Vale!

Get Your Rudebox!!

Valentino Rossi led start to finish to claim the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez and, with it, the lead in the MotoGP World Championship. Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was second with Rossi’s teammate Colin Edwards third.

"Today for me was a great emotion, back to the victory after September (in Malaysia),I think," Rossi said. "So the taste of first place is unbelievable. Is a great, great pleasure.

"We work very well, so I have to thank all my team from (crew chief) Jeremy Burgess to all the guys. Today my Yamaha work very, very well and also the tires go a lot faster to the end, so I am a lot, a lot happy. Win in front of this crowd is unbelievable. I like a lot this racetrack. Last year I had bad, bad luck and also today is a great battle with Dani (Pedrosa) and so I’m very happy, also for Colin (Edwards) and for all the team, because two Yamahas on the podium mean is a great work for us."

The order of the lead trio didn’t change from the first lap to the last. Pedrosa hung close until the 14th of 27 laps when Rossi broke the one second barrier. The lead starting the second half of the race was 1.286 secs. and Rossi would more than double it before backing off to win by 1.246 seconds.

The victory gives him 46 points to 36 for Pedrosa and Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner-fifth today-who share second.

"Is an important victory, because the championship is long and now we have two difficult racetracks for us, but now I just feel this moment and I have to thank you to everybody," Rossi said.

The victory, Rossi's 59th in the premier class and 85th overall, was notable for a number of reasons. It ended a five race winless streak, his longest drought since his first premier class win at Donington in 2000. It also ended a run of six different winners in six races, going back to Rossi's win last year in Malaysia. (Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias, Troy Bayliss and Casey Stoner were the other winners.) And it puts Rossi only nine wins behind all-time premier class leader Giacomo Agostini, his fellow Italian who finished his career with 68.

Rossi : It's going to be an exciting race

Former five-times MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi may have found a jump in performance to qualify second on the grid, after mixed free practice fortunes, but the Italian still believes the closing stages of Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix will be a step into the unknown.

After struggling for grip once again this morning and finishing the final free practice session way down in 18th, it was soon clear that the warmer afternoon temperatures favoured his Fiat Yamaha as he posted his fastest time of the weekend so far early in the qualifying hour.

With eight minutes to go Rossi then moved into pole position with the first of his two Michelin qualifying tyres, only to be ousted by team-mate Colin Edwards less than a minute later as the Texan set his first flying lap. The last five minutes saw the usual flurry of quick laps and position-changing amongst the leading protagonists before Rossi took the top slot once again with a lap of 1min 39.453secs - before being pushed into second by Honda-mounted home hero Dani Pedrosa, who lapped just0.051secs quicker than the Italian.

"It's been an up and down weekend for us so it's good that we've achieved our number one goal of getting onto the front row," said Rossi afterwards. "It's going to be very important for tomorrow's race I think. It was a good qualifying session and my lap was quite good, but we know it's possible to be a lot quicker because last month at the test I was more than one second faster! We knew it would be difficult to match the 1min 38.394secs I did then however, because then we had four qualifying tyres and with the new tyre restrictions now we only have two.

"With the race tyre we were struggling quite a bit yesterday and this morning it was even worse, so we were a bit worried, but we looked at the situation together with Michelin and found a good solution and this afternoon we were in much better shape. I think tyres are going to be the biggest issue tomorrow and the last ten laps especially are going to be very hard and difficult for everyone," he predicted. "I think it's going to be an exciting race for the fans!"

Lose a cat-and-mouse battle

Casey Stoner won a cat-and-mouse battle with Valentino Rossi to take victory in the season-opening Qatar MotoGP. The pair, who started at the front of the grid, traded the lead throughout the race with Australian Stoner finally prevailing for his first MotoGP win.

Five-time champion Rossi was more than satisfied with his start to the season."The Yamaha was well balanced and took the corners well, I am happy because we made the right tyre choice. A win is better but second is not so bad."

Rossi started on pole and held the lead until the end of the first lap when Stoner's power down the straight propelled him past the Italian. From then on, the pair shared the lead and began to pull away from Spaniard Pedrosa.

Stoner held the lead for the majority of the second half of the race and when Rossi tried to make a move with four laps to go, the Australian immediately went back in front. The 21-year-old then put in his fastest lap on the last circuit of the track to claim victory.

