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Post by BADGER on Nov 5, 2007 6:47:42 GMT
Full MotoGP race results from the Valencian Grand Prix, the 18th and final round of the 2007 world championship.
Valentino Rossi retired with technical problems with 10 laps to go.
1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 46min 43.533 secs 2. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 46min 48.980 secs 3. John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 47min 3.937 secs 4. Marco Melandri ITA Honda Gresini (B) 47min 8.360 secs 5. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 47min 9.337 secs 6. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 47min 9.395 secs 7. Alex Barros BRA Pramac d'Antin (B) 47min 13.003 secs 8. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 47min 13.866 secs 9. Randy de Puniet FRA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 47min 14.428 secs 10. Toni Elias SPA Honda Gresini (B) 47min 14.563 secs 11. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 (D) 47min 22.296 secs 12. Carlos Checa SPA Honda LCR (M) 47min 26.039 secs 13. Colin Edwards USA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 47min 30.105 secs 14. Shinya Nakano JPN Konica Minolta Honda (M) 47min 33.753 secs 15. Makoto Tamada JPN Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 (D) 47min 40.412 secs 16. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 47min 58.902 secs
DNF: Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) Kurtis Roberts USA Team Roberts (M) DNS: Chaz Davies GBR Pramac d'Antin (B) Advertisement [Go Advertisement Free]
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Post by BADGER on Nov 5, 2007 6:52:02 GMT
Yamaha has apologised to Valentino Rossi for the engine problem that robbed him of second place in the 2007 MotoGP World Championship - but isn't sure exactly what went wrong.
Rossi, riding with three broken bones in his right hand after a huge qualifying accident, braved the pain to try and secure the single point he needed to prevent Dani Pedrosa stealing second from him at the Valencian season finale.
While Pedrosa rode to victory, Rossi looked set to thwart the Spaniard when he moved into 15th place - for the final world championship point - just before the halfway mark of the 30 laps, then gained a further position soon after. But on lap 20 Rossi suffered a problem with his 'standard' mechanical-valve M1 engine and, after battling the mystery issue for two more laps, was forced to retire.
"I did everything I could in order to be on the grid today, because I wanted to try and confirm my second place in the championship, which I think I deserved," said a downbeat Rossi. "I was riding very fast, even though my bike was not perfect. When I got into 14th place, I told myself that my task was done, but I was feeling quite good and I wanted to try to pass some more riders. Unfortunately however I felt that I had a problem with my bike and I was forced to come in. Now we are checking the data to understand what happened, because at the moment it's not so clear."
"We would like to say sorry to Valentino because he made a great effort to race with his broken hand," said team director Davide Brivio. "Unfortunately a technical problem stopped him from getting the second place and we're very sad about this. Our engineers are doing everything they can now to understand what happened today, because Valentino felt that he had a problem and that the engine was not working properly. From our first analysis we are not yet sure what the problem was, so we have decided to send the engine back to Japan for further investigation." "This final race has been a very disappointing end to a long and hard season," added Lin Jarvis, managing director of Yamaha Motor Racing. "I feel very sorry that our machine failed Valentino today and denied him the second place in the championship that he surely deserved. His ride today with a broken hand showed his fighting spirit and his passion for racing."
Rossi will miss this week's Valencia test due to his injuries and is expected to return to the track, on Bridgestonetyres, during the Jerez test at the end of November.
"I will need 20 days to fix my hand and then I will be back in Jerez to start my winter testing programme," confirmed Rossi.
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Post by BADGER on Nov 5, 2007 6:57:55 GMT
Official: Rossi to Bridgestone. As rumoured, Valentino Rossi will switch from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres for the 2008 MotoGP season.
Rossi has been with Michelin ever since his 2000 premier-class debut and won the 500cc/MotoGP title five times with the French manufacturer from 2001-2005. However, chatter problems during 2006 and especially the dominance of Bridgestonein 2007 has seen the relationship rapidly cool.
This season saw Michelin lose the MotoGP title for the first time since 1991 and rumours soon surfaced that Yamaha star Rossi (like Honda's Dani Pedrosa) was pushing hard for Bridgestone tyres - as used by new MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner - in 2008.
When those requests were initially turned down by Bridgestone, MotoGP faced the possibility of a single tyre rule being introduced, but a compromise was subsequently reached to keep tyre competition alive.
