a thirteen year absence. Valentino had not scored on that occasion, and that meant that he would be just one of the many hoping for a first GP win for ‘the Doctor’ at this venue, which featured additional modifications for this year.

But the Fiat Yamaha team leader would surely have to contend with Marlboro Ducati mounted Stoner, the reigning MotoGP champion. Both Valentino and Casey were on the ‘right’ tyres, with their other main rival this year being Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa, who uses the Michelins that gave so much trouble at Brno. Pedrosa’s second at Assen was the last time Michelin had got a man on the podium, joined by Colin Edwards, and there had been three races since then.

Michelin has been the leading tyre manufacturer in MotoGP for many years now. Through the 1999 to 2003 seasons they had won every single race, with newcomers Bridgestone only getting a bit of a look in during the next three seasons. Before last year, the last time they’d been challenged in that department, and therefore in the championship, had been 1993. For the years 1994 to 2006, there were just thirteen race wins in the top class that didn’t go to Michelin. Bridgestone emerged on top in 2007, leading to Rossi’s switch to the Japanese rubber.

Michelin seemed to have met the challenge as the 2008 season got going, but lately it has looked much better for their rivals, and Brno was a low point. By Misano there was inevitable talk of a one make tyre rule for next season, or at least of those who have struggled recently being keen to switch to Bridgestone. The decision on the regulations was due at the Japanese race in Motegi. For now, an announcement was imminently expected that Pedrosa would be testing the opposition tyres on his Honda.

Qualifying at Misano looked better for Michelin, with three of their riders in the top six. Bridgestone were one-two, Stoner leading Rossi for the third race in a row. For Casey this meant seven pole positions in a row, whilst Valentino has only had one this season. Stoner’s achievement was despite a broken bone in one of his hands. These two were joined on the front row by Jorge Lorenzo, back to form after his troubled mid-season. The Fiat Yamaha team had only had both bikes on the front rank once before in 2008, back in round three. Lorenzo, of course, runs Michelin tyres, even though his team-mate does not.

Fourth went to Randy de Puniet, the first Honda rider on his LCR machine, and equal best for his season to date; and Pedrosa also piloted an RC212V shod by Michelin to take sixth, his bike with new front forks. They were split by Alice Ducati rider Toní Elías, who followed on from his impressive race at Brno with his best grid slot since Motegi last year. Rizla Suzuki’s riders had a new chassis under them, which Chris Vermeulen put into P7 for his 50th GP. The Australian is seemingly on the verge of renewing his existing contract for another year.

Eighth man Shin’ya Nakano continued with the HRC-spec spring valve engine RCV, the Gresini team leader of course significantly on Bridgestone tyres. Rounding out the third row, and followed by his team-mate, was Tech 3 Yamaha rider James Toseland. Like all the Yamaha M1 riders on this occasion, tenth man Edwards was handed a fine for performing a practice start during one of the practice sessions.

History was being made by the man in eleventh, with Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi about to make his 277th Grand Prix start, from 280 race entries. The 35-year-old Italian, who first raced a 125cc Honda in 1990, was taking the record of most GP starts from his one-time team-mate Alex Barros. Loris has been on the podium a grand total of 99 times, the most recent of which was last time out at Brno.

Twelfth went to Sylvain Guintoli (Alice), from Alex de Angelis (Gresini), Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda) and Marco Melandri (works Marlboro Ducati). P16 was secured by Repsol’s Nicky Hayden, but he was still troubled by his recent heel bone injury and withdrew from the race. Kawasaki’s men completed the grid, with John Hopkins ahead of Anthony West. Hopkins had missed all the practice sessions on Friday for undisclosed reasons.

The race went ahead in hot conditions, and Pedrosa made a good start to get into second behind Stoner. Rossi was third, but after the second corner he had a ‘moment’ which saw him lose control of the rear briefly, but without the loss of any positions. He regrouped and soon caught back up to the Spaniard ahead of him. Initially fourth was de Puniet, with Elías and Lorenzo next. Jorge was quick to pass both men ahead, and Randy went wide at the long right-handed Curva del Tramonto loop, where Toní also went through. Nakano, Toseland and Dovizioso were next in line.

Stoner shot away from the rest of them, leaving Pedrosa heading Rossi, Lorenzo and Elías. The final left-handed Curva Misano saw sixth man de Puniet crash out, leaving a bit of a gap to Nakano, now from Dovizioso, Toseland, Guintoli, Capirossi and West. An early out-of-the-seat moment for Vermeulen meant he fell back to P12, ahead of only Hopkins, Melandri and Edwards. Also out in a very early crash was de Angelis.

Stoner was soon just about out of range of the rest, and Rossi moved up to second with a move on the inside of Pedrosa at Tramonto. After this, a gap back from second to third also began to open out, with Lorenzo and Elías tagging on in a group of three Spanish riders on Honda, Yamaha and Ducati machinery. Nakano led the rest, with a small margin over Dovizioso, and further back Vermeulen was starting to recover ground.

Rossi put in a couple of new fastest laps, which brought his deficit to Stoner just under the three-second mark, and got him clear of the trio of Spaniards. They were having their own race, and the slightly banked left-hand Curva della Quercia, at the end of the back straight, saw some of this action. Lorenzo got past Pedrosa there with a move on the inside, leaving Dani to deal with Elías. The former 125cc team-mates changed places at the first right-handed Curva Rimini, where Toní braked on the inside to go through.

