By blue2bikes
April 17 2005

Alex Barros performed flawlessly to take himself into the history books by winning the Estoril MotoGP under the new flag-to-flag rulings. With rain coming down, it was the first time in history where riders had the option of returning to the pits and changing bikes.

Barros on the 2004 Repsol Honda - photo © Elliot L Doering

The teams are now allowed to prepare a second bike with a wet set-up, where previously the race would have been stopped and wet tyres fitted to their machines. Under the new rulings it was race leader Sete Gibernau (Honda) who became the first victim to fall, whilst electing to stay out on slick tyres, and paying the price by losing the race lead - handing it to a delighted Alex Barros (also Honda), who rode to the conditions and stayed in front of a gaining Valentino Rossi (Yamaha).

Thickening cloud had threatened throughout the race, with drizzle falling at intervals until the final few laps, when the rain came down continuously. Sete had ridden at his best, staying way out in front and leading from the start, with a 1.7 second lead over Alex after the first lap; with Rossi and his old adversary Max Biaggi (Honda) shadowing, the latter waiting for his chance to overtake.

Max was riding his spare RCV after a last minute problem with his number one machine, and it was looking like a Rossi-Biaggi battle was on the cards. But it was not to be, with Rossi keeping ahead and making himself very wide at every turn, although unable to pull away from Max as Alex Barros had done earlier.

As Alex was gaining on Sete and was closing down his lead to one second, the white flags came out on lap eight, signalling a wet race, and history was in the making; but with all the riders electing to stay out and ride to the conditions. As the rain began to fall even more eight laps later, it was Sete who would fall victim to it and fell on turn one before even getting to the apex of the corner. He was up in a flash and running to his machine, which was now dead, and he was unable to restart - much to the dismay of Sete and his pit crew. Soon after it was the turn of Hopkins, whilst holding eighth place.

Alex proceeded to lengthen his lead to seven seconds as the rains subsided somewhat, with Rossi and Max behind; and Edwards and Melandri fighting for fourth, and being caught by Checa. With only five laps remaining, and the rains falling heavier again, it was Colin Edwards who would fall, but managed to remount his machine whilst losing only two places to Melandri and Checa.

As Alex eased off his pace, Rossi was clinging to his machine to keep it from sliding away from him and, closing on Alex, he was unable to catch him. Alex went on to win by 2.7 seconds, with Biaggi three seconds behind Rossi to claim third place. Alex now goes into second position in the table, with Sete dropping down to fifth - which means he will have to work even harder if he wants to challenge Rossi for the championship title.

British rider James Ellison went on to complete a well-earned fifteenth placing, and Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne went on to finish one lap behind, even though he had pitted before the race had begun due to a throttle problem with his machine.

So what now of the new ruling - dangerous or plain crazy? The ruling will certainly be discussed, as no riders were willing to change their machines for the wet weather set-up, which would have meant a 40 second loss in time. Previously the leading rider was able to raise his hand and the race would be stopped, then the race would continue with aggregate scoring taking precedence, or the last lap positions being the precedence, dependant on how many laps had been completed.

Surely as the rules stand at the moment it won’t be long before someone is seriously injured, simply because they wouldn’t want to pit and lose the lead they had built up. Apart from the fact that riders will damage their machinery, at great costs to the manufacturers, surely in the name of safety to the riders the ruling must revert back to the previous ruling where the riders aid the decisions.

Here are the finishing times:
1 Alex Barros BRA, Camel Honda, 47min 14.053 secs
2 Valentino Rossi ITA, Gauloises Yamaha, 47min 16.824 secs
3 Max Biaggi ITA, Repsol Honda, 47min 20.124 secs
4 Marco Melandri ITA, Team MoviStar Honda, 47min 43.599 secs
5 Carlos Checa ITA, Ducati Marlboro, 47min 43.827 secs
6 Colin Edwards USA, Gauloises Yamaha, 47min 58.269 secs
7 Nicky Hayden USA, Repsol Honda, 48min 11.174 secs
8 Shin’ya Nakano JAP, Kawasaki Racing Team, 48min 13.9 secs
9 Loris Capirossi ITA, Ducati Marlboro, 48min 21.771 secs
10 Rubén Xaus ESP, Fortuna Yamaha, 48min 36.484 secs
11 Troy Bayliss AUS, Camel Honda, 48min 47.582 secs
12 Kenny Roberts USA, Team Suzuki MotoGP, 48min 48.104 secs
13 Roberto Rolfo ITA, d’Antín Ducati Pramac, 48min 50.009 secs
14 Toní Elías ESP, Fortuna Yamaha, 48min 50.545 secs
15 James Ellison ENG, Blata WCM, 47min 19.474 secs
16 Shane Byrne ENG, Team Roberts KTM, 47min 53.289 secs

Did not finish:
John Hopkins USA, Team Suzuki MotoGP, 26min 51.387 secs
Sete Gibernau ESP, Team MoviStar Honda, 26min 30.320 secs
Franco Battaini ITA, Blata WCM, 14min 24.799 secs

Standings after two races: Rossi 45; Barros 38; Melandri 29; Biaggi 25; Gibernau 20; Nakano 19; Edwards and Checa 17; Bayliss 15; Capirossi 10; Hayden 9; Tamada 8.

Whilst the MotoGP was running, the Le Mans 24-Hour race was also taking place, where a delighted David Checa, along with Sébastien Gimbert and William Costes, took took the title aboard a Yamaha.