pic: Elliot Doering

above: Valentino Rossi on the 2004 Gauloises Yamaha - photo by Elliot Doering

The MotoGP of Australia is held at the popular and challenging Phillip Island circuit, where the riders are exposed to the winds, as well as the challenge of the fast and flowing anti-clockwise track itself. Particularly spectacular is the constant blind brow left at Lukey Heights, which drops the riders down into the right-hand MG hairpin. And equally important is the run out of Swan right-hander onto the Gardner start-finish straight. This year it played host to round 15 of 17.

As stated, the race for second overall was on. One man would miss out on the chance to improve his standing and, with three podiums from the last four races, Loris Capirossi was surely seen as a possible race winner. Sadly, the Italian suffered a buffeting crash during the Friday practice sessions, and this caused internal bleeding problems. Loris would recover, but it meant that he would miss this and the next race. Suzuki’s Kenny Roberts was similarly on the sidelines after an incident of his own.

Qualifying produced the third pole position start for Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden, with team-mate Max Biaggi improving on the last two rounds to line up sixth. The only other Honda RCV rider on the first two rows was Sete Gibernau, third with the Gresini/MoviStar bike to keep up an excellent grid record for the season to date. Second in the points, his partner Marco Melandri would start from eighth.

As ever, the main threat to Honda was likely to come from Gauloises Yamaha and Rossi - the new champion starting second. Team-mate Colin Edwards was well up in fifth. In the absence of Capirossi, Marlboro Ducati were well represented by Carlos Checa, who would start fourth after his best run since round two. Continuing his excellent progress with the Tech 3 Yamaha, Toní Elías was an impressive seventh, about half as far from the front as team-mate Rubén Xaus.

Melandri was followed by Makoto Tamada (Honda), Shin’ya Nakano (Kawasaki), John Hopkins (Suzuki) and the first Camel Honda of Alex Barros (twelfth). Then Olivier Jacque returned for a fifth outing with Kawasaki, in the continued absence of Alex Hofmann. Fourteenth went to rookie Chris Vermeulen, the World Superbike star the latest to fill in for Barros’ team-mate Troy Bayliss, and a potential Honda GP rider of the future - on a circuit he was more than familiar with. Then came Xaus, Roberto Rolfo, James Ellison and Franco Battaini.

The race start saw Hayden maintain prime position, with Checa quickly past Rossi for second. Edwards was briefly fourth, but soon lost out to the Honda pair of Gibernau and Melandri. Elías, Tamada and Barros followed on. Biaggi was an early casualty, flicked off his Honda on cold tyres. He would therefore have to watch Melandri, Hayden and Edwards increase their points scores in his absence.

Yamaha’s position was strengthened with Rossi re-passing Checa, and Edwards doing the same to former team-mate Gibernau at the Doohan right-hander, or turn one. Leaders Hayden, Rossi and Checa had looked to be creeping away from the rest, but Melandri and Edwards soon closed in again. Gibernau was now followed by Barros, Elías, Tamada, Hopkins, Nakano, Jacque and Vermeulen.

There was plenty of action among the front runners, with Rossi taking the lead from Hayden on the brakes at Doohan; and Melandri passing Checa at Honda corner, a right-hand hairpin after the blast out of the turn two Southern Loop. The next change saw the 23-year-old Italian get on the inside of Hayden for the run round the Southern Loop to take over second. At this stage the leaders seemed to be grouping in two bunches of three - Rossi/Melandri/Hayden, and Checa/Gibernau/Edwards. The last two named had changed positions through a right-hander, Sete on the inside.

For a time, Rossi seemed just far enough out of danger as his two pursuers raced one another. However, Hayden recovered second from Melandri at Lukey Heights, then managed to close onto Valentino’s tail as Marco dropped into a solitary third. Meanwhile, Spaniards Checa and Gibernau raced for fourth, with Edwards falling into the clutches of the charging Barros. Carlos lost out to Sete when running wide at Honda, but redressed the balance with a move at Doohan.

With Hayden taking the lead going to the right of Rossi along the main straight, so Checa and Gibernau closed up to third man Melandri. Indeed, now the whole pack began to merge together, with only Gibernau unable to match the pace of the other four. Hayden, Rossi, Melandri and Checa were all fairly close, and the inevitable break came when Rossi used the tow to retake the lead at Doohan. As the next two got into an even more sustained tussle for second, ‘the Doctor’ motored into a lead of 0.6s and more with eight laps remaining.

Behind, Melandri had passed Hayden at Honda, with Nicky taking him back coming out of the Hayshed right curve leading into Lukey Heights. All the time Checa was in close company with these two, but then the gaps began to grow in the final laps. As Rossi ran out to his eleventh win of the year, Hayden got clear to leave a race between Melandri and Checa. The experienced Spaniard was right there going into the final lap, and passed on the inside at Doohan. Marco used his favourite manoeuvre at Honda to recover the place, but the Ducati man managed a better drive out of Swan onto the home straight, and had edged ahead as they took the flag.

Gibernau was well back in finishing fifth, but had not had to deal with a challenge from behind. This could have come from Barros, who had passed Edwards and left the American in his wake - only to crash in the very late stages when the front slid down under him. Colin thereby took sixth, to overtake Biaggi in the points chart. Nakano had come past Hopkins, Tamada and Elías to secure seventh, but with his young Spanish rival still on for another good finish in eighth.

Tamada and Hopkins were next home, with first timer Vermeulen eleventh. Chris had overtaken Jacque and Hopkins during the course of the race, and the French rider had then had a problem that led to a trip up an escape road and a subsequent pit stop. Olivier rejoined to trail the field home, behind Xaus, Rolfo, Ellison and Battaini.

Valentino Rossi’s points advantage now stood at a massive 161, but the next group had shuffled around once again. With Loris Capirossi and Max Biaggi out of action, Marco Melandri and Nicky Hayden took over in joint second, with Biaggi going from second to fifth behind Colin Edwards. Carlos Checa was not part of the equation, but had again demonstrated Ducati’s late season run of good form, taking his 24th podium finish in the top Grand Prix class and moving level with Luca Cadalora. Meanwhile, Chris Vermeulen had made a good impression, and Toní Elías continued to show a steady promise.

Standings after fifteen races: Rossi 331; Melandri and Hayden 170; Edwards 162; Biaggi 159; Capirossi 148; Gibernau 137; Barros 129; Checa 114; Nakano 87; Tamada 75; Roberts 63.

In other Grand Prix news: Troy Bayliss is to return to World Superbike competition in 2006, with former employers Ducati - for whom he won 22 races in the period 2000 to 2002. A rumour connecting Chris Vermeulen with the Suzuki MotoGP team was dismissed as just that by the man himself.

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