- Round: 12 - Motegi Grand Prix
- Circuit: Twin Ring
- Date: 19 September 2004
- Crowd: 75000
- Temp: 34ºC
- Weather: Sunny
- Circuit Length: 4801
- Race: 24 Laps
- Lap Record: 1' 48.885 (Valentino Rossi, 2003)
- Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 47.696 (Max Biaggi, 2003)
Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) secured a second place result at the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi today after a closely contested battle with eventual victor Makoto Tamada (Honda). Rossi led the early stages of the 24-lap race but lost his advantage to the Japanese rider from lap ten onwards, reserving his concentration to take the 20 points on offer for second place. His team-mate Carlos Checa dropped back from a bright start to finish seventh.
Turn one drama;
In front of a strong crowd, Rossi made an excellent start from his front row grid position, leading into the first corner and thus escaping a six-rider pile-up caused by a collision between Loris Capirossi (Ducati) and John Hopkins (Suzuki). Checa also narrowly escaped the melee, running strongly in the early part of the race until an off track excursion dropped him down the order, leaving him to finish in a solitary seventh place.
Rossi and Tamada charged away from the remains of the pack, with the former leading until Tamada made a successful pass along the back straight on lap ten. From that point on Tamada built a gap over Rossi, and ended the race just over six seconds ahead of the Italian.
The Fortuna Gauloises Tech3 pairing of Marco Melandri and Norick Abe showed their talents with impressive performances, albeit with mixed result, in Motegi today. They were running in third and fourth places respectively until shortly before the halfway stage. Melandri eventually finished in fifth after his tyres began to fade, while Norick was robbed of a strong home race result after he was forced to retire.
Marco rode through severe discomfort with sore ribs and a bad back after waking up in pain this morning. The gritty Italian stormed to third place and held it until the final few laps. But his third podium of the season was not to be and he had to settle for fifth at the flag.
Norick excelled at his home race and was running behind his team-mate in fourth until he was sidelined on lap ten by a technical problem. The Japanese star was showing his true racing talents until cruel luck denied him what looked to be his best result of the season so far.
Rossi's second place and Sete Gibernau's (Honda) sixth place finish gives the Italian an additional ten-point cushion at the head of the championship table - with Rossi on 229 and Gibernau on 190. Max Biaggi (Honda) remains third on 158 after being put out on the first corner, with Barros leapfrogging another first corner crasher, Colin Edwards (Honda) to go fourth. Tamada lies in fifth and Checa seventh in the order, with 102 points.
Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha)
"I made a great start and that put me in front. That was very important because behind me hell arrived at the first corner! I tried to stay with Makoto and tried to win. After leading for the first ten laps he overtook me and then I started to slide a lot and I had a little problem exiting the corners under acceleration. It was impossible for me to get back in front of Makoto and for sure I would've preferred to win. This second place improves our championship position though, another ten points of a gap. This was an important race for us in every respect."
Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha)
"I missed the big crash and I was lucky, because many did not. I saw Loris Capirossi's screen on the ground, then I touched with Sete. I was thinking about last year and to be involved in a crash at the same place would have been hard. In the race I could not keep the pace I wanted. I pushed and pushed and in turn one I arrived a bit too fast and ran off the track. I lost eight seconds and then I knew the race was gone. After that I finished the race but it was not a nice feeling to stay there."
Davide Brivio, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team director
"Looking at the championship; today was a good day for us because we have increased our championship lead, and that was important. OK, we didn't win, but Valentino tried and today Tamada was quite strong in his entire race package. It was correct for Valentino not to take too many risks at this point in the championship. Now we go to Qatar with a 39-point lead but we have to keep going and keep concentration levels high. Carlos couldn't go faster and that was a pity. We look forward to Qatar, because it will be a new track for everyone."
