above: Rossi on the 2004 Gauloises Yamaha - photo © Elliot L Doering

The new circuit, with a couple of very long straights, looked likely to favour the most powerful bikes. But the constant curves and several tighter corners rewarded rider skill, and the fastest through the speed traps weren’t necessarily best for overall lap times. The rains on race day, however, handed the advantage straight to the most daring riders, or at least to the ones who could push the limits without venturing over them.

Qualifying went well for the MoviStar Honda team, with Sete Gibernau on his eighth career pole position, and team-mate Marco Melandri second. The best of the Repsol supported works RCVs was in fifth, with Nicky Hayden, whilst Max Biaggi was a disappointing 14th. Camel riders Alex Barros and Troy Bayliss were on row four, whilst the final Honda was that of Jürgen van den Goorbergh, in 19th, the former 500cc rider substituting for injured Makoto Tamada.

Loris Capirossi was the third man on row one, with Marlboro Ducati partner Carlos Checa four places back. John Hopkins was first Suzuki rider in fourth, whilst Valentino Rossi was first for Yamaha in an unaccustomed P6. Between Checa and Barros were Toní Elías (Yamaha), Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) and Shin’ya Nakano (Kawasaki).

Colin Edwards headed row five, and behind Biaggi came Olivier Jacque, returning to the series to substitute for Kawasaki’s Alex Hofmann. Xaus, Rolfo, Tohru Ukawa (Moriwaki wildcard), Goorbergh, Battaini and Ellison filled the final places, with Shane Byrne and the Roberts KTM team absent, amid rumours of a split between the bike and engine partners.

The race got underway on an already soaking track, and with heavy rain continuing to fall. Gibernau converted pole into a brief lead, only for Hopkins to take a less wide line and quickly move through on the inside. Melandri was with them initially, but lost ground on the first lap as Roberts and Rossi moved forward. Elías, Biaggi, Hayden, Capirossi, Bayliss and Jacque were next in line.

In the early stages, the riders were obviously still getting a feel for the grip available with their respective tyre choices. The Bridgestone-shod Suzuki team looked in good shape, as Hopkins and Roberts raced at the head of the field. But Hopkins soon ran wide, letting Roberts get through, and Rossi was now behind and able to follow the 2000 champion. Then the impressive Elías passed ‘Hopper’ on the straight, but would later be adjudged to have jumped the start.

With Roberts already looking like getting away from the rest, as he upped the pace, Rossi led Elías, Hopkins, Gibernau, Biaggi, Melandri, Hayden, Bayliss, Capirossi, Jacque, van den Goorbergh, Barros, Nakano, Edwards, Xaus, Battaini, Checa, Ellison, Rolfo and Ukawa. Gibernau, a regular fast man in wet conditions, was looking to get his title challenge back on course. As Biaggi attacked Hopkins, Sete found a way past the Italian, and subsequently pushed the Suzuki back a place too.

The race for the lead was turning into a two-way affair, as Rossi kept within fairly close range of Roberts. This carried on until Kenny seemed to run wide, letting Valentino get by on the inside, but it was immediately obvious that the Suzuki had hit trouble, and Roberts was now touring into retirement. This left Rossi on his own, in his familiar dominant position, and the focus turned to the battle for second.

Elías had taken over at the head of the group, but Gibernau quickly arrived, with Biaggi not far behind. The two experienced riders went ahead, as Hopkins, Melandri, Hayden and Jacque disputed sixth, before Roberts’ demise, and with Goorbergh and Barros soon joining the group. The Brazilian had also been assessed a jump start, but Elías was the first to take his ride through penalty, having just lost out to Hopkins and Jacque.

Hopkins had been getting back into his stride, improving on Roberts’ fastest lap and moving back to third, which he contested with Jacque. But then he made a mistake that saw him run through a gravel trap and put himself at the wrong end of the top ten. By this time, Nakano had retired in the pits, and both Bayliss and Checa had crashed.

We now had the usual suspects at the front, with Rossi almost six seconds in front, Gibernau leaving the pack, and Biaggi trying to stay with him. But the surprise package was fourth-placed Jacque on the ZX-RR, over a year since his last full-time ride in MotoGP. Fellow sub van den Goorbergh was an equally good fifth, and Melandri headed the Barros-Hayden battle, as Hopkins caught and passed Capirossi. Barros left P8 for his ride through penalty, coming out behind Edwards and Xaus, and ahead of Ellison, Battaini, Ukawa, Rolfo and Elías.

Jacque set the first of several new fastest laps, as he raced Biaggi for third. Second time past he was able to get clear, and soon enough he was with Gibernau, with Max in a safe fourth. With ten laps to go it was sixth man Melandri that now went fastest, on the tail of Goorbergh, and he was soon through and pushing Biaggi.

An unseen mistake from Gibernau let the faster Kawasaki of Jacque go second, with the Frenchman facing a 6.2s gap to Rossi. This margin was gradually reduced, sector by sector, falling to under 3.5s as the last three laps arrived. Olivier took the fastest lap back from Hopkins, and was just 2.4s from Rossi at one point. On the last circuit the margin remained much the same, as Rossi had enough in hand in the tricky conditions.

Gibernau’s situation was not so rosy. The last laps had seem him drop rapidly back from the green machine, and he made a show of shaking his head in response to some problem with his machinery. By now Melandri had dealt with Biaggi, and he soon caught his team leader. For several corners Marco stayed behind, but took his chance through a left hander and came home third - enough to move to second in the points. Sete parked up as soon as he finished fourth, and was perhaps studying a troublesome rear tyre.

Biaggi and van den Goorbergh duly finished fifth and sixth, whilst Hopkins had got back to seventh, and was ahead of Edwards, Hayden, Xaus, Barros, Capirossi, Ellison, Elías, Ukawa and Rolfo. Edwards had made some headway from his early fifteenth, despite his Yamaha expelling smoke dramatically at least once, and all the finishers had done well to stay on in conditions that remained unimproved from start to finish.

Valentino Rossi extended his lead with a 31st 990cc victory, something he had not been confident of doing in the dry. Olivier Jacque had emphatically kick-started his claim to a regular place back in the MotoGP class, as well as giving Bridgestone tyres a great result, and Kawasaki their best finish since returning to the fray. He will surely hope to fulfil a similar role in his upcoming home race. And Marco Melandri maintained his excellent record with the Honda, keeping the three most experienced RCV pilots behind him in the points table.

Standings after three races: Rossi 70; Melandri 45; Barros 43; Biaggi 36; Gibernau 33; Edwards 25; Jacque 20; Nakano 19; Checa 17; Hayden 16; Bayliss 15; Capirossi 14.

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