Two new podium finishes for Repsol riders in Estoril
Alex Barros third in MotoGP and Sebastián Porto second in 250, cutting the gap in the overall leadership
The MotoGP race was quite different to those we were getting used to lately and had not much of a story: Rossi started first, opened a comfortable gap and clinched the victory more than five seconds ahead of the second, Japanese rider Tamada. The latter didn’t want any surprises either so he started second, escaped from the rest of the group and, realising that he was not going to get Rossi, decided to secure the second place. And whilst the leading two were escaping, Biaggi crashed in the first lap taking Capirossi with him, who managed however to rejoin the race although in seventeenth place, whilst Barros took third ahead of Gibernau. The point of attention was the fight for the third place between the Repsol rider and the second place man in the overall standings. With Rossi victoriously taking the chequered flag followed by Tamada, Barros’ and Gibernau’s last lap was electrifying with the Brazilian crossing the finish line first after an intense duel. With this third place, Barros is back on the podium after two races. Rubén Xaus, who was twelfth after the first lap, had to retire in lap nineteen with mechanical problems while being eleventh.
Once again the 250cc race saw Sebastián Porto fighting until the very last instant for the victory, with Pedrosa save-guarding his title options and a renewed Toni Elias who finally managed to solve some technical aspects on his bike showing himself highly competitive. Porto took the lead right after the start and quickly opened a gap of a second leaving the rest of the pack behind. He was followed by Elias, De Puniet and Pedrosa who had also managed to open a gap, while Fonsi Nieto, fourth after the first lap, was loosing positions dropping back to eleventh. Elias managed to get Porto after several laps and it became clear that both riders would be fighting hard for the victory towards the end of the race. Behind them, De Puniet was riding lonely on third place and Pedrosa was doing the same on fourth. Two laps before the end of the race Elias who was in the lead managed to open a small gap, which Porto was finally unable to close, having to settle for the second step of the podium. De Puniet was third despