Rossi second in scintillating Spanish thriller

Valentino Rossi rode his Yamaha M1 to a fighting second place in Catalunya today after an exhilarating battle with Casey Stoner, the Australian eventually taking the flag just 0.069 seconds ahead of the Fiat Yamaha rider after a nail-biting final few laps. Rossi 96th premier-class podium gives him yet another record as it takes him above Mick Doohan as the rider with the most podium finishes ever in the top class of Grand Prix racing. His team-mate Edwards suffered from grip issues throughout and was unable to stick with the leading pack from sixth on the grid, eventually finishing in tenth.

After starting from pole, Rossi found himself down in fourth on lap one and was then forced to push hard in the first three laps to get past John Hopkins before he could begin to close the gap to Dani Pedrosa, who was by then following Stoner in second place. On lap eleven of 25 Rossi made his move on the local favourite, the cheer from the grandstands proving that there was however a sizeable Italian element amongst the 112,600-strong crowd. Rossi soon started looking for passing opportunities on Stoner, making his first successful bid at the end of lap eighteen before relinquishing the lead back to the Australian on the next lap. From then on the fans were treated to some vintage wheel-to-wheel racing from the pair, with Pedrosa also in close contention, and an incredible number of passes made in several different parts of the track. Going into the penultimate lap however Stoner made his decisive move and Rossi was unable to peg him back, despite throwing every effort at it. Despite a promising qualifying performance yesterday, today' was not Edwards' day and he slipped several places at the start and ran a lonely race further down the order, although a last-lap pass on Nicky Hayden moved him up one position to take tenth and six points.

Twenty points for Rossi today m eans he is now fourteen behind Stoner after seven races, whilst Edwards remains tenth in the standings. After two races on the trot there is now a ten-day break before the MotoGP circus heads to Donington for the Grand Prix of Great Britain, another of Rossi's favourite hunting grounds.

Valentino Rossi Position: 2ndTime: +0.069 "What a race! Even if I'm disappointed not to win, it's a great emotion to be part of a race like that and fantastic fun. It really was an amazing battle to the end with many wonderful overtaking manoeuvres by both of us in all different parts of the track! Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the start and then it was quite hard to pass Hopkins because he was fantastic on the brakes. Then with Stoner it was a great fight and honestly I couldn't have tried harder to win, but he was a very hard rival. There were some places were we could have been better today, not just on the straight but also in some corners, but anyway it was a great experience and it will help us to understand what we need to do to keep on improving. Yamaha and Michelin are working very hard and the fact that we could fight like this today to the very end showed this. Of course I'm sad because I've won a lot of times here in Montmelo and I wanted to win again, but like I said, I don't think I could have done anymore today! We know that we can beat Stoner but today he rode like a god and he's a fantastic rival, so congratulations to him."

Colin Edwards Position: 10thTime: +35.348 "Today was pretty much impossible for me; I had no grip in the rear from the start and I just couldn't get into a rhythm. Basically I couldn't load the front or turn the bike how I wanted. We've done everything this weekend, changed all the settings, springs, load etc, but we haven't been able to crack the problem. Qualifying was okay but today I just couldn't ride it. Tomorrow's our last test until after Brno and the only thing to do is use every single possible minute we have on track to get to the bottom of the problem so we're in better shape for the next few races, which are at some of my favourite tracks."

Davide Brivio - Team Director "Not to win after an incredible race like that, with a rider that can fight like Valentino, is of course a strange feeling! It was a fantastic spectacle for everyone between three great riders but Stoner was very strong today and he won, despite Valentino doing everything he could. It's a very exciting championship but we're not even half way yet and we're only fourteen points down. Now we have to work hard to try to give Valentino the best possible bike at every track so that he can continue to ride like this, and win! With Colin we've had a difficult weekend but now we have two of his best circuits to look forward to. We'll look at the data from the last two races and use it to try to find the right package for him so that he can transmit his good qualifying performances to the race. We'll keep on fighting!"

