2005 MotoGP Race Results - Germany

MotoGP Race Results

MotoGP 2005 - Germany

Valentino Rossi clinched his eighth win of the 2005 MotoGP World Championship and the 76th of his Grand Prix career on the occasion of his 150th appearance at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland on Sunday.

The win didn’t come as a complete surprise to Rossi, who circulated on his victory lap with a flag that read, “Rossi 76, Hailwood 76, Sorry Mike,” in deference to the great Mike Hailwod. Only the greats Angel Nieto (90) and Giacomo Agostini (122) remain.

“I made a small flag to apologize to Mike Hailwood for matching his 76 wins in Grand Prix because when another rider arrives at your level it is always disappointing!” said Rossi. “Mike is one of the greatest riders ever and now I am beside him on the all-time winners’ podium which is a fantastic achievement.”

Sete Gibernau went wide on one of the only passing spots during the final lap, which handed Rossi a crucial advantage that the Italian was unlikely to waste, eventually crossing the line just 0.685 seconds ahead of the Spaniard to extend his advantage to 120 points over Marco Melandri in the championship standings.

“It was a hard race throughout, in some places we were fast and some slower but the bike was working well after all the hard work we put in yesterday,” said Rossi. “Sete made a small mistake at the first braking marker, which is an easy thing to do at this speed, and I was able to take the lead. I don’t know if I would have won if he hadn’t made the mistake but I would have tried!

The Sachsenring circuit is a wild ribbon of asphalt with a majority of left-hand turns, and the bikes were slipping and sliding just like the old days of 500cc two-strokes. Several riders couldn't handle the slides, and John Hopkins took a horrific highside on lap 5, again hurting his already damaged body.

The race was stopped and then restarted, and Hayden, who had pole position, again charged out in front, getting the hole shot at the first turn. Rossi was second and the remainder of the 30 lap race was a battle between Rossi, Hayden and Gibernau, with Barros bringing up the rear. Hayden did a marvelous job, but first Gibernau jumped out ahead and then Rossi passed him with 6 laps to go.

Hayden dropped back slightly but charged ahead towards the final laps and came very close to passing Gibernau during his mistake on the last lap. But Gibernau held on to second, ousting Colin Edwards from third spot in the championship and now lies just a single point behind his team-mate Melandri as the series takes a four-week summer break before the next round at Brno on August 28th. Hayden’s second podium of the season was a fitting way to celebrate his 24th birthday yesterday and the HRC rider now lies level with Alex Barros in sixth place overall.

After three crashes and a front row start Barros ended an eventful weekend with fifth place in today’s race after conceding fourth to Max Biaggi in a tough battle over the final few laps. Shinya Nakano produced his best performance of the season to take sixth place, crossing the line just 4.557 seconds behind Rossi to provide a welcome boost for Kawasaki after both his team-mates, Alex Hofmann and Olivier Jacque, crashed out in a first-corner collision with Shane Byrne.

While Rossi looks to have his fifth MotoGP title in the bag at the top of the standings, the battle for second place is heating up after Melandri could only manage seventh today. With Gibernau just one point behind him, Edwards is now a further point back after taking eighth place today whilst Biaggi trails the American by the same gap.

Loris Capirossi missed out on the lap record by just 0.003 seconds as he launched a charge in the middle of the race before suffering problems with the left side of his tire. His time of 1’23.708 was only beaten by Gibernau’s best effort of 1’23.705 as he lapped with the lead group on the Ducati before eventually slipping back to ninth place. Makoto Tamada completed the top ten ahead of Kenny Roberts, Toni Elías, Ruben Xaus, Roby Rolfo and Franco Battiani. Troy Bayliss was the only other faller.