Mugello; Yamaha Race Report
Added on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 by Carole Nash Editor
Mugello; Yamaha Race Report
Thrilling home-race win for Rossi and Fiat Yamaha;
Valentino Rossi set yet another record in his extraordinary racing career today, becoming the first rider in the history of the sport to take six consecutive wins at his home circuit. The 85,480 adoring fans who had braved the threat of rain and turned the green hillsides of the Mugello valley bright yellow were rewarded in style as the Italian scored an emphatic and emotional victory, his 4th here for Yamaha and 8th in total from twelve years of racing.
Under miraculously dry skies, the Fiat Yamaha Team rider got a poor start from 3rd on the grid and found himself down in 8th position at turn one. Once he had built up enough heat in his Michelin tyres however he set out in earnest, picking off riders one-by-one and moving up to 2nd behind Dani Pedrosa by lap seven of 23. Two laps later Rossi made his move on the Spaniard and from then on the pair were racing just a few tenths of a second apart, with Rossi extending the advantage around the twistier parts of the circuit and Pedrosa closing it slightly down the long home straight. Little by little however Rossi began to pull away and he eventually crossed the line 3.074 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. A late pass by Alex Barros on series-leader Casey Stoner for 3rd place helped Rossi’s points deficit and he now lies just nine points behind Stoner in the standings, with some of his favourite races coming up in the next few weeks.
It was a less successful day for Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards, who despite showing a strong race pace in the dry today was heavily penalised by starting from the 6th row of the grid. The Texan has yet to enjoy a successful race at this circuit and was only able to make up a few places on his starting position, finishing 12th and slipping one place in the championship standings down to 10th.
Valentino Rossi, Position: 1st, Time: 42′42.385:
“To win in Mugello once again is an incredible emotion for me and I am very happy at this moment. Racing in front of the fans here is always something unbelievable and they give me an extra motivation. It’s an incredible feeling to see so much yellow around the track, the fans were ‘coming crazy’ today and it was a wonderful race! As we had hoped it stayed dry, the sun came out and everything went to plan! My team have worked brilliantly, my bike was perfect and I could ride it exactly how I wanted, I need to say a huge thank you to them and also to Michelin. I didn’t get a very good start but once my tyres had warmed up my M1 really flew and I was able to fight back to the front. From the very beginning everyone was pushing at 100% and it was great fun in those first few laps! It was really a perfect race for me today and I felt like I had everyone on my side; Mugello is a magical track for me and this victory gives us a lot of power and confidence for the next races. I had a special helmet for this race with a big heart on it and today I think we showed that we really have a lot of heart at Yamaha. This is a great, great moment for me.”
Colin Edwards, Position: 12th, Time: +28.001:
“Yet again Mugello just hasn’t worked out for me and it was a pretty terrible weekend from start to finish. I think that today I had the pace for 5th or 6th place but starting from where I was I lost about six or seven seconds on the first lap alone as there was so much traffic in front of me. We lost a lot of time on Friday morning, one of only two hours of dry practice time, trying some new stuff which didn’t work out and things didn’t get much better after that. I think this is just my bogey track and I can’t wait to leave and get straight back out there in a few days in Barcelona. Let’s hope for better things in Spain.”
Results;
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 42′42.385
2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0′3.074
3. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0′5.956
4. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0′6.012
5. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0′13.244
6. Toni Elias Honda ESP 0′19.255
7. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0′19.646
8. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0′22.810
9. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0′22.837
10. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0′24.413