Points scoring results continue for Dunlop Yamaha Tech3

Under scorching summer skies, the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 continued to score points in the 2007 MotoGP World Championship as riders, Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli finished 12th and 14th respectively in an enthralling Grand Prix of Catalunya at Barcelona.

Over the weekend both riders continued using the new Dunlop 16 inch front tyre that was introduced at the previous round in Italy. Dunlop also brought a wide selection of new specification rear tyres with riders and team impressed with the performance and endurance.

The team will remain in Catalunya for a day's testing tomorrow with an intense tyre testing program to further evaluate this new generation of tyres.

Makoto Tamada Position: 12thTime: +38.720 This was the best race for me so far this year as I was very close to the world champion, Nicky Hayden and also Colin Edwards on another Yamaha. I did hope to have a better finish as I think if I didn't have a few problems with some chatter in the middle of the race I am sure I could have passed them but I am very happy with the performance of the tyres. Dunlop brought new tyres to this race and both the new 16 inch front and new rear tyres are working very well They stayed constant for most of the race as the grip level and spinning didn't change much. This is good as the day was very hot and as we didn't test too many of the tyres we had and I know we are improving.  

Sylvain Guintoli Position: 14thTime: +44.399 Again I have had a good weekend as we made good progress over the three days. I like this track and we also had a good qualifying session plus I have continued to score points in every race. This is a good boost to my confidence in my first year of MotoGP. I didn't get the best of starts but I pushed hard for all the race and for the first ten laps I had great rhythm but I also had a few problems with a bit of chatter during the race but this can be expected with new tyres since we have changed to the 16 in front tyre. I was fast straight away and Colin (Edwards) wasn't pulling away too much but it is a little frustrating that I had to slow and drop off him a bit as I didn't want to risk a crash too much. We must be fairly happy as we didn't test all the tyres we wanted to and we only did eight or ten laps on each one before deciding on our race tyres as we had so much to test. I can now look forward to Donington which is like another home race as I now live not very far away from the track with my family.

Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This is another good weekend for the team. I say that every week but truthfully we are becoming more competitive. We had another good qualifying session and during the race both riders performed well. Sylvain was very aggressive early on and his lap times were good compared to others before he struck a few problems with some chatter. During the second part of the race we were very close to Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden and we all felt that we could have passed them if the problems didn't occur. We now have good references to work with as the package of the tyres and the machine is improving all the time. This year the 800cc machines are more competitive with each other than ever before but we are proving competitive against other factory machines and beating some. With the new tyres we are now getting we are looking forward to the next races as we feel that Dunlop tyres work well at Donington and Assen.   Circuit Length: 4727 Temp: 31 Crowd: 112.600 Weather: Hot and Sunny     2007 MotoGP - Catalunya 10/06/2007 Race 1 - 25 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 43'16.907 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'0.069 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'0.390 4 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'7.814 5 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'17.853 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'19.409 7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'19.495 8 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'24.862 9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'24.936 10 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'35.348 11 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'36.301 12 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'38.720 13 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'40.934 14 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'44.399 15 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'54.103

Rider Standings 10/06/2007

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 140 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 126 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 98 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 75 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 72 6. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 72 7. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 57 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 51 9. Toni Elias Honda ESP 45 10. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 45 11. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 41 12. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 38 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 30 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 19 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 16 17. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 16

Team Standings 10/06/2007

Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 197 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 171 3. Rizla Suzuki 144 4. Repsol Honda Team 139 5. Honda Gresini 120 6. Pramac D'Antin 89 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 39 8. Tech3 Yamaha 32 9. Honda LCR 20 10. Konica Minolta Honda 19 11. Team Roberts 4

Manufacturer Standings 10/06/2007

Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 143 2. Yamaha 126 3. Honda 125 4. Suzuki 95 5. Kawasaki 39 6. KR212V 4