Jeremy Burgess (Valentino Rossi's crew chief)
"After the incident on the first corner it certainly put a different perspective on the race. Valentino and Tamada avoided all that. Without the other guys it was difficult to say what would have happened. Track temperatures were over 40°C in the race, so that may have been a factor. Our rivals have fewer points and fewer races to earn them in now. We knew this race would be difficult for us, so you have to say it turned out not bad."
Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech3)
"I had a pain in my ribs and back from this morning - when I woke up, not from my warm-up crash - and it was hard to breathe. The first half of the race was okay, but braking was very hard on my body. I maybe chose the wrong rear tyre and on the last seven or eight laps things got very hard to control. I got close to the podium - I could almost smell it - but I just couldn't get there. Fifth is okay but a podium is always better."
Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech3) DNF
"I'm so disappointed. I can't say any more."
Hervé Poncharal, Fortuna Gauloises Tech3 team director
"A very strange race! A lot of the top guys went out at the first turn and that made for an odd race. Marco held third for most of the race but just couldn't hold on. Still, when you look at the whole weekend - I would maybe have settled for a fifth place. We all feel so sorry for Norick - he rode really well, pushing hard, and I'm sure he could have fought for the podium. It must be so frustrating for him to lose out here on a technical problem. But this has been a good race for Yamaha in terms of the World Championship and it's also good to see the MotoGP grid is as competitive as ever. Three different brands of bikes and two tyre manufacturers in the top three can only be good for the sport."
- 1 - M. Tamada, Honda (JPN) - 43' 43.220
- 2 - V. Rossi, Yamaha (ITA) - +6.168
- 3 - S. Nakano, Kawasaki (JPN) - +13.396
- 4 - A. Barros, Honda (BRA) - +15.435
- 5 - M. Melandri, Yamaha (ITA) - +23.577
- 6 - S. Gibernau, Honda (ESP) - +27.378
- 7 - C. Checa, Yamaha (ESP) - +35.834
- 8 - N. Hodgson, Ducati (GBR) - +47.976
- 9 - R. Xaus, Ducati (ESP) - +49.881
- 10 - A. Hofman, Kawasaki (GER) - +56.107
- 11 - O. Jacque, Moriwaki (FRA) - +1' 21.237
- 12 - J. McWilliams, Aprilia (GBR) - +1' 27.683
- 13 - S. Byrne, Aprilia (GBR) - +1 lap(s)
- 14 - N. Aoki, Proton KR (JPN) - +1 lap(s)
- 15 - Y. Ui Harris, WCM (JPN) - +1 lap(s)
Fastest Race Lap:
- 1 - M. Tamada, Honda (JPN) - 1' 48.524
Championship standings MotoGP
- 1 - Valentino Rossi Yamaha (ITA) - 229
- 2 - Sete Gibernau Honda (ESP) - 190
- 3 - Max Biaggi Honda (ITA) - 158
- 4 - Alex Barros Honda (BRA) - 115
- 5 - Makato Tamada Honda (JPN) - 114
- 6 - Colin Edwards Honda (USA) - 111
- 7 - Carlos Checa Yamaha (ESP) - 102
- 8 - Loris Capirossi Ducati (ITA) - 84
- 9 - Nicky Hayden Honda (USA) - 83
- 10 - Marco Melandri Yamaha (ITA) - 75
- 11 - Shinya Nakano Kawasaki (JPN) - 62
- 12 - Norick Abe Yamaha (JPN) - 55
- 13 - Ruben Xaus Ducati (ESP) - 53
- 14 - Troy Bayliss Ducati (AUS) - 42
- 15 - Kenny Roberts Suzuki (USA) - 37
Manufacturers standings MotoGP
- 1 - Honda - 270
- 2 - Yamaha - 244
- 3 - Ducati - 111
- 4 - Kawasaki - 67
- 5 - Suzuki - 58
- 6 - Aprilia - 33
- 7 - Proton KR - 11
- 8 - Harris WCM - 9
- 9 - Moriwaki - 7
This article and pictures were kindly provided by www.yamaha-racing.com
