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

The action took place amid a plethora of rumours and negotiations for the available race seats in 2006 and, for some riders, the final race represented a last chance to make the case for their continued or re-arranged employment. Valencia itself is a fairly challenging anti-clockwise track, with a sinuous combination of corners packed into a small area. Most notable is turn thirteen, where the tarmac weaves onto a long, left-hand loop over a crest, into the braking zone for the tighter final corner.

On the rider front, there were a few changes. Loris Capirossi returned to action with Ducati, still not 100% fit after the chest complications sustained in his Australian crash. Camel Honda were fielding a fifth rider on the second of their RCVs, with HRC man and multiple British Superbike race winner Ryuichi Kiyonari the latest to fill in for Troy Bayliss. The Proton team returned after a five race absence, following the split with engine suppliers KTM: Kurtis Roberts was entered for his 23rd GP in father Kenny’s team. And test rider Nobuatsu Aoki made a second start for Suzuki, with the bike that had been Kenny Jr’s.

Qualifying suggested that the circuit favoured the Honda RC211V, with the bike’s three fastest riders filling the front row. This meant a one-two for Fausto Gresini’s MoviStar-backed team, Sete Gibernau heading Melandri. Hayden was next on the Repsol works machine, and team-mate Max Biaggi was fifth. Also going well, in a continuation of recent form, were the two Marlboro Ducatis. Carlos Checa was fourth, and Capirossi was seventh, despite a harmless Friday crash on top of his other problems.

All of which meant that the first Yamaha M1 was no better than sixth. On this occasion, as with the earlier race in the United States, the works team had switched from Gauloises livery to a retro look, in recognition of the marque’s fifty year anniversary. This time the bikes appeared in the white, red and black of Yamaha Europe’s mid-1970s look. Also unusual was the fact that Colin Edwards led the way for the team. A crash in qualifying for Rossi left the champion languishing in fifteenth, and with some work to do.

Behind Capirossi came Alex Barros (Camel Honda), Shin’ya Nakano (Kawasaki), Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda) and John Hopkins (Suzuki). Alex Hofmann was another man back from injury, starting twelfth with the second Kawasaki. Then came Toní Elías, Aoki, Rossi, Kiyonari, Rubén Xaus, Roberto Rolfo, James Ellison, Roberts and Franco Battaini.

From the very start Melandri and Hayden were into the battle that could decide second overall for the season. Marco’s nine point advantage meant that he could afford to finish second, but after his first class win in Turkey was surely looking to continue the trend. These two led away with a small margin to Gibernau, Biaggi, Capirossi, Checa, Edwards and Barros. Checa was soon by team-mate Capirossi, and Barros similarly passed Edwards. Meanwhile, Rossi had found a path through to run ninth in the initial shuffle, soon passing team-mate Edwards for eighth. Rolfo came to grief when tagged by a Kawasaki.

Rossi gained another place by overtaking Barros at the left-handed turn one on the second lap, and these two traded the place through the lap until Rossi got the verdict with his second attempt. Gibernau sped onto the tail of Hayden, as Melandri looked to break away, and now the order behind was Biaggi from Checa, Capirossi, Rossi, Barros, Edwards, then a gap opening to Hopkins, Elías, Tamada, Nakano, Ellison, Hofmann and Aoki. Gaps also looked to be opening in the second group, between Checa and Capirossi, and between Rossi and Barros.

Before things could settle down, Melandri had set a new lap record up front and, at much the same time, team-mate Gibernau suddenly slowed with a rare Honda engine failure - rubbing salt into the wound of his troubled season. Melandri and Hayden were now clear of one another and the pack, and the action now centred on Rossi’s progress. Checa had relieved Biaggi of third, and Valentino moved up to fourth, passing Loris and Max on the inside at two different left-handers. He followed on with an audacious pass on Checa at a tight right-hander.

At this stage, the gap back from Hayden - now having closed in again on Melandri - to Rossi was already over four seconds and, although Rossi and Checa moved clear of their pursuers, Marco and Nicky were able to keep extending their lead. As Hayden started to put the pressure on Melandri, Rossi’s deficit moved past five seconds to 5.8s, and it looked like the champion’s choice of a harder compound front tyre might be hampering his progress relative to the two leaders, both on medium Michelins all round. Meanwhile, Melandri’s continued defence of the lead seemed be founded on the fact that his Honda was describing a better exit from turn 14 onto the main straight, even if dirt track oval veteran Hayden liked turn 13 more.

But as Checa eventually started to fall back from Rossi, so the Italian started to make gradual inroads to the men ahead. From 5.5s, it went to 4.9s, 3.6s and 3.2s. This was the gap with three laps remaining, but the focus in these final stages was still on Melandri and Hayden. With two to go, Marco put in that bit of extra effort to eke out an advantage over Nicky, getting just far enough ahead to remove the prospect of an overtaking attempt. Hayden’s response put him right back in touch for the final corners of the race, as Melandri’s bike squirmed with the effort, but the blue machine just held off the orange one in the final turn and to the line.