Stoner led Rossi still, but the Italian was reducing the gap between them. Casey needed the points from a race win but, following on from the incident at Brno, he now crashed out on the lowside when he seemingly lost grip with the front tyre and the bike slid out. It was too damaged for him to resume, and he was surely seeing a fifty point margin that was about to get larger still. The local fans were of course delighted to see that Valentino was now leading the race.

Rossi now had a lead of almost three seconds, with team-mate Lorenzo now into a clear second. Elías and Pedrosa were similarly spaced but with a bigger gap to fifth and beyond. Dovizioso had closed up on Nakano and then got past, with Toseland the third man in the group. He now relegated the Japanese rider in a move at Rimini, and started to work on pulling in the small gap that Andrea had found himself.

Rossi’s lead over Lorenzo was just under three seconds, and would increase slightly but remain in that sort of range. With four laps left to go, it had dropped from 3.6s to 2.7s, and then to 2.4s, but Valentino was in control to the end and Jorge did not mount a challenge. It was a popular success, and was the Fiat team’s second one-two of this year, after France in May. There was a bigger gap back to third man Elías, who was on the podium for the second time running. And with the reported improvement of team spirit since Luís d’Antín’s disappearance, perhaps it was no surprise. The d’Antín team had managed podium results only three times in the previous seven years.

Pedrosa maintained fourth, well clear of the next man. He was third Spaniard home, but the first Honda rider, as he had been in the first nine races of the season. Thirteen points brought him closer to Stoner overall, but he would have needed to make the podium to overtake the Australian. In the event of a switch to Bridgestone tyres, perhaps Dani would do better next time out.

Fifth place had been hotly disputed. Toseland had got clear of Nakano and gone after Dovizioso, bringing the gap down. Joining this tussle was Vermeulen, who had earlier dealt with West, then got to the front of a group that also included Capirossi and Guintoli. From there he caught the fading Nakano and went ahead at right-handed Curva del Carro to join in behind Andrea and James. Toseland overtook the Honda rider, and Chris soon followed suit, being on the outside at Rimini to dive inside at the turn two left Variante del Parco. Vermeulen also passed Toseland to go clear for P5.

Sixth was therefore between Toseland and Dovizioso, until Capirossi followed the lead of his team-mate and caught this pair. He got in between them, ready for some last lap action. Turns four and five, the right and left before the back straight, saw Andrea go into P7. He went inside Loris for five, but the return move followed at six. Having fended off that one, Capirossi went to the inside of Toseland into Tramonto, but he went wide so that James repassed going out of the long bend. They finished the race with Toseland heading Capirossi and Dovizioso.

Toseland equalled his best GP result, having already been sixth in four previous races, and British riders had a good day, as 17-year-old Bradley Smith was second to Gabor Talmácsi in the 125 race. Melandri had found some good pace and progressed at the expense of four other riders to take a solitary ninth, also his third best result of the year, and this took him beyond 800 points for his 95 races in the MotoGP class. Edwards came through for tenth, with Guintoli dropping to P11, and Nakano falling from sixth to twelfth, his worst result since the first round this year. Kawasaki riders West and Hopkins were the final finishers.

It was San Marino’s race but it was Italy’s day. Valentino Rossi’s first GP win at Misano was also his 68th in the top Grand Prix class. It meant that he matched the record of former 500cc racer and multiple champion Giacomo Agostini. The 500 class, in which Rossi won thirteen times, became MotoGP in 2002. Valentino won more often than anyone else with the 990cc bikes, before the current 800cc formula. Agostini and Rossi are jointly ahead of the rest, the most successful of whom were Mick Doohan (54 wins), Mike Hailwood (37) and Eddie Lawson (31).

Rossi’s result, coupled with Casey Stoner’s third no-score, took the championship points lead out to 75. Dani Pedrosa was back on track, closing to within two of Stoner. If the Australian wins all five races remaining, Rossi needs only top five finishes. He seems pretty secure, but if anything goes wrong for him it could still get closer. But few would now bet against an eighth GP title for him.

Jorge Lorenzo is out of that equation, but after being bashed around in a number of mid-season incidents he was fully back on the pace this time, if not 100% fit. This result was his best since round five and, while it was good for him and for the works Yamaha team, it was also good for Michelin. But Bridgestone’s form was good for Toní Elías, who has clearly now got to grips with the Ducati Desmosedici GP8, unlike factory rider Marco Melandri, and should have refreshed views of his potential in the eyes of the team managers looking at 2009 riders. But will he be a factor in the next race, the first at the prestigious Indianapolis venue.

Standings after thirteen races: Rossi 262; Stoner 187; Pedrosa 185; Lorenzo 140; Dovizioso 118; Vermeulen 110; Edwards 108; Nakano 87; Capirossi 86; Toseland 85; Hayden 84; Elías 82.
Yamaha 291; Ducati 228; Honda 223; Suzuki 139; Kawasaki 66.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• Valentino Rossi wins Brno GP, Stoner is out
• Valentino Rossi wins the GP at Laguna Seca
• Casey Stoner masters the rains in German GP

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

• Think you know your sport? Click here to try the Sportnetwork Prize Quizzes

Motorcycle Racing Online Poll