[Ducati] MotoGP spoiler

[Peter Bonner]

After summer break withdrawals, it was great to see MotoGP circus back for
the finale of the season.

Certainly there was a great deal of excitement, and it was great to watch
the two wonderful Italians, Rossi and Capirossi going at each other again.
As they battled ahead of a group including Randy DePuniet and Chris
Vermuelin, it was Capirossi who finally made the mistake, running a bit wide
with 15 laps to go after Rossi had just tried to go inside a few corners
earlier. However Rossi was not to stay in position, for Chris Vermuelin
started pushing Capirossi, eventually getting by, and then Vermuelin began
the chase for Rossi.  With nine laps to go, Vermuelin made it stick past
Rossi. Meanwhile with 8 laps to go, Barros made it through to lead an
entertaining 5 way battle for ninth place with 8 laps to go. Farther up, it
was Capirossi passing Rossi and making it stick with 7 laps to go, the
Ducati easily besting the stodgy Yamaha on the straight.  And that was
pretty much the end of changes through the end. Naturally the coverage
focused on these exciting developments, because Stoner, who had a nice lead
into the first corner, showing the power of the Ducati, was only up .7
second over John Hopkins in second by the end of the first lap.  By the
fifth lap, Stoner had a 1.2 second lead and seemed to settle in there.
Hopkins gradually fell of the pace (as opposed to his usual just falling)
and was a tidy 7.9 seconds behind but there to collect his absolute best
ever finish of second place. Showing that Michelin tyres were in the race as
well, Hayden finished a couple seconds ahead of Pedrosa for the final podium
slot with the greatly improved Hondas. And the big battle behind the leaders
saw Vermuelin take fifth and Capirossi sixth. Great as Rossi is, his talent
is not enough to take arguably the worst bike (not counting the Roberts camp
of course) into a position of any importance and finished seventh ahead of
Randy DePuniet and Alex Barros. Only Ducati and Honda had three bikes in the
top ten, Suzuki with two, Kawasaki and Yamaha with a single bike each.  Of
the top 4, two had Bridgestones, two had Michelins. Too bad for racing fans
that Rossi is under contract to ride the dreary Yamaha another year. Rossi
is now 60 points down in the championship, and only 18 points of fellow
Michelin rider Pedrosa.

Enjoy the race!

Peter