Melandri was delighted to win two in a row, which no Honda pilot had achieved in the previous 28 races. Hayden and third man Rossi were less satisfied, but still had a lot to be proud of from their seasons as a whole. Meanwhile, Checa had been a clear fourth, for his sixth top six in a row. Behind him there had developed a race between Biaggi and Barros for fifth, after the Brazilian had dealt with Capirossi. Alex put sustained pressure on Max, at one point finding a gap but running wide to let the Roman off the hook. However, towards the very end Barros finally got the verdict. Biaggi, Capirossi and Edwards were next, with the American having lost touch by mid-race.

Ninth went to Tamada, having found his way past Elías and Hopkins. In fact, the Suzuki man had also lost out to both Nakano and Kiyonari by the finish, with ‘Kiyo’ having come through from outside the top fifteen to a creditable twelfth, almost matching predecessor Chris Vermeulen. Elías, Nakano, Kiyonari and Hopkins were followed home by Hofmann, Xaus and Battaini. Technical problems accounted for Aoki, Ellison and Roberts, with Nobuatsu losing out on a points finish. James had been an impressive fourteenth at the start, and with a rare chance of racing some of the works boys on the under powered Harris WCM.

Marco Melandri’s win obviously secured him the runner-up position behind Valentino Rossi, and was his nineteenth GP success in all classes. His enthusiasm for the moment led him to drop the Honda while performing a celebration tyre burnout, but no real harm was done. With Colin Edwards not among the front runners on the day, Nicky Hayden pulled a bigger gap on his countryman to take third overall. The only actual change among the leading runners was with the unfortunate Sete Gibernau losing out to the returning Loris Capirossi. After a winless campaign, Sete ended up seventh, and 70 points down on his team-mate.

It had been another landmark year for Valentino Rossi and Yamaha. Although ‘the Doctor’ had not matched the record of twelve wins in a season, his points tally did set a new high mark, and his eleven victories represented the highest number yet achieved by Yamaha in a season. In contrast, Honda’s record of four wins was their worst since 1993, and this from a manufacturer that won 15 of 16 races just two years ago. Another rare milestone had been achieved by Alex Barros in the Valencia race, with the veteran Brazilian passing the 2000 points mark - the man who started in Grands Prix back in 1986 in fact reaching 2008. For the record, Max Biaggi has 2892 points, Valentino Rossi has 2859, and Loris Capirossi has 2505.

Final standings, after seventeen races:
1 Valentino Rossi, Yamaha • 367
2 Marco Melandri, Honda • 220
3 Nicky Hayden, Honda • 206
4 Colin Edwards, Yamaha • 179
5 Max Biaggi, Honda • 173
6 Loris Capirossi, Ducati • 157
7 Sete Gibernau, Honda • 150
8 Alex Barros, Honda • 147
9 Carlos Checa, Ducati • 138
10 Shin’ya Nakano, Kawasaki • 98
11 Makoto Tamada, Honda • 90
12 Toní Elías, Yamaha • 75

Grand Prix rumours and news for 2006:
Chris Vermeulen is joining the Suzuki MotoGP team (see separate article); Nicky Hayden will be Repsol Honda team leader, with 250 man Dani Pedrosa joining as his team-mate; Randy de Puniet also moves up to join the Kawasaki team.
Other moves are surrounded by speculation. Although suggestions had Gibernau moving to Ducati, and Checa moving to Pons Honda, it is now thought possible that the Italian team are keen to keep their existing Spanish rider - presumably since his recent form has been strong. This leaves a list of potential riders for Sito Pons, including Gibernau, Biaggi and Casey Stoner, who is also being spoken of in connection with Tech 3 Yamaha. It is not clear whether Barros might be retained, but both he and Biaggi could potentially be facing the end of the line after long careers in GPs.
One thing is clear, and that is the departure of Gibernau from the Gresini Honda camp. His replacement is thought likely to be Elías. Meanwhile the Roberts/Proton team have apparently done a deal to receive Honda engines, with their bike quite likely to be handled by Kenny Jr. WCM are also hopeful of a better technical package for 2006, although it is not clear whether this will involve the Blata engine or not. Team principal Peter Clifford hopes to retain Ellison, who he says he rates as the best rider the team has worked with. Given that this list includes international winners such as Neil Hodgson, Simon Crafar, Garry McCoy, Régis Laconi and Noriyuki Haga, this is high praise indeed. Meanwhile, Ellison is also thought to have an option with d’Antín Ducati.

A review of the season will follow in due course.

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