Yamaha Factory Racing rider Valentino Rossi scored his sixteenth podium from
seventeen races in the final round of the 2005 MotoGP World Championship to
put the shine on Yamaha's 0th Anniversary celebrations at Valencia. The Italian
started from his lowest grid position of the season but produced a dramatic ride
to end the race in third place, lapping quicker than eventual winner Marco
Melandri (Honda). A crowd of 124,520 watched Rossi make up seven positions
with an incredible surge on the first lap, although the early pace of Melandri and
Nicky Hayden (Honda) provided them with an advantage that proved impossible
to breach in the second half of the race.
Round: 17 - MotoGP Valencia Circuit: Valencia Date: 6 November 2005 Crowd: 124520 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Sunny Rossi's Yamaha Factory team-mate Colin Edwards suffered a disappointing end to his first season with the team, losing three positions on the first lap after starting from sixth and only managing to recover one place by the end of the race. Nevertheless, the American has made significant progress with a new riding style over the course of the weekend and he is now looking forward to winter testing as he prepares for his second season as a Yamaha rider. In the meantime, Yamaha is left to reflect on a stunning Anniversary season, in which it has swept the board, taking the riders', teams' and constructors' World Championship titles. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Team), 3rd "The second part of the race was very positive because my pace was fast and I rode well but if you want to win a race then you can't start from fifteenth on the grid. I made a mistake yesterday with the crash but the truth is that we were struggling all weekend with the setting and we didn't understand until this morning what the problem was. We worked it out and in the race I was able to ride how I wanted to, but it was too late. It was good fun, I pushed hard but it wasn't enough. In the future we have to make sure we work better in practice. It's been a fantastic season and everyone has worked hard to achieve all our targets. Now we look forward to some holidays and some hard work during winter testing!" Colin Edwards (Yamaha Factory Team), 8th "I didn't ride great today. In the middle of the race I started to push hard and caught up again with the middle of the pack, but by that time I had abused my tyres a lot, they were moving around and so I decided to hold station. I have never been at the last race of a season counting down the days for winter testing to start. We have a lot of work to do and I want to get going as soon as possible. It's been an average season but we've learnt a lot for next year and the whole team has worked very hard for me. I want to thank them and thank Michelin and I'm looking forward to working with everyone over the winter and coming out strong next year." Davide Brivio - Yamaha Factory Team director "Basically we lost the race in practice, both with the setting difficulties we had and Valentino's starting position for the race. It is always going to be difficult from the fifth row, but he was 4.9 seconds down on the leader after four laps and by the end it was 2.9 so his pace was even better than the race winner. It's been a long season from January, when testing started, to November. We have won everything available, scored eleven race victories and right now I would accept the same statistics next season - only with Colin higher in the championship. That is our aim for next year but for now I just want to say thank you to all our staff, engineers, crew and both of our riders. It has been a fantastic season." Toni Elias (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 10th "We had a difficult weekend as we could not solve the problems we had on the first day. However, I still gave my best. I think it was a season where I built up very valuable experience. I have learnt a lot and, despite the injury that kept me out for a while, I think I have progressed well. Now I am going to rest for a few days which I think I deserve! I want to thank everyone at my team, the mechanics and everyone who has supported me." Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 15th It has been a difficult year in which I have been battling to adapt to the YZR-M1, but it has proved difficult. Today was another hard one, but despite not enjoying myself much on the bike, we got one point. I must look forward now and keep fighting." Race classification MotoGP Round: 17 - MotoGP Valencia Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 33.043 (Marco Melandri, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 31.874 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Race: 30 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 M. Melandri Honda ITA 46' 58.152 2 N. Hayden Honda USA +0.097 3 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA +2.959 4 C. Checa Ducati ESP +18.718 5 A. Barros Honda BRA +20.706 6 M. Biaggi Honda ITA +21.254 7 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA +23.142 8 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +25.678 9 M. Tamada Honda JPN +36.710 10 T. Elias Yamaha ESP +39.116 11 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN +41.136 12 R. Kiyonari Honda JPN +45.691 13 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +46.507 14 A. Hofman Kawasaki GER +49.856 15 R. Xaus Yamaha ESP +1' 19.443 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1' 33.043 Championship standings MotoGP Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 367 2 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 220 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 206 4 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 179 5 Max Biaggi Honda ITA 173 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 157 7 Sete Gibernau Honda ESP 150 8 Alex Barros Honda BRA 147 9 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 138 10 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 98 11 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 91 12 Toni Elias Yamaha ESP 74 13 Kenny Roberts Suzuki USA 63 14 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 63 15 Troy Bayliss Honda AUS 54 16 Ruben Xaus Yamaha ESP 52 Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 381 2 Honda 341 3 Ducati 202 4 Kawasaki 126 5 Suzuki 100 6 Blata WCM 13 7 Proton KR 1 8 Moriwaki 1 Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points 1 Yamaha Factory Team 546 2 Repsol Honda Team 379 3 Team Movistar Honda MotoGP 370 4 Ducati Marlboro Team 295 5 Honda Camel 220 6 Kawasaki Racing Team 150 7 Fortuna Yamaha Team 130 8 Team Suzuki MotoGP 126 9 Konica Minolta Honda 103 10 D'Antin MotoGP 25 11 Blata WCM 14 12 Team Roberts KR 1 Race classification GP250 Round: 16 - Valencia GP250 Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 35.792 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 35.298 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2005) Race: 27 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 43' 33.395 2 J. Lorenzo Honda ESP +3.448 3 C. Stoner Aprilia AUS +14.372 4 A. de Angelis Aprilia SMR +17.771 5 H. Barbera Honda ESP +26.233 6 H. Aoyama Honda JPN +31.244 7 Y. Takahashi Honda JPN +35.518 8 R. de Puniet Aprilia FRA +36.488 9 A. Dovizioso Honda ITA +43.129 10 R. Locatelli Aprilia ITA +43.960 11 A. Debon Honda ESP +55.494 12 J. Smrz Honda CZE +57.265 13 M. Cardenas Aprilia COL +58.185 14 S. Guintoli Aprilia FRA +58.545 15 T. Sekiguchi Aprilia JPN +1' 1.485 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 35.792 Championship standings GP250 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 309 2 Casey Stoner Aprilia AUS 254 3 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 189 4 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 180 5 Jorge Lorenzo Honda ESP 167 6 Sebastian Porto Aprilia ARG 152 7 Alex de Angelis Aprilia SMR 151 8 Randy de Puniet Aprilia FRA 138 9 Hector Barbera Honda ESP 120 10 Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia FRA 84 11 Yuki Takahashi Honda JPN 77 12 Alex Debon Honda ESP 67 13 Roberto Locatelli Aprilia ITA 61 14 Simone Corsi Aprilia ITA 59 15 Mirko Giansanti Aprilia ITA 36 Manufacturers standings GP250 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 349 2 Aprilia 339 3 KTM 30
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