Leader Nicky Hayden saves a complicated situation with a fifth place. Team mate Dani Pedrosa, penalised by the huge crowd in the pit lane while changing his bike finishes 15th. MotoGP experienced today an exciting race, with a lot of suspense, some surprise and several changes in the lead. All teams were looking at the weather before the start of the race in the premier class, and all eyes were fixed on the sky. The black clouds getting closer to Phillip Island did not predict good news and so it was.
The start was delayed a few minutes due to the first drops and the race was declared as "wet race". After the definitive start and only a few laps, the riders had to enter the pit lane to change their bikes because all of them had decided to start with slick tyres. This has been the first time this special situation was experienced in a MotoGP race and the truth is that some riders were benefited, such as Nicky Hayden who moved up from the sixteenth position he had after the first lap to tenths on lap seven. Other had however worse luck, such as Dani Pedrosa, who after a superb start was fifth in the first lap but dropped to thirteenth after the bike change.
The large traffic on the pit lane while the riders were changing their bikes, the crowd of people and Tamadas bike in front of Dani's, clearly hindered Pedrosa. Finally Dani had to settle for the fifteenth position with a completely worn-out rear soft rain tyre. The current World Championship leader Nicky Hayden crossed the finish line in fifth position, handing over just five points to Valentino Rossi, who finished third today ad moved up to second in the overall standings. After this Grand Prix, and with 75 points still at stake until the end of the 2006 World Championship, Hayden has an advantage of 21 points over Rossi, who is second, and 32 over Melandri and Pedrosa, who are on third and fourth position with the same amount of points in the overall standings.
Good race for Shuhei Aoyama today in Phillip Island. The rider of the Repsol Honda Team 250 made a good start and was eighth after the first lap. After loosing some positions in the following laps, Aoyama started to push harder from lap five managing to overtake five riders and moving up to the fifth position in lap 13. Shuhei managed to keep that position until the chequered flag. This has been with no doubt a good result to let young Aoyama recover the faith in himself and arrive in high spirits at the venue of the next Grand Prix which is his home race in Japan. Winner of the race was World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo.
The 125cc race was a short race for Repsol rider Bradley Smith. Two starts were needed after the multiple crash at the end of the main straight right after the first start, which forced the Race Direction to show red flags and restart the race a couple of minutes later. After the second start, Bradley was eighteenth after the first lap and from then on the British rider began to overtake several riders, moving up to fourteenth. But in lap seven, he touched with Italian rider Cortese, putting an end to all of Smith's hopes. The young Repsol rider crashed and rejoined the race, but in the last position. Fortunately the crash had no physical consequences for Bradley and he will be ready for Japan. The race was won by Alvaro Bautista, who became 125cc World Champion after the race in Australia.
Standings MotoGP:a
1. M.Melandri (Honda) 44'15.621
2. C.Vermeulen (Suzuki) + 9.699
3. V.Rossi (Yamaha) + 10.526
4. S.Gibernau (Ducati) + 10.615
5. N.Hayden (Honda) + 10.694
15. D.Pedrosa (Honda) a 1 v.
250:1. J.Lorenzo (Aprilia) 39'17.327
2. A.de Angelis (Aprilia) + 0.009
3. H.Aoyama (KTM) + 6.560
4. A.Dovizioso (Honda) + 18.196
5. S.Aoyama (Honda) + 36.000
125:1. A.Bautista (Aprilia) 24'30.115
2. M.Kallio (KTM) + 3.242
3. M.Pasini (Aprilia) + 3.381
4. T.Luthi (Honda) + 3.639
5. J.Simón (KTM) + 3.838
28. B.Smith (Honda) + 1'34.602
World Championship MotoGP:1. N.Hayden, 225 points
2. V.Rossi, 204
3. M.Melandri, 193
4. D.Pedrosa, 193
5. L.Capirossi, 180
World Championship 250:1. J.Lorenzo, 249 points
2. A.Dovizioso, 225
3. A.de Angelis, 167
4. H.Aoyama, 148
5. R.Locatelli, 147
9. S.Aoyama, 79
14. M.Cárdenas, 37
World Championship 125:1. A.Bautista, 280 points
2. M.Kallio, 201
3. M.Pasini, 172
4. S.Gadea, 143
5. H.Faubel, 142
21. B.Smith, 8
Weather: Rain
Humidity: 13%
Temperature: 23ºC
Track: Wet
Temp Track: 33ºC
Wind: 8 Km/h
Nicky Hayden: "What a wild race. I had some problems getting off the line, which is clear, and in the first few laps it was just wet and it felt pretty sketchy to me. I was using quite a hard tyre and I was just getting eaten up and losing positions at the beginning. Then it started to rain, we came in and switched bikes and it was actually really good fun - I enjoyed it. When it was really raining it felt pretty good and I was charging hard and getting past quite a few guys but as it dried out I struggled a bit in the half-wet half-dry conditions. I got Rossi, he got me back and we were catching some guys in front of us. It was looking ok until he got Sete in between us which was not great, but we're still holding on with three races to go and we'll just roll into Motegi and keep fighting."
Dani Pedrosa: "We were ready for the dry race and I was able to run near the front in the early laps. Everybody was careful for the first few laps because it was raining and the tyres were cold - except Nakano - right from the start he was already gone. After the weather changed and it started raining I more or less kept the rhythm of the riders in front. But when we came into the pit-lane to change bikes the pit-lane was full and there were plenty of people who didn't need to be there and I can't really understand why. I lost some time and after I changed bikes many of the riders who were behind me before were in front. The tyre choice for the second part of the race was too soft and after two laps it was destroyed so it was impossible for me to maintain the pace. The result is obviously not good in terms of points but Motegi is a track I like so I hope to have a better race there."
Shuhei Aoyama: "I'm very happy today. It was a very good race. Too bad I didn't make it onto the podium but let's take it easy and go step by step! We had some trouble this morning during the warm-up with the speed, but the bike went much better during the race and I was able to push harder. I managed to make a good start and overtook several riders. I moved up to fifth and managed to keep the position until the end. I'm very happy and looking forward to my home race next weekend in Japan."
Bradley Smith: "After the first start I was really flouted. I got a good start and was a bit hesitant on the second corner about three people passed me. After the first lap I just tried to catch back-up. The four laps before I crashed I was going well. I went faster than my qualifying time, doing consistent lap times and I caught the group in front and things we're looking up. But then I caught a slipstream down the straight and I didn't want to be in the back I just tried to get to pass Cortese, so I tried to brake straight away, like out braking. I don't know maybe I had a different line but it looked as if he was going wide and I just went through the inside and as he cut back it was just too close So I thought I had to pick it up and as I picked up he must have caught my front end and down I went. But I got back on and finished. The position wasn't good for me but at least I finished which is better than just retiring or something like that. It's a shame but my head's up, we had a good weekend, it's been positive and now we're on to Japan."
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