Qatar MotoGP result:
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 43min 02.788 seconds
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha +2.838 secs
3. Dani Pedrosa (ESP) Honda +8.530
4. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki +9.071
5. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda +17.433
6. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha +18.647
7. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki +22.916
8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda +23.057
9. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati +25.961
10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda +28.456

Rossi claims pole position in opening

Valentino Rossi's bid to reclaim the MotoGP world championship got off to the best possible start as he claimed pole position for the opening round at the Losail circuit in Qatar.

The Italian, seeking his fifth MotoGP title and an eighth world crown overall, lapped the desert circuit just outside Doha in one minute 55.002 seconds, edging out Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner by just five thousandths of a second as the chequered flag fell.

Rossi's Fiat Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards completed the front row line-up in third place, while reigning champion Nicky Hayden will start the race on the back of row three after bringing his Repsol Honda home in ninth.

Rossi said: "It's very important. The start of the season is always important for the rest of the championship.I made a mistake on the first lap but the second lap was very fast. But we wait for Saturday. I think we will have a fight because there are three or four riders with the pace to win."

Good start

Valentino Rossi and Texan team mate Colin Edwards led the way on Thursday as Yamaha dominated free practice for Saturday's MotoGP season-opener in Qatar.

The charismatic Italian, determined to regain the title he held for five years before losing out to Honda's American Nicky Hayden last year, was quickest overall with a lap of 1:56.464 in the afternoon.

The 28-year-old, race winner for the past two years at the Losail International circuit, had set the third best time in the first session. Edwards was quickest in the morning in 1:56.665.
"We were in a good situation at the test here but really the most important test was (last month in) Jerez (in Spain) because there we understood a lot more about our bike and we made some important changes." Rossi said.

Ducati's young Australian Casey Stoner, on pole in Qatar last year, was third quickest in 1:56.745. Hayden, who had shoulder surgery after the end of last season, could manage only 15th on the timesheets with a best lap of 1:58.021.

Bounce back

Valentino Rossi has warned his rivals that they should fear his new-look Yamaha M1 this season after claiming that he and his team are fully motivated by the defeat they suffered last year.

The Italian was pipped to the 2006 title by Honda's Nicky Hayden, but feels that his team are in much better shape heading into the new season than they were this time last year.

"I think we must be feared because we've transformed the sour taste of a defeat at the last race into a great motivation," he was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport at today's official Yamaha launch.

"We are confident and concentrated, we'll be very strong......

"The bike is enjoyable to ride and is incredibly quick. The design is one and we don't need to patch it anymore like in 2006. We have been competitive on every track during winter testing.

"It's too early to feel like winners; it will be a tough fight, but we're ready for it." Rossi has again singled out Hayden's teammate Dani Pedrosa as his main challenger for the crown - although admits there remains some minor concerns about Michelin's race pace.

"The main rivals? Everyone, but certainly Pedrosa and Honda more than the rest. The rivals on Bridgestone perhaps still have some problems. The only thing that still needs some sorting out for us is the race tyres from Michelin, as they aren't at their best yet. We have given them lots of data, now we hope they'll bring us some good material in Qatar."

New Powerful M1

Seven-times world champion Valentino Rossi reckons the secret to Yamaha’s brilliant winter testing performances has been the smooth power delivery on his new factory YZR-M1 800.

Several of Rossi’s rivals have commented on the Yamaha’s power delivery advantage when they’ve followed the Italian and American team-mate Colin Edwards in testing.

And Rossi said it had been one of the focal points of development for Yamaha engineers during the pre-season campaign: "I am happy about my engine delivery. We work a lot with the engineers and I think we have some good ideas with this engine and the bike. We don’t have the maximum speed compared to the other guys but the throttle is easy to use and I think this is so important for the race.”

The Italian said power delivery was essential, not least with the new fuel consumption rule coming for the 2007 season, with tank capacity slashed from 22 to 21 litres. Rossi again insisted the huge importance fuel consumption will play when the new season gets underway in Qatar on March 10 by adding: “For sure the fuel consumption will be the big issue, maybe the biggest one. Some tracks we will have less problems and some with more.

Qatar is one of the worst and I think for everybody it will be difficult to make 22 laps with 21 litres. This means it’s not possible to use all the power of the engine for the race. I hope we are all in the same situation because it is difficult.”