As part of that compromise, Rossi will now get Bridgestone tyres, but be the only Yamaha rider on the Japanese rubber, since new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo (plus Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and James Toseland) will use Michelins. Pedrosa and Repsol Hondateam-mate Nicky Haydenwill also keep the French brand.
"In order to facilitate the use of both Michelin tyres and Bridgestone tyres within the Yamaha Factory Team and to ensure confidentiality of data for each tyre company, Yamaha will organise separate rider pit boxes [with a team manager for each rider], but the Fiat Yamaha Team will continue to operate and race as one team," said a Yamaha statement.
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Post by BADGER on Nov 5, 2007 7:03:18 GMT
THE RACE
The 18th and final round of the 2007 world championship, and 100th race since the start of the four-stroke MotoGP class, has been won by home hero Dani Pedrosa.
Pedrosa, who had qualified on pole for the fourth successive race, lost out to MotoGPworld champion Casey Stoner and team-mate Nicky Haydeninto turn one, but was quickly back past Hayden and chasing down the Ducatistar.
Stoner, a ten times 2007 race winner, was unable to shake the determined Spaniard and Pedrosa eventually breezed past the Australian along the start/finish straight on lap six of 30. Stoner did all he could to keep pressure on his fellow 22-year-old, but Dani - the only Hondarider to win a race this year - edged ever more slightly away with almost every lap.
Pedrosa was 1.8secs clear by the halfway point and went on to take his second victory of the season by 5.447secs - then lit the celebratory fireworks in front of 132,500 cheering trackside fans. The victory was Pedrosa's fourth in the premier-class, first at home and also gave him second in the world championship after Valentino Rossi's painful weekend came to a 'pointless' conclusion.
Rossi, who fractured three bones in his right hand during a spectacular qualifying fall, kept his perfect eleven-year grand prix attendance alive by braving the pain on Sunday - and needed just one point to hold on to second in the world championship.
The Italian began the race from 17th on the grid, took 16th on lap seven, then gingerly passed Shinya Nakano for 15th and the final world championship point on lap 14... but it all came to nothing when Rossi suffered a technical problem into turn one on lap 18. The former five times MotoGP world champion tried to continue, but was forced to admit defeat and pull into the pits two laps later, marking his third DNF of the season.
With Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards finishing just 13th on his final factory ride, Fiat Yamaha slipped from second to fourth in the teams' championship standings, with Repsol Honda taking second behind Ducati Marlboro as Rizla Suzuki moved up to third. Meanwhile, Stoner's safe second position gave him a final 2007 points haul of 367 – a massive 125 above nearest rival Pedrosa and the equivalent of five race wins, illustrating just how overwhelming the Australian's season has been.
Completing the Valencia podium was John Hopkins, who charged forwards from seventh on the grid during his final ride for Rizla Suzuki. Hopper's fourth podium of the year also gave the Anglo-American, who will join Kawasaki next season, fourth in the final world championship standings.
Marco Melandri had held that position heading into the event, but the 2008 factory Ducati rider qualified just tenth before winning an exciting duel with Repsol Honda rider Hayden for fourth heading into the closing stages.
Hayden, who started on the outside of the front row, put up a determined defence, but his expected tyre endurance problems duly emerged late in the race and the American eventually slid all the way back to eighth.
Loris Capirossi pipped 2008 Rizla Suzuki team-mate Chris Vermeulen by just 0.058secs to take fifth on his Ducati farewell, while Alex Barros brought his 21-year world championship career to a close with a competitive seventh position.
Behind Hayden, Randy de Puniet's last Kawasaki ride ended in ninth, with Toni Elias completing the top ten for Honda Gresini. Elias' 2008 d'Antin Ducati team-mate Sylvain Guintoli finished his rookie MotoGP season with an eleventh position for Dunlop Tech 3 Yamaha, having qualified an excellent fifth.
Carlos Checa, riding in his 220th and last grand prix before moving to World Superbikes, finished twelfth for Honda LCR - despite being plagued by severe stomach problems all weekend, forcing several trips to the local hospital.
The final world championship point went to Guintoli's team-mate Makoto Tamada, on what looks like being his last grand prix appearance.
Chaz Davies, due to ride in his fourth MotoGP of the season, didn't start the race due to injuries sustained in practice.
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