MotoGP 2006 Round 2
Losail, Qatar
April 9, 2006

Rossi Back on Top With Surprise By Rookie Casey Stoner

Text Courtesy Honda Racing, Edited by webBikeWorld

Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) came a narrow second to Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) in a tense MotoGP race on a very windy Losail circuit in Qatar.  Loris Capirossi took third on the Ducati.

This is Hayden’s sixth consecutive rostrum finish as he bids for his first win of the 2006 season.  With a 33km/h wind, erratic in direction, blowing throughout the day, turns two and nine seemed to be the worst affected.  There was also a 44 degree track temperature to contend with, although the elevated ambient temperature that is so often a debilitating factor here was "only" 25-degrees now that this is an April race instead of an October fixture.

Pole man Casey Stoner (LCR Honda RC211V) simply stormed away from the line as the lights went out and he looked strong as the field struggled to establish an order and make chase.  Capirossi was nearest to the young Aussie, but the Italian couldn’t stay with him as the first lap unfolded.

At the start of lap two the order was Stoner, Hayden, Rossi, Capirossi, Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki), Sete Gibernau (Ducati), then Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V).  Hayden put in an early fastest lap as he went all out to hound Stoner in those early stages.  Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V) was down in 11th place following a slow get away from the starting light.

Then it was Rossi piling on the pressure as he chased Hayden, a fastest lap belonging to the Italian rider on lap three.  On lap six Rossi and Hayden swapped places twice in both final loops as they fought for dominance in the struggle to reel in runaway Stoner.  Rossi eventually got the upper hand, but it took him over 9 laps, with a 0.77 second gap to close on the swift Australian.

On lap ten Rossi nipped past Stoner into turn one, then it was Hayden’s turn to demote Stoner to third on the next lap.  Rossi now held a 0.6 second advantage over Hayden and it was only another two laps before Capirossi squeezed past the Aussie to put the old guard in charge at the front.

As lap fifteen ran its course Rossi and Hayden had an advantage of more than a second over Capirossi and Stoner, with Gibernau losing ground in fifth.  Hayden now knew he had to size up Rossi to see what his plan should be in the closing laps.  He moved past Rossi at turn one on lap 19.

Rossi repaid the compliment on lap 20 at the same place and Hayden could not respond and Rossi won by 0.9 seconds at the flag with closer to Hayden than the American was to Rossi.  But Hayden rode a mature race and it can’t be long until the Kentucky Kid notches up a second career win in MotoGP.

“We gambled overnight on some changes,” said Hayden.  “The team got it right but I didn’t quite do it right today. I had fun though.  The six podiums in a row are OK but we need to take another step up.  We’ve got two weeks to put some hard work in to find the extra second a lap we need.”

Stoner in fourth said, “The start was really good and I felt really good out in front.  But as the fuel load went down and the pace went up I lost a bit of rear wheel grip.  Physically I wasn’t 100% so today wasn’t a bad result.  After 10 laps I had leg cramps.”

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V) finished a tight sixth after an intense battle with Melandri and said, “When I caught Melandri we had a big battle.  My bike was really fast and I could overtake him, but he was braking so late!  I’m not angry, but I’m upset because today I lost a good opportunity to be battling at the front. In the race I learned a lot of things and I know I performed as well as I could have. Although I’m frustrated today, the two races so far have been really positive.”

Melandri was seventh after the epic duel with Dani and said, “It was a really difficult race.  I got a good start and tried to make up some positions but I made a mistake towards the end of the race that cost me a position.  I had a really good battle with Dani Pedrosa, he was passing me on the straight but I was able to get him back on the brakes.  I’m still not riding as I’d like, but tomorrow we stay for a day of tests and hopefully it can help us take another step forward.”

The MotoGP World Championship points standings look like this after two of 17 rounds: Capirossi 41, Hayden 36, Rossi 30.

Testing at Losail
April 10, 2006 - Courtesy Yamaha Racing
Following Valentino Rossi's hard-fought victory in yesterday's Grand Prix of Qatar, the Italian was back out on track today alongside his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards for a one-day test today.  Despite Rossi's win, the team still saw remnants of their vibration problem arise during the weekend and today's test was aimed once again at working to understand and finally eliminate this problem from the 2006 YZR-M1.

As at the last one-day test in Jerez, Valentino Rossi completed a few laps on the 2005 M1 in order to compare its performance with the current bike and gather more information.  Besides this Rossi and Edwards, who completed 58 and 66 laps respectively, spent the day trying out various different settings and both riders made some encouraging improvements with some consistently fast lap times.  Just a small group of MotoGP riders stayed on to test alongside the Yamaha riders and the fastest unofficial lap was set by Marco Melandri (Honda) in a time of 1'55.95.  Rossi was second quickest with a lap of 1'56.25 and Edwards third in a time of 1'56.35.