British GP. Races

New victory for Rossi, the seventh, and podium for Nieto, Elías and Pedrosa
Nieto and Elias second and third on the podium; Pedrosa second, making up four points in the overall standings with regard to Poggiali
 Valentino Rossi’s new victory in the MotoGP class, the seventh of this season, and the absence of his team-mate Tohru Ukawa, are the main facts to highlight of this British Grand Prix. Despite not having scored in this round of the Championship, the Japanese rider of the Repsol Honda Team, who expects to be back on his bike in Germany next weekend, is still second in the overall classification. But his team-mate and current leader of the World Championship, Valentino Rossi, has already an advantage of 87 points. Rossi made a good start and kept himself very close to Carlos Checa, who was leading the race, until the Spaniard crashed at the corner of the main straight only eleven laps before the end of the race. From that moment on, Rossi only had to administer the advantage he already had over Max Biaggi to finish first. Fonsi Nieto was very close to a victory in the 250cc but he lost it during the last lap by only seven tenths of a second. Melandri and Nieto left the rest of the pack quickly behind, always led by the surprising Sebastián Porto. With fifteen laps to go Porto’s Yamaha broke down and both Aprilia riders were left alone, ready to fight for the victory. In the last lap, Fonsi overtook Melandri and it seemed to be clear that he would be the winner, but two corners before the end, the Italian made good use of a possibility to overtake the Repsol rider. In the back, Toni Elias was able to show his quality once again, after a terrible start. Fourteenth after the first lap, due to a problem at the start, Elias began to overtake his rivals one by one until almost reaching the leading group. In an impressive last lap, he was able to reach and overtake Battaini, taking the chequered flag in third position.  The race of the 125cc was again one of the most exiting of the day, with four riders fighting for victory: Vincent, Poggiali, Cecchinello and Pedrosa. Cecchinello was the first to discard himself from the final fight, crashing out without physical consequences, with three laps to go. In the last lap, the Frenchman Vincent was able to open a small gap, which allowed him to take the victory, while Pedrosa, always on the watch for his rival Poggiali, managed to cross the finish line on second position. His team-mate Olivé lapped the whole race among the second group of riders and finished sixth.