Reverend
July 26th, 2009, 20:22 PM
Andrea Dovizioso secured the first win of his MotoGP career in a remarkable British Grand Prix at Donington.
The Italian inherited the lead after championship leader Valentino Rossi slid off from first place, before remounting to come home in fifth.
Fortunately for Rossi his nearest title rival, Jorge Lorenzo, failed to finish and Casey Stoner came home 14th.
Colin Edwards was second with Randy de Puniet third, and James Toseland in a career-best equalling sixth place.
Toni Elias, who started from eighth place, set the pace early on before clipping the white paint and being thrown off his bike.
Lorenzo, who had passed him into the lead, also fell victim to the white paint when he lost his front end at Goddards and despite his best endeavours to right the bike, was forced to pull out.
And Rossi became the third high-profile victim of the conditions when he slid off at the Foggy Esses, gifting the lead to his fellow Italian, who survived a late challenge from Edwards and de Puniet to register his first senior class victory.
Afterwards, Doviozioso admitted the weather had made it a difficult race to judge.
"I had a light visor so it was not easy to understand which part of the track was dry," he said.
"Then I saw on the pitboards that Randy and Colin were catching me, which was scary, so I pushed 100% for the last two laps and they couldn't overtake me."
Toseland was engaged in a fierce battle with Rossi, only finally giving way to him right at the end, and narrowly missing out on fifth place.
"I want a job with Yamaha so it was no good knocking off the number one rider was it?" joked Toseland afterwards.
"I plan on staying on MotoGP for a while so I hope Yamaha have a place for me - I'll keep on pushing 110% until they offer me a job."
Rossi admitted he may have made mistakes, but was happy to add to his points total on a day when his closest rivals missed out.
"Once Jorge had crashed I was riding to win, as is always my style. In hindsight maybe I should have let Dovizioso pass me for a while but it was difficult to judge in such strange conditions," he said.
"11 points are like gold dust for us because we have extended the lead despite what happened here and we're going on holiday with a good advantage over our rivals."
Stoner had been hoping for a hat-trick of wins at Donington, but his chances ended before they began after both he and Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden chose to ride on wet tyres, gambling on rain which barely fell.
After the race, Ducati's project director Livio Suppo told the BBC it had been a disastrous error.
"It was a big gamble and a big mistake," he said.
"It was a disaster. We tried to convince both riders to change tyres on the grid but they both said it wasn't safe.
"You can tell them everyone else is on slicks but if they want to stay on wets, there is nothing you can do.
"Before the race I said to (former world champion) Kevin Schwantz on the grid 'we can be idiots or heroes'. We were idiots."
British Grand Prix result:
1. A Dovizioso (It) Honda
2. C Edwards (US) Yamaha
3. R de Puniet (Fr) Honda
4. A de Angelis (RSM) Honda
5. V Rossi (It) Fiat Yamaha
6. J Toseland (GB) Yamaha
7. M Melandri (It) Kawasaski
8. N Canepa (Ita) Ducati
Championship standings:
1. V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 187 pts
2. J Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 162
3. C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 150
4. D Pedrosa (Spn) Honda 115
5. C Edwards (USA) Yamaha 103
6. A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 94
7. M Melandri (Ita) Racing 79
8. R de Puniet (Fr) Honda 74
BBC Sport (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/8169509.stm)
The Italian inherited the lead after championship leader Valentino Rossi slid off from first place, before remounting to come home in fifth.
Fortunately for Rossi his nearest title rival, Jorge Lorenzo, failed to finish and Casey Stoner came home 14th.
Colin Edwards was second with Randy de Puniet third, and James Toseland in a career-best equalling sixth place.
Toni Elias, who started from eighth place, set the pace early on before clipping the white paint and being thrown off his bike.
Lorenzo, who had passed him into the lead, also fell victim to the white paint when he lost his front end at Goddards and despite his best endeavours to right the bike, was forced to pull out.
And Rossi became the third high-profile victim of the conditions when he slid off at the Foggy Esses, gifting the lead to his fellow Italian, who survived a late challenge from Edwards and de Puniet to register his first senior class victory.
Afterwards, Doviozioso admitted the weather had made it a difficult race to judge.
"I had a light visor so it was not easy to understand which part of the track was dry," he said.
"Then I saw on the pitboards that Randy and Colin were catching me, which was scary, so I pushed 100% for the last two laps and they couldn't overtake me."
Toseland was engaged in a fierce battle with Rossi, only finally giving way to him right at the end, and narrowly missing out on fifth place.
"I want a job with Yamaha so it was no good knocking off the number one rider was it?" joked Toseland afterwards.
"I plan on staying on MotoGP for a while so I hope Yamaha have a place for me - I'll keep on pushing 110% until they offer me a job."
Rossi admitted he may have made mistakes, but was happy to add to his points total on a day when his closest rivals missed out.
"Once Jorge had crashed I was riding to win, as is always my style. In hindsight maybe I should have let Dovizioso pass me for a while but it was difficult to judge in such strange conditions," he said.
"11 points are like gold dust for us because we have extended the lead despite what happened here and we're going on holiday with a good advantage over our rivals."
Stoner had been hoping for a hat-trick of wins at Donington, but his chances ended before they began after both he and Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden chose to ride on wet tyres, gambling on rain which barely fell.
After the race, Ducati's project director Livio Suppo told the BBC it had been a disastrous error.
"It was a big gamble and a big mistake," he said.
"It was a disaster. We tried to convince both riders to change tyres on the grid but they both said it wasn't safe.
"You can tell them everyone else is on slicks but if they want to stay on wets, there is nothing you can do.
"Before the race I said to (former world champion) Kevin Schwantz on the grid 'we can be idiots or heroes'. We were idiots."
British Grand Prix result:
1. A Dovizioso (It) Honda
2. C Edwards (US) Yamaha
3. R de Puniet (Fr) Honda
4. A de Angelis (RSM) Honda
5. V Rossi (It) Fiat Yamaha
6. J Toseland (GB) Yamaha
7. M Melandri (It) Kawasaski
8. N Canepa (Ita) Ducati
Championship standings:
1. V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 187 pts
2. J Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 162
3. C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 150
4. D Pedrosa (Spn) Honda 115
5. C Edwards (USA) Yamaha 103
6. A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 94
7. M Melandri (Ita) Racing 79
8. R de Puniet (Fr) Honda 74
BBC Sport (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/8169509.stm)