The Doctor fought a race-long battle with Casey Stoner during the Grand Prix of China, the pair providing a thrilling spectacle until the 16th lap when Rossi was forced to concede victory to the Australian after a small mistake. Rossi started with a good pole position, John Hopkins took the lead into turn one but Rossi passed him on the first lap to cross the line in front. By lap three Rossi had dropped behind both Stoner and Marco Melandri but before long Rossi had dispatched his fellow countryman and set off after Stoner, eliciting a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse which kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Rossi’s Yamaha worked perfectly throughout and the he was never more than a few tenths down on Stoner, exploiting the agility and corner speed of his M1 in the earlier sections to close the gap and often pass Stoner, but relinquishing ground down the long back straight where the Ducati had the advantage.
The pair kept up a blistering pace and only Hopkins could stay with them, closing the gap to half a second at one point in pursuit of his first podium. With seven laps to go and Rossi doing everything in his powers to find a way to make a pass stick on Stoner, but he made a mistake braking into the hairpin at the end of the back straight and ran off the track, letting Hopkins through. Rossi kept fighting and was able to pass Hopkins back again to consolidate second place, but Stoner was too far ahead and took the flag three seconds in front.
The pair kept up a blistering pace and only Hopkins could stay with them, closing the gap to half a second at one point in pursuit of his first podium. With seven laps to go and Rossi doing everything in his powers to find a way to make a pass stick on Stoner, but he made a mistake braking into the hairpin at the end of the back straight and ran off the track, letting Hopkins through. Rossi kept fighting and was able to pass Hopkins back again to consolidate second place, but Stoner was too far ahead and took the flag three seconds in front.
At the end Valentino Rossi said: “I enjoyed today a lot, it was a great race, a really exciting battle and my Yamaha was fantastic to the end. We knew that this track would be difficult for us so to be able to fight with Stoner at 100% for the entire race was a great feeling. Of course it’s not a win, but I think second place is a very good result for us here. I didn’t want to give up and just ride for second, I wanted to try to pass him and I made some good overtaking maneuvers but wasn’t able to stay in front down the straight. Then I made a mistake when I hit a bump when braking, had to release the brake and ran off track. It was a pity, but when you’re riding on the limit lap after lap then things like this can happen; that’s racing! Anyway I knew I couldn’t give up, I had a nice battle with John and then was able to take second. I think these twenty points are really important and we’re still second in the championship. I’m really sadder for what happened in Turkey because if we hadn’t had the problem there then I might have been level with Stoner in the championship now. But the season is long and now we have several races in Europe at some of my favorite tracks and I think we’re in good shape for them!”
Congratulations to all, they were fought to the end!
Congratulations to all, they were fought to the end!
From: www.rossifiles.com
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