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Valentino Rossi ‘wins’ at Donington Park...

First on the road
By Dan Moakes
July 13 2003
The weather was hot for the British Grand Prix, and so was the pace. The top Honda RC211V riders were at the front, with the best of the Yamahas and the Ducatis not too far behind. As we have come to expect, the race was between Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau.

The grid was a little different this time, with Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi (both Ducati) pushed onto row two by the leading Yamaha men. For the sixth time this season there was a Honda on pole position, but it was the first for Biaggi since swapping machines at the end of 2002. Gibernau and Rossi were second and fourth, split by Marco Melandri’s Fortuna Yamaha. This was the best result for the 20-year-old since moving up from the 250c class.

Carlos Checa was fifth on the second M1, from Bayliss, Capirossi and Olivier Jacque. The Frenchman’s team-mate, Alex Barros, would not be starting due to an injury sustained earlier in the meeting. Row three had Colin Edwards (Aprilia), Tohru Ukawa (Honda), Shin’ya Nakano (Yamaha) and Nicky Hayden (Honda). Yukio Kagayama continued as temporary replacement for Suzuki’s Kenny Roberts.

Towards the back came the 500cc two-stroke machines of the Proton KR and WCM teams. Once again, Jeremy McWilliams and Nobuatsu Aoki had reverted to the KR3 machine, whilst WCM fielded Chris Burns and David de Gea on their ROC-Yamaha bikes. This team had previously tried to enter the series with the Harris WCM, only to be told it too closely resembled a production Yamaha R1. Unfortunately, only full-on prototypes are allowed in MotoGP.

At the start, Biaggi got into the lead ahead of Gibernau, Capirossi, Melandri, Bayliss, Checa and Rossi. The Italian was followed by Jacque, Hayden and John Hopkins on the leading Suzuki. Ukawa was a first corner casualty, his Camel RCV ending up in the gravel at Redgate. Rossi was obviously not happy with seventh, and was powering forward as soon as possible. He went past Checa into the Fogarty esses, and then got by Bayliss in the Melbourne loop, finishing the lap fifth.

Following Biaggi, Gibernau, Melandri, Capirossi and Rossi across the line came Checa, Bayliss, Jacque, Hayden, Hopkins, Edwards, Noriyuki Haga, Nakano, Kagayama, Makoto Tamada, McWilliams and Aoki. Rossi was quickly past Capirossi, and he also got in front of Melandri at the Melbourne hairpin, setting the fastest lap in the process. Unfortunately, Burns’ first proper GP outing was over quickly, as he crashed coming onto the back straight.

Rossi’s momentum carried him past Gibernau next, with a daring move at the inside for the Old Hairpin. From this point, for several laps, ‘the Doctor’ threatened Biaggi unceasingly. He was looking to make a move at one of a number of locations, including Melbourne, Old Hairpin, Fogarty and Goddard. Biaggi had his work cut out staying ahead of the works rider.

Even in the early stages the first four began to get away from Capirossi and Checa. Jacque was on his own in seventh, with Bayliss now heading the pack. This all changed when Melandri’s promising run came to a premature end. The front end of Marco’s bike got away from him at the esses, and he went down. Capirossi and Checa were lucky to avoid the stranded Yamaha, and the incident created a sizeable gap behind third man Gibernau.

Having dropped back from a good start, Bayliss now started to move up again, pulling Hayden along as he homed in on Jacque. Soon, Edwards made this into a close trio, until the Australian’s pace took him away from the two Americans. Hopkins was now tenth, from Haga, Nakano, Kagayama, Tamada, McWilliams, Aoki, Garry McCoy and Ryuichi Kiyonari.

While the leading positions remained unchanged, the situation was very different back in the field. Haga took tenth away from Hopkins, Edwards overtook Hayden for eighth, and McCoy’s Kawasaki advanced to fifteenth at the expense of the Proton pair. Edwards then joined Bayliss in the battle with Jacque, which went the Ducati man’s way. With Troy going off in pursuit of Checa, Colin wasn’t wanting to get stuck behind ‘OJ’. At McLean’s corner the Aprilia went for the inside, forcing Jacque to yield the place.

At one-third distance, Rossi was still right on Biaggi’s tail. But Max then made a mistake at the esses, running in too deep, and had to motor over the grass because he couldn’t make the turn in. Valentino was instantly set free, and already had a fairly comfortable lead as his rival rejoined the track. It was almost over right at that moment. Biaggi continued to give chase, with Gibernau even further behind, but it didn’t look like he would catch Rossi.

Meanwhile, Bayliss was attempting to get ahead of Checa. On lap fifteen he had a good try at the outside for the Melbourne hairpin, but ran in too far, so that Carlos cut back on him. But Troy’s position was not unduly compromised, and he accelerated out to take the inside line into Goddard, and go through. After that, he moved to try and catch his fourth-placed team-mate.

Rossi now held a two-second lead over Biaggi, who was running a softer compound rear tyre, and the Roman was about four seconds ahead of Gibernau. Behind the Ducatis, Checa was now just ahead of Edwards, Jacque and Hayden, with Haga homing in on all four of them. The Spaniard seemed able to pull away from the leading Aprilia, which came under renewed attack from Jacque. The Yamaha rider went inside the Texan at the esses, regaining his position, and Hayden did the same thing next time around.

Edwards was perhaps having brake trouble, so that Haga went by only moments after the Honda man, along the stretch into the hairpin. At much the same time, Jacque went down at the exit of this corner, his bike flipping him off quite dramatically. McWilliams’ race was over by now, as he had withdrawn suffering with a troublesome gear shift.

At two-thirds distance, with Rossi already coming up to lap Andrew Pitt on the Kawasaki ZX-RR, Bayliss had brought his deficit to Capirossi down to about two seconds. Checa was now clear of Hayden, who was being tracked by Haga. Edwards seemed to be just sitting in behind his team-mate, but clear of Nakano, Hopkins and Kagayama. Rossi’s lead fluctuated between about 2.5s and 2.25s, with Biaggi sometimes turning faster laps, but remained fairly constant.

The leader board showed three Hondas first, then two Ducatis, with the rest squabbling over the minor placings. Haga was the man on the move in the closing stages, first clearing Hayden and then bringing down the gap to Checa. Edwards was having to drop back as time went on. With four laps left, Rossi was about two seconds in the lead, and two laps later it was nearer 1.7. Still he had time to slide the rear tyre round Coppice on the final tour, taking his fourth 2003 win by a comfortable margin.

Biaggi was second for the fourth time this year, and Gibernau was a solid third in his 100th GP. Behind Capirossi and Bayliss, Checa held off Haga for sixth, in front of Hayden, Nakano, Edwards, Hopkins, Kagayama, Tamada, Kiyonari, Aoki, McCoy and Pitt. To cap it all off, Rossi had set a new circuit record, and he was highly acclaimed as the crowd invaded the track.

Between them, the first three have now managed nineteen visits to the podium this year, with only the Ducati guys - plus Alex Barros once - breaking up their party. Rossi’s 54th GP win, which equals Mick Doohan’s total, has given him a 47 point lead overall. It would take two non-finishes for that to be eroded, and that looks a highly unlikely scenario.

STOP PRESS: After the race it was ruled that Valentino Rossi had overtaken in a yellow flag zone, at the scene of Tohru Ukawa’s first corner crash. He was penalised accordingly, and the revised results showed Biaggi first, Gibernau second, and Rossi third.

Standings after eight races: Rossi 167; Gibernau 133; Biaggi 130; Capirossi 84; Bayliss 64; Barros 62; Checa 57; Ukawa 56; Nakano 54; Hayden 46; Jacque 43.


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