2006 MotoGP China
April 30, 2006

Text and Photos Courtesy MotoGP, Kawasaki, Yamaha Racing, Team Suzuki and World Superbike.  Edited by webBikeWorld.

Pedrosa Youngest MotoGP Winner Ever; Edwards Reaches Podium; Rossi Out With Tire Failure

Dani Pedrosa took his first MotoGP victory today at the Shanghai Circuit, confirming his status as a serious title contender in his debut season.

The Repsol Honda rider, who started from pole, came back from a quiet start to lead the entire second half of the race ahead of team-mate Nicky Hayden. 

Colin Edwards put himself on the podium for the first time this season whilst fellow Camel Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi saw his spectacular fight back through the field cut short by a tire problem.

Rizla Suzuki’s John Hopkins started the Polini Grand Prix of China fantastically, following Edwards’ holeshot and keeping up with the Texan Tornado for the opening laps.  His bike, tires and nerve held out for fourth place, his highest of the season.  Casey Stoner, who dropped down to tenth at one point after going slightly off-road, made his way back up to fifth to continue his run of top six positions.

The most entertaining rider of the day was undoubtedly Konica Minolta Honda’s Makoto Tamada. A superb battle between the Japanese rider and the Ducati Marlboro duo of Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau had the Asian crowd on the edge of their seats, as he repeatedly looked inside on the corners.  A well deserved sixth place came at the expense of Marco Melandri, with Capirossi, Gibernau and Shinya Nakano behind him.

Rossi’s exit from the race came after his second trip to the pits.  The reigning World Champion entered the box on lap fifteen, but completed only one lap more before having to retire.  Australian Chris Vermeulen was the only other retiree, crashing out early.

Victory for a clearly delighted Pedrosa puts him up to third in the overall classification, with Hayden extending his lead to thirteen points over Loris Capirossi.  He also heads the BMW M Award, with an advantage of 1.463 over Colin Edwards and Chris Vermeulen over a second off in third.

It's been a long time since Edwards was on the podium, but in the sunny and warm conditions Edwards set a scorching pace that only a handful of riders were able to follow.  He finally succumbed to pressure from Dani Pedrosa (Honda) on lap ten, the young Spaniard forcing his way past and taking his team-mate Nicky Hayden along for company.  Rossi, meanwhile, had been making positive progress through the field, working his way up from thirteenth on the grid to fifth place in the race before bad luck struck once again.

The Italian began to feel that there was something wrong with his bike and initially thought it was being caused by the rear tire.  After a swift change he attempted to rejoin the race, only to return to the pits next time around after realizing the problem was coming from the front tire.  Edwards consolidated third place for his first podium appearance of the season as Pedrosa held off the challenge of Hayden to clinch his maiden MotoGP win.

Valentino Rossi (DNF):  "I didn't get a bad start to the race and I passed a lot of riders but I had a battle with Marco Melandri that cost me some time.  Some of his moves were quite strong, which I could understand if we were fighting for the win on the last lap but not for eighth place at that stage of the race.  Anyway, the bike felt good but just as I got my pace to 2'00.1 it suddenly started to feel wrong and I thought I had a problem with the rear tire.  I came in to change it but as I went back out I realized it was actually the front tire, so that was the end of the race for me.  I'm really disappointed because I felt in the race that I had the pace to at least pass Hopkins and Edwards, so as far as I am concerned we have lost 16 points and a podium, which would have been a good result after the problems we've had this weekend.  We've lost some ground in the championship so I am feeling very disappointed right now but there is a long way to go yet."

Qualifying: The Texas Tornado Operates on the Doctor
Dani Pedrosa took his first career pole with a circuit record of 0:1:59:009 in slightly wet qualifying conditions today in Shanghai. 

Colin Edwards, who does well in the wet, will also start from the front row of the MotoGP grid in tomorrow's Grand Prix of China after setting the third fastest time in a dramatic single qualifying session today. 

After battling through torrentially wet conditions in yesterday's practice, the riders enjoyed a cloudy but dry free practice this morning as they sought to find a suitable dry set-up for their machines.

The afternoon started in similar conditions but a brief rain shower midway through the session confined the riders to a tense spell in their pit garages before a thrilling late shootout for grid positions.

Whilst Edwards battled for the top spot with eventual pole setter Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and second-fastest John Hopkins (Suzuki), his Camel Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was unable to repeat the kind of form that saw him dominate proceedings in the wet conditions yesterday.

The Italian was one of several riders to struggle with a lack of dry practice time as he looked to iron out set-up problems and find his pace.  He now faces another battle through the pack after setting the 13th fastest time, meaning he will start from the fifth row of the grid.

Colin Edwards (3rd; 1'59.383, 15 laps):  "This has been a really strange weekend because we started off by finding a setting for the wet and then converted it to the dry - usually it is the other way around!  I felt so comfortable with the bike yesterday and I was disappointed when I saw that I was down in thirteenth, but I knew the reason for that and I was really confident about today.  I can't really explain why we were off the pace in Turkey but have been right on it here in China, because we have hardly touched anything with the bike, just played around with the suspension.  We've got some chatter in certain areas of the track but it's worse when the grip is good, especially when we put a qualifying tire on.  On race rubber you can hardly notice it so I think we have a good setting to go the distance tomorrow and I am happy with my tire choice.  I've had some decent starts to races so far this season but haven't been able to maintain the pace, so hopefully I can turn that around tomorrow.  It feels good to be back on the front row."

Valentino Rossi (13th; 2'00.720, 18 laps):  "For sure we have a lot of problems and it's disappointing to be back in this position again after such a good day yesterday.  When the grip becomes normal again, like today, we have a lot of chatter and it's very hard to ride the bike.  Really this situation is quite bad, as the chatter has returned again today and it is similar to how it was in Jerez.  Now we have to start from the fifth row and so it's going to be a very hard race.  We have talked a lot tonight in the garage and now we will try some things in the morning during warm-up and hope that we can make some final improvements.  Now I need to ride a defensive race, try not to make any mistakes and try to take as many points as possible."

Morning Practice
John Hopkins, Third:  "This morning we tried a particular spec of wet tire and it just wasn’t the option to go for, so we put on a different set this afternoon and the Bridgestone’s were really good.  I stayed out for nearly all the afternoon session – I only came in the once and that was just for a couple of minutes.  It was a very positive session, we have a good set-up, some good new tyres and my confidence is also very high at the moment".

Sete Gibernau, Fourth:  "We don't really know much about this track in the dry because it rained most of the time here last year.  The surface seems grippy enough in the wet, but it doesn't drain too well, so when it rains really hard you get a build up of surface water, then you don't have so much grip".

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