Go to the Softpedia homepage


NEWS CATEGORIES:



NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>
Home / News /


Melandri Wins Australian Thriller

The Italian rider clinched his 3rd win of the season, while Rossi closed the gap to 21 points behind Nicky Hayden

By Ovidiu Panzariu, Sports Editor

18th of September 2006, 07:55 GMT

Adjust text size:


There's something about dramatic finishes inside the MotoGP: they are always won by Italian riders. This time, though, the victory was not Rossi's, but his compatriot's, Marco Melandri. The 24-year old rider won the Australian GP at Phillip Islands on a comfortable 9.699 margin and clinched his 3rd victory of the season.

The race was announcing to be a special one from its early laps. The Australian officials declared it a wet race and the riders were back in the pit to change to wet-weather bikes. Still, the rain eased off and the "bikers" had to enter once again the pits to change their bikes.

Shinya Nakano held a 5-second advantage before the pit-stops, but easily lost it throughout the race. Ducati's Sete Gibernau picked up on Nakano's poor run and took the lead
in the 12th lap. The Spaniard - known to be one of rain-races greatest experts - did not manage to keep home favorite Chris Vermeulen away too much.

The Australian, despite his poor run in the qualifying round, managed to close the gap on Gibernau and, for the first time since Mick Doohan, gave the home fans hope that one of their own could still win the Australian GP.

Despite taking the lead, Vermeulen lost it early in the 17th lap, due to Melandri's better tyre-performance. The Italian built up a comfortable lead and Vermeulen's only hope was to clinch 2nd. The Australian managed to keep Gibernau on his trails and squeezed his first ever podium inside the MotoGP.

Gibernau, however, failed to enter the podium in the end, after a powerful recovery by Valentino Rossi. Trailing the leading group from his 11th position, the Yamaha rider advanced slowly into 4th and, just before the last corner of the race, he squeezed the 3rd out of the Ducati rider. And, thanks to Nicky Hayden's 5th position, the Italian is now only 21 points behind the American.

As for Melandri, he is back on track within the MotoGP, managing to even Daniel Pedrosa overall. They both stand on 193 points, with Rossi on 204 and Hayden leading 225.

Here are the Australian GP results on Sunday, as well as the leading positions in riders' overall:

Australian GP:

1. Marco Melandri (Ita) Honda 44:15.621
2. Chris Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 44:25.320
3. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 44:26.147
4. Sete Gibernau (Spa) Ducati 44:26.236
5. Nicky Hayden (US) Honda 44:26.315
6. Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 44:26.944
7. Loris Capirossi (Ita) Ducati 44:42.176
8. Shinya Nakano (Jpn) Kawasaki 44:42.287
9. Toni Elias (Spa) Honda 45:12.855
10. Makoto Tamada (Jpn) Honda 45:17.852
11. Randy de Puniet (Fra) Kawasaki 45:18.053
12. John Hopkins (US) Suzuki 45:34.430
13. Alex Hofmann (Ger) Ducati 46:03.854
14. Kenny Roberts Jr (US) KR211V 1 Laps
15. Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 1 Laps

Overall Classification:

1. Nicky Hayden (US) Honda 225
2. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 204
3. Marco Melandri (Ita) Honda 193
4. Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 193
5. Loris Capirossi (Ita) Ducati 180
6. Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 119
7. Kenny Roberts Jr (US) KR211V 103
8. John Hopkins (US) Suzuki 97
9. Colin Edwards (US) Yamaha 96
10. Chris Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 86


Rating:
Fair (2.7/5) 8 vote(s) so far    

Read by 0 user(s) | Add comment | Link to this article
Subscribe to news | Print article | Send to friend

© Copyright 2001-2008 Softpedia
Contact:

 

 

SEARCH THE NEWS ARCHIVE :




Today's News | Yesterday's News | News Archive


MORE RELATED ARTICLES:


Melandri Takes Turkish GP

The Moto GP Was Close to Tragedy

Marco Melandri Could Also Miss the Dutch TT

Loris Capirossi Hopes for Donington Recovery

Sete Gibernau is Back in Business

Marco Melandri Makes Extraordinary Discovery

Honda Is Losing Power in Motorsports

Yamaha Was Stunned By Rossi's Triumph

Loris Capirossi Signed Ducati Extension

User opinions:

No user comments yet.
Be the first to express your opinion using the form below!

Share your opinion:

Your Name:
Your Email Address:
(will not be used for commercial purposes)
Solve this to prove you're not a bot: =
Your review/opinion:

 






SUBMIT PROGRAM   |   ADVERTISE   |   GET HELP   |   SEND US FEEDBACK   |   RSS FEEDS   |   ENTER NEWS SITE   |   ENGLISH BOARD   |   ROMANIAN FORUM
© 2001 - 2008 Softpedia. All rights reserved.
Softpedia™ and the Softpedia™ logo are registered trademarks of SoftNews NET SRL.		 Copyright Information | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Update your software | Archive