Pacific GP. Races

Toni Elias and Héctor Barberá on the highest step of the podium in Motegi
Victory for Elias and Barberá; Valentino Rossi second and Hayden, third, taking his first podium finish of the season
The MotoGP class has witnessed today one of those passion rising races. Max Biaggi took the lead after the start and managed to get enough advantage in order to avoid any confrontation with his fellow riders until the chequered flag. Despite following him very close, Valentino Rossi, who was keeping himself right behind the Roman rider’s tyre preparing his attack on the lead of the race, an error made by the Repsol rider in a braking manoeuvre sent him off-track, having to rejoin the race in eighth position. This happened in lap number six and from then on Rossi began one of his already famous recoveries passing all the precedent riders one by one until crossing the finish line in second position. Nicky Hayden, in his best race since arrived at the MotoGP class, had an intense fight for the podium with Gibernau and Tamada throughout the race, and despite being out of the podium places after finishing fourth, the later disqualification of Tamada due to a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre over Gibernau, gave him finally the third place behind Biaggi and Rossi. With this result, the Repsol Honda Team has scored 36 new points thus increasing their advantage in the Teams Championship 2003. In the 250cc, Toni Elias gave no options to his rivals. After taking the lead in the first lap, the Repsol rider set a high pace from the beginning leaving the rest of the pack behind. From that moment on, Elias focussed on managing his advantage until crossing the finish line in first position. Behind Elias, Porto, Rolfo and Poggiali contended for the second place, until Sebastián Porto crashed out, fortunately without physical consequences. When it seamed that Poggiali was going to finish second, Rolfo launched a final attack overtaking the Aprilia rider and clinching the second place. Fonsi Nieto, improving as the race went by, despite all the setting problems he had during the whole weekend, made up positions until finishing eighth. Joan Olivé, suffering from technical problems as well, finished nineteenth and Héctor Faubel, who took the start from the pit lane due to technical problems, had to retire after the engine of his Aprilia broke down. In the 125cc, the victory slipped off Dani Pedrosa’s hands when everything looked as if he would finish the race on the highest step of the podium. After the start, Pedrosa set the pace of the race, escaping lap by lap from the rest of the pack. However, when he had already managed to get an advantage of over three seconds and with six laps to go, a mechanical problem of his bike, forced him to lower the pace and he couldn’t avoid being passed by the following group made up by Dovizioso, Stoner, Lorenzo and Barberá. The four riders caught-up with Dani and passed him as did his main rival in the fight for the title, the Italian Stefano Perugini, Pedrosa having to settle for the final sixth place. Héctor Barberá, who made an intelligent race, took the lead of the pack two laps before the end of the race, defending this first place until the chequered flag, thus clinching his second victory of the season. Pablo Nieto finished eighth after making a bad start where he lost several positions.