Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi has returned to winning ways in China this morning, taking the MotoGP victory by some four seconds from Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa - but the day’s story is a fifth place for a resurgent Marco Melandri in his first top ten place of the year.
Rossi had a race-long battle with Spaniard Pedrosa after poleman Colin Edwards fell off the pace after leading for the inital few laps. Pedrosa managed to keep the Italian in sight for a good portion of the race until The Doctor wound up the wick with a third of the race to go and crossed the line with a four-second advantage.
Reigning world champion Casey Stoner completed the podium line up but was some 15 seconds adrift of Rossi - so there is still a awful lot of work to do in the Ducati/Bridgestone garage. Stoner’s team-mate Melandri finished just behind superman Jorge Lorenzo, who is riding both both feet broken.
This is the first time the Italian has broken into the top ten all season. The news that Max Biaggi and possibly Troy Bayliss are to test the Desmosedici GP8 in an attempt to find out why it isn’t performing, must have lit a fire underneath the former 250GP champion.
Britain’s James Toseland was 12th.
1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 44min 8.061 secs
2. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 44min 11.951 secs
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 44min 23.989 secs
4. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 44min 30.555 secs
5. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 44min 35.018 secs
6. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 44min 36.430 secs
7. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 44min 37.841 secs
8. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 44min 38.286 secs
9. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 44min 39.501 secs
10. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 44min 44.030 secs
11. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 44min 44.307 secs
12. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 44min 51.252 secs
13. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 44min 51.503 secs
14. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 44min 53.916 secs
15. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 44min 54.391 secs
16. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 44min 58.654 secs
17. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 45min 13.654 secs