above: Marco Melandri on the 2004 Fortuna Yamaha - photo by Elliot Doering

The track had already been venue to the 14th round of the Formula One series, when drivers had been positively impressed by Hermann Tilke’s design. Turn eight, a four-apex long left-hander, had been declared a particularly rewarding challenge, and the MotoGP riders were equally inclined towards praise, given the variety of the anti-clockwise course as a whole.

A slightly different line-up of runners appeared for this race, with Loris Capirossi still out injured, and replaced at Marlboro Ducati by Shin’ichi Itoh of Japan. The 39-year-old former Honda man, fifth overall in the 500cc class during 1995, had not raced in a GP for almost three years. Meanwhile, Kenny Roberts Jr, now let go by Suzuki, was not in attendance, a fact equally true of the Proton KR team. Alex Barros was ready to race, despite having been badly knocked around in his Australian crash.

In the drive to finish second overall for the season, the two best placed riders did their prospects no harm by qualifying on the front row of the grid, which was occupied exclusively by Honda’s RC211V bikes. Repsol’s Nicky Hayden was third, with level on points Marco Melandri a place better. The Italian had been impressive through practice, but was just pipped to pole position by Telefónica MoviStar team-mate Sete Gibernau. For the Spaniard, a fourth pole might be the launching pad for his overdue first win of the year.

Hayden and Melandri’s challengers had differing fortunes. Colin Edwards was part of an all-Yamaha second row, just behind Gauloises team-mate Rossi, and ahead of the impressively improving Fortuna Tech 3 man Toní Elías. But Max Biaggi’s Repsol Honda was way down in P12, last of the seven Honda runners. Makoto Tamada led row three, from Barros, with Chris Vermeulen’s second Camel Pons outing seeing him improve to eleventh.

Between Barros and Vermeulen were Carlos Checa (Ducati) and Shin’ya Nakano (Kawasaki). Behind Biaggi came Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki), John Hopkins (Suzuki) and Itoh, followed by Rubén Xaus, Roberto Rolfo, and WCM boys James Ellison and Franco Battaini. A field of 19 was only one more than in Australia.

The race start saw the MoviStar Hondas retain the top positions, but with Melandri heading Gibernau. This pair in particular were sparking their boots on the tarmac as they cornered. Edwards held third until Hayden moved past at a right-hander, with Elías looking good in fifth. Tamada led the next gaggle, but with both Rossi and Barros quickly relegating him to eighth, where he would also be passed by Vermeulen then Checa.

As the order settled down, Melandri had a small lead as Gibernau and Hayden joined him in clearing away from the next group. Edwards led Elías and Rossi, but the Italian passed the 22-year-old Spaniard, then moved ahead when team-mate Edwards ran wide through a right-hander. Barros was soon clear of Vermeulen and Checa, with Carlos not long behind the Australian. Itoh was assessed with a jump-start, which would involve a drive-through pitlane penalty.

Gibernau homed in behind Melandri, with Hayden taking a watching brief. However, Rossi was setting the fastest lap as he closed in on the American. Sete looked in combative mood, and he made his way ahead of Marco on the brakes inside at a left-hander. The two pairs of riders had broken clear of Edwards and Elías, making it four men for the victory. But this went down to the three as Gibernau made another costly mistake in a frustrating season, this time running out wide in a left-hander and into the gravel trap. He rejoined sixth, just ahead of Barros and Checa.

This left the first three spread out, and well clear of Edwards and the rest. Gibernau was in determined mood now, in the midst of a five man group, and he very quickly got past Elías and Edwards, before clearing off into a solitary fourth - over six seconds from Rossi. Edwards now lost out to both Elías and Checa, the Ducati rider going well and up from tenth, with Barros at the tail of the group.

Melandri led by around one second, but Rossi was closing in on second man Hayden. ‘The Doctor’ moved ahead at a left-hander, then setting a new fastest lap as he chased after Marco. The gap between the two countrymen fluctuated at this stage, but Melandri was sufficiently in control to ease his lead to 1.5s by half distance. Hayden was marginally closer to Rossi, but neither man was in a position to overtake.

The latter stages are often marked by a charge from Rossi that takes him ahead and quickly out of range. This time Melandri was the faster man, as his lead gradually grew beyond two seconds. Laps 16 and 17 saw two new lap records for the Honda rider, with his margin continuing to go past 2.3s to around three into the final laps. All three leaders were spreading out, with Hayden dropping away, and Melandri duly wrapped up an impressive first win in the class, with Rossi beaten on the day.

Gibernau finished a disappointed and lonely fourth, with the battle behind having been resolved in Checa’s favour. Elías had been defeated by the more experienced Spaniard, but at one point he then dropped from sixth to ninth. Toní quickly caught and passed Tamada, and soon towed the Japanese rider up to the Edwards-Barros tussle. Elías passed the Brazilian at the turn one left-hander, leaving him to the attentions of Tamada - who would later go ahead on the inside of the left-hander off the back straight.

By the last lap, Elías had been in place to attack Edwards, and he managed to get the verdict by the smallest margin as they crossed the line, regaining his place behind Checa. Tamada and Barros were followed home by Nakano and Vermeulen, with Biaggi an unimpressive twelfth behind the new boy. Jacque, Xaus, Hopkins, Rolfo and Battaini were next, with Ellison last after having stopped to change his rear Dunlop. Itoh had been the only non-finisher, and that because he was black-flagged for not making his penalty stop.

Marco Melandri’s first MotoGP victory was his eighteenth in total, the others scored in 125 and 250 racing. With Nicky Hayden third and Colin Edwards only seventh, this put the Italian in the driving seat for second overall. Indeed, Edwards now only has an outside chance, whilst Max Biaggi is right out of the picture. Sete Gibernau’s salvaged fourth place took him back ahead of the absent Loris Capirossi, but the main winner besides Melandri was Toní Elías, whose sixth place was a best yet, and continued his impressive learning curve as a top class rookie. Astonishingly, this was only Honda’s third win of the year, and whatever happens in Valencia it will mean their worst season since 1993.

Standings after sixteen races: Rossi 351; Melandri 195; Hayden 186; Edwards 171; Biaggi 163; Gibernau 150; Capirossi 148; Barros 136; Checa 125; Nakano 93; Tamada 83; Elías 69.

In other Grand Prix news: The rumours connecting Chris Vermeulen with Suzuki in MotoGP will not go away, and the team’s denial of any such deal is thought to be the pre-cursor to an announcement along those lines after Chris’ commitments to Honda have been fulfilled. Meanwhile, Carlos Checa is definitely not being retained by Ducati, where Sete Gibernau is thought likely to join Loris Capirossi. Checa could be set for a return to the Pons Honda team, where he raced in 1995-98, with Max Biaggi being mentioned as his team-mate. Biaggi had been with Pons in 2003-04, and before that was teamed with Checa at Yamaha for four years.

While Marco Melandri will stay with Gresini MoviStar in 2006, 35-year-old Alex Barros, a Grand Prix rider for the last twenty years, is thought to be running out of options. Could the veteran of 250-plus starts, oldest of the regular riders with Troy Bayliss out of action, be heading for retirement? At the other end of the scale, 25-year-old James Ellison reportedly could be heading for a d’Antín Ducati ride next year.

As mentioned last time, Troy Bayliss is to return to Ducati’s World Superbike team next year, to be joined by the up-and-coming Lorenzo Lanzi. With Vermeulen’s movements potentially as described, this reportedly leaves the way open for James Toseland to join the Ten Kate Honda team in WSBK.

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