Yorkshireman James Toseland fought a ferocious battle to score his fourth sixth position of the season in the Cinzano Grand Prix of Catalunya in Barcelona this afternoon. It was a tough race on his debut at the 2.937 miles Circuit De Catalunya. An early tangle with Valentino Rossi pushed the Tech 3 Yamaha rider wide but he fought back and pipped Australian Chris Vermeulen to sixth place on the line.
“I had a difficult few opening laps while I settled into a rhythm with the new settings on the bike,” said Toseland, who moved into seventh place in the Championship before his only one appearance in front of the British fans at the bwin.com British Grand Prix at Donington Park in two weeks time. “Valentino passed me and then I got pushed back a bit further before I managed to pull things back. I just got my head down and focussed on gaining some places. It’s hard work at these tracks that I don’t know so I’m really pleased to have qualified and finished the race in sixth position. My aim coming into the race was to finish sixth and improve my championship position and I’ve done both. I’m looking forward to getting to Donington now to see what I can do at a track that I’m familiar with.”
It was a points scoring afternoon for the British youngsters in the 125 cc race. Fifteen year old Scot Redding ran with the leaders in just his seventh grand prix appearance. He eventually finished a superb sixth in the race won by Frenchman Mike Di Meglio.
Kent-based Danny Webb fought back after a bad start to finish 11th riding the Degraff Aprilia with a brave Bradley Smith just three places behind. The 17 year old Oxford rider was battered and bruised from his spectacular crash in qualifying. His feet were particularly bruised but he fought back after a bad start to pick up two precious World Championship points.
Just out of the points in the 250cc class was Ulsterman Eugene Laverty after a race long battle with former 125 and 250 cc World Champion Manual Poggiali for 15th place.
Dani Replaces Vale as the Home Crowd Hero A week ago 96,000 Italians were chanting Valentino Rossi’s name but today it was 113,000 Catalans chanting the name of Dani Pedrosa to celebrate his home victory.
The 22 year Spaniard dominated the 25 lap race from start to finish riding the Repsol Honda and now trails Valentino Rossi by just seven points in the MotoGP World Championship after seven rounds. It was an outstanding display by the Repsol Honda rider who led from start to finish from second place on the grid and the home crowd celebrated with him as he crossed the line.
Last year Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner fought a superb battle for the win and today they repeated the contest but in the race for second place. Eight times Barcelona winner Rossi raced through the field from the third row of the grid. For the last ten laps he fought tooth and nail with the Australian to eventually grab 20 precious World Championship points in second place.
Stoner started from pole riding the Marlboro Ducati but could never find the rhythm established in practice and qualifying. He made a of couple mistakes and despite the battle with Rossi, was disappointed to finish third.
Barcelona 250 cc winner Andrea Dovizioso was fourth in front of the former World Superbike Champions trio of Colin Edwards, James Toseland and Chris Vermeulen.
Loris Capirossi and Alex De Angelis crashed at high speed after a tangle and Capirossi has been diagnosed with a dislocated fracture of the fifth right metacarpus and a deep wound to the fifth right finger. He will be fighting to be fit for the next round at Donington Park.
Results:1. Dani PEDROSA - SPA - HONDA 43'02.175
2. Valentino ROSSI - ITA - YAMAHA 43'04.981
3. Casey STONER - AUS - DUCATI 43'05.518
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO - ITA - HONDA 43'13.068
5. Colin EDWARDS - USA - YAMAHA 43'18.601
6. James TOSELAND - GBR - YAMAHA 43'23.657
Championship Positions:1. ROSSI Valentino 142
2. PEDROSA Dani 135
3. LORENZO Jorge 94
4. STONER Casey 92
5. EDWARDS Colin 69
6. DOVIZIOSO Andrea 57
7. TOSELAND James 53
8. CAPIROSSI Loris 51
