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Rossi beats Capirossi and Biaggi at home

Win number three
By Dan Moakes
June 8 2003
With Italy home to the three most successful riders currently racing in Grands Prix, the Mugello crowd probably expected success from either Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi or Loris Capirossi. They were not disappointed, as this trio showed the rest how it should be done, pushing each other all the way.

In fact, it was almost a repeat of the 2000 Italian GP, which also boiled down to a three-way contest between the same three riders. On that occasion, Capirossi had been the one to handle the pressure best; this time would be his first experience of racing a Ducati at home. He started well, putting the number 65 Desmosedici V4 second on the grid, behind Rossi’s Honda, on pole for the third time this year.

Biaggi was also on the front row, with the customer-spec RCV, but separated from his compatriots by Shin’ya Nakano. The Japanese rider was in the first rank for only the second time since 2001 - when he did it nine times - and was first of the Yamahas for the second time this year. More Japanese machines lined up in the next six places, with Tohru Ukawa, Sete Gibernau, Carlos Checa, Olivier Jacque, Alex Barros and Makoto Tamada qualifying fifth to tenth.

At the start of the race, Capirossi got away to best effect, leading from Biaggi, Nakano, Gibernau and Checa. Rossi dropped back to sixth initially, and was followed by Marco Melandri, Ukawa, Jacque, Troy Bayliss and Barros. Melandri had gained five places, whilst Tamada was amongst those who’d gone backwards. During the first lap he was joined by Checa, when the Spaniard lost three places to eighth. Rossi was always likely to go in the other direction, and he soon took his Repsol machine past Gibernau.

Into lap two, at the first turn, Nakano passed Biaggi to go into an impressive second. As they circulated, it already looked like a bit of a gap was building behind the top five. The last of these, Gibernau, set a fastest lap as he moved clear of Ukawa, Melandri and Checa. However, Ukawa was also making progress, and the Camel Honda began to catch the leading group. At this stage Barros became the first retirement, sliding his Gauloises Yamaha into the gravel.

The Brazilian was soon joined on the sidelines by the Suzuki GSV-Rs of John Hopkins and Kenny Roberts, as the two Americans managed to take each other out. The year has not started well for the blue machines. At the front, the first six were breaking up into two separate groups. Both Biaggi and Rossi went by Nakano in one, as Valentino took advantage of Max’s initial attack. These three continued to track Capirossi, while Gibernau and Ukawa were together and not too far back.

The top Yamaha men were looking quite good in this race, although Nakano began to lose touch with the leading Italian trio, whilst finding Gibernau’s Honda moving in on him. However, Checa was on the move again, passing Fortuna team-mate Melandri for seventh, and then going through to relieve Ukawa of sixth. Melandri was next passed by Bayliss, on the second Marlboro Ducati, and these two were followed by Jacque, Colin Edwards, Tamada, Noriyuki Haga, Nicky Hayden, Alex Hofmann, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Garry McCoy, Jeremy McWilliams and Andrew Pitt.

Having led all the way so far, Capirossi now made a mistake, sliding wide in a right-hander and letting Biaggi go past him. Loris was obviously still keen to win, and attacked the Roman in search of a way back through. However, Rossi now found his way inside the Ducati, giving the 2000 winner even more to do. Biaggi seemed to up the pace, and this served to string the leaders out a little, with Capirossi losing a bit of ground to his two rivals.

The Italian bike was still working well, though, and ‘Capirex’ was able to close the gap down again. Also, Bayliss was bringing his number 12 machine up towards the leading runners. The Australian managed to catch Ukawa, and was soon running sixth, in front of both Tohru and Checa. Unfortunately for Troy, this was to be his second non-finish, as he became another runner to end up in the gravel. Haga’s Aprilia had done the same thing not long before.

As Rossi started to really pressure Biaggi, so Checa did the same to Gibernau. The Yamaha man braked late into the first corner, but his speed took him wide, and Sete immediately repassed on the inside. Before long, Nakano and Gibernau had eased away from Checa, and then he had Ukawa going by him for sixth. At this stage, Tamada had advanced to eighth, some way clear of Edwards, and the Texan was equally safe from Jacque, Melandri, Hayden, Hofmann, Kiyonari, McWilliams, McCoy, Pitt and Nobuatsu Aoki.

The début race for the great-sounding Proton KR5 bike wasn’t to last much longer, as both Aoki and McWilliams had to retire with fuel pickup problems. The fact that at least one of them had been leading the regular factory Kawasakis may be of some comfort for the small team. However, they still have a long way to go to beat the other V5 machine in MotoGP, and the main action was now between two of the RC211V Hondas.

Capirossi had already managed to slide through on the inside of Rossi at turn one, helped by great top speed readings for the Ducati. But the champion had made the place back on the inside of a left-hander, and picked up his pursuit of Biaggi again. Valentino seemed unable to overtake Max on the brakes, and looked like he was being held back. However, at half distance ‘the Doctor’ put his bike on the inside of Biaggi’s at the first corner and took over in front.

As ever, this signified the start of Rossi’s big push. He reeled off a fastest lap, which instantly took his lead up to half a second. The positions stayed much the same for the next few circuits, but with eight to go Capirossi went inside Biaggi at turn one, only for the Honda to get second back through the next sweepers. This pair then swapped places again, touching fairings into the bargain, all of which helped Rossi as he began to get away.

When Loris went past Max on the outside of the first turn, it led to more side-by-side action as the Honda tried to come back again. This time Capirossi just held it, and it was enough for him to start building a gap over his compatriot. Further back, Tamada had now passed Checa for seventh, and Melandri was putting pressure on Jacque in P10. He would eventually get through, but ‘OJ’ was able to get his M1 back past before the flag. Tamada’s progress continued, as he had passed Ukawa, and both men were catching Nakano and Gibernau.

As the final laps counted down, it looked as if Rossi had enough of a gap over Capirossi. Although Loris set a fastest lap on his twentieth tour, it only gained him a few tenths on Valentino. He was pushing on such that Biaggi couldn’t stay with him, but ultimately remained a little over 1.5s behind at the finish, as Rossi won his third race of 2003. So, the biggest drama at the end was reserved for the tussle over fourth position. This had become a four-way affair, with Nakano, Gibernau, Tamada and Ukawa all involved.

Tamada’s Bridgestone-shod Pramac Honda had advanced impressively, and the tyres were working well in the hot conditions. Makoto was able to pass Gibernau on the brakes at turn one, and was attacking Nakano next. Ukawa was apparently spurred on by this, and moved ahead of Gibernau on the straight as they went into the final lap. Nakano’s impressive run as lead Yamaha man ended slightly disappointingly, with Tamada overtaking him on the final lap, but he still proved his point. The former Superbike winner took a career best fourth as a result of his late move.

There were only three nations in the top eight on the results sheet - the big three in MotoGP terms. Rossi, Capirossi and Biaggi mounted the podium in front of their home fans. The Japanese trio of Tamada, Nakano and Ukawa were next, and Gibernau was followed by Checa for Spain. More points went to Edwards, Jacque, Melandri, Hayden and Kiyonari, with wildcard Hofmann bringing his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR home in front of the team’s regular runners, McCoy and Pitt.

Although Valentino Rossi has only finished first or second this year, and is opening up a points lead, it does look like there are going to be riders challenging him more than in 2002. And maybe Ducati are looking capable of winning a race or two in their comeback season. Stay tuned.

Standings after five races: Rossi 115; Biaggi 83; Gibernau 72; Barros 46; Ukawa 42; Bayliss 40; Capirossi 36; Nakano 33; Jacque 32; Hayden 26; Edwards and Tamada 25.


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