Close the book on 2005... (Valencia spoiler)

 1. Marco MELANDRI     46:58.152
2. Nicky HAYDEN         -0.097 second
3. Valentino ROSSI     -2.959 seconds
4. Carlos CHECA         -18.718 seconds
5. Alex BARROS         -20.706 seconds
6. Max BIAGGI         -21.254 seconds
7. Loris CAPIROSSI     -23.142 seconds
8. Colin EDWARDS     -25.678 seconds
9. Makoto TAMADA     -36.710 seconds
10. Toni ELIAS         -39.116 seconds
11. Shinya NAKANO     -41.136 seconds
12. Ryuichi KIYONARI     -45.691 seconds
13. John HOPKINS     -46.507 seconds
14. Alex HOFMANN     -49.856 seconds
15. Ruben XAUS         -79.443 seconds

Thr turning point of the race was on lap three, when Gibernau's motor
puked (unbelievable) and the breakaway group of Sete, Melandri and
Hayden became two. After that it was the pair disappearing in the
distance, Marco never more than 0.8 second ahead of Nicky, while Rossi
worked through the field, but never got to the point where you could
seriously think he'd make contact with the leaders, given the lap times.
Nicky showed signs that he could pass Marco, but Marco gapped him
sufficiently with 2-3 laps to go, about a third of a second, that
whatever chance Nicky had was pretty thin. As it was Nicky was lapping
faster than he ever had before, his practice and warmup race tire wall
at 33.6 but doing 15 race laps at 33.6 or less. Marco's focus on the
championship apparently disappeared when he and Nicky broke away,
thereby clinching the spot if he didn't crash, and he was able to hold
the point.

Rossi's charge through the field was impressive, the first part
predicably so while he got through slower guys, but he disposed of
Capirossi, Biaggi and Checa rather easily as well, although Checa hung
with him well in the middle of the race. Vale did a 33.2 early on, but
his limit seems to have been 33.4 once the tires showed some wear. It
was disappointing that Checa and Biaggi couldn't hang with the leaders,
and Max got taken by Barros as well late in the race.

Otherwise, the usual form behind, Edwards not making any impression
(last year here he was 8th and 27 seconds back, so same-same), Tamada
even less (last year on the 'stones he was 5th and 8 seconds back),
Elias no longer charging at home, the Suzukis and Kawasakis looking
hopeless again, Xaus truly sucking wind. On the wildcard front, Kiyonari
improved by about 20 seconds on his '03 result and ran about where
Vermuelen did the last two rounds.

So in points it ends up:

1. ROSSI     367 points
2. MELANDRI     220 points
3. HAYDEN     206 points
4. EDWARDS     179 points
5. BIAGGI     173 points
6. CAPIROSSI     157 points
7. GIBERNAU     150 points
8. BARROS     147 points
9. CHECA     138 points
10. NAKANO     98 points
11. TAMADA     91 points
12. ELIAS     74 points
13. ROBERTS     63 points
14. HOPKINS     63 points
15. BAYLISS     54 points
16. XAUS     52 points

The only move from the last round was Capirossi passing Gibernau, and at
the bottom end I note that Hopkins couldn't get by injured Roberts and
out-classed Xaus couldn't catch injured Bayliss. Rossi doesn't even tie
Doohan in wins, ending the year with only two wins in the last six
races, and equals his worst finish of the year, that at Laguna, and also
running in old Yamaha colors while Honda wins the race. And I note that
those colors are what he and the bike were in during the year-end
champions photo session after the race - need a stronger signal that
Gauloises is gone?

So the impression of the weekend is of the new guard having displaced
the old, Rossi's starting position allowing that to be seen clearly.
Melandri has undeniable confidence and momentum going into the
offseason, and Hayden apparent determination to get over that last
hurdle (which is higher than it appeared today, with Rossi playing a
handicap). It sounds like the '06 saddle situation became less clear,
with Biaggi apparently out entirely at Honda, Gibernau not certain at
Ducati, Checa still in play there, talk of Stoner and Honda, and the
possibility that Barros may be back at Pons. We'll see who gets on what
bikes over the next few days. What I would find personally appalling is
the notion of Camel and Marlboro actually fighting over Charlie Chuckit...

 I have a suspicion, but no more than that, that Rossi was racing for
third. If you ignore the first two, then what you had was a classic
Rossi race. Coming from the back he overtakes everyone, then sits in
front of the second place rider. He holds a bit back on the tyre front,
and then makes a break right at the end of the race. We keep hearing
about how Rossi is the master at managing his tyres. Perhaps he
calculated that coming from 15th and given his pace, he wouldn't be
able to challenge for the win, so he picked a target of 3rd as being
realistic and stuck to it.

Impossible?

Cheers,

Ross-c

 clemenr@wmin.ac.uk wrote:

While he was quicker for most of the last half of the race, it was only
marginally so. He lost any hope in those laps *after* getting by
"Chucker," on lap six he was +4.9, on lap 14 after 8 laps of clear track
he was +6.5 and any chance of catching the "boys" was "pretty much"
over. I think he was more worried about Carlos sticking it to him than
he was trying to catch the leaders! Contrary to what the old git said,
I'm not sure he would've won the race had he started from the front row,
especially had Sete been in it all the way, but it's supposition at this
point. He got third by a measured and calculated run thru a bunch of
good riders, the guy is very good, but he does not walk on water.......

 clemenr@wmin.ac.uk wrote:

Yes. He was racing to win, and barring that, for whatever he could get,
as always. The farthest off the lead he ever got was 6.6 seconds on lap
14, when Checa was still on his ass, and by lap 24 he'd closed that to
3.8 seconds and had nearly 5 on Checa. But he kept the hammer down and
didn't slip into the 34s until the last lap. My guess is that if the
leaders tangled he wanted to be close enough to pick up the pieces. And
at the start of the race one would assume that Rossi didn't know that
Sete's motor would puke, or that Checa and even Biaggi wouldn't be able
to do their practice pace. When beforehand he spoke of 5th in the race
he wasn't sandbagging, I don't think.