No Repsol rider on the podium of the japanese Grand Prix.
Alex Barros, fourth in MotoGP, and Sebastián Porto, fourth in the 250cc, the two best Repsol riders of the weekend in Motegi
Little luck for the Repsol riders in this edition of the Japanese Grand Prix. The MotoGP race started with a surprise. Right after the start, Capirossi and Hopkins touched each other at the end of the straight organising a real melee. In addition to those two riders, the incident affected Edwards, Biaggi, Roberts and the rider of the Repsol Honda Team Nicky Hayden as well. Hayden and the rest of the concerned riders where not able to rejoin the race while Alex Barros, who was set back by the incident was sixteenth after the first lap. From that first lap the Brazilian rider of the Repsol Honda Team began to remount lap by lap until reaching the fourth final position, after overtaking amongst others Gibernau, Bayliss, Melandri, Checa and Ukawa. Local hero Makoto Tamada, who had already set the pole yesterday in front of countless Japanese fans, took victory.
There wasnt much Sebastián Porto could do in the 250cc class to hinder Dani Pedrosa, overall leader, from clinching another victory. While the Honda rider had put himself third after the first lap, the Argentinean Repsol rider crossed the start/finish lane for the first time on eighth place. From that moment on, Porto remounted several positions making good use of the mistakes his rivals were making. Meanwhile, his team-mate Fonsi Nieto was twenty-sixth after the first lap, after going off-track in the first corner of the Japanese track. Fonsi managed to recover some positions until eleven laps before the end of the race he was forced to retire due to mechanical problems.
With Fonsi in the garage, Sebastián Porto fought hard against the clock until catching Takahashi, who was fourth. After overtaking the local Honda rider, the Repsol rider opened a gap until crossing the finish line in fourth place, behind Pedrosa, winner of the race, Elias and Aoyama. Fortune was unkind to Pablo Nieto in the minor category as well. After starting from the third row, the Repsol rider seemed to be able to get the leading pack and become part of the fight for the victory, after crossing the start/finish line for the first time in ninth position. Mechanical problems ruined however Pablo Nietos race in Motegi. Five laps later, on the sixth lap of the race, Nieto was forced to get back to his garage and retire while being in a back sixteenth place.
Two laps later, the race was stopped due to a crash on the main straight which involved first Ballerini and then Toth, while Sergio Gadea was lapping on twentieth place. The new start of the new race allowed Gadea to move up to the group fighting for the fifteenth place. Finally, the mistakes made by his rivals and his own overtaking manoeuvres allowed Gadea to finish thirteenth and score three additional points. The race was won by the leader of the overall standings, the Italian rider Andrea Dovizioso, thus establishing himself on the top of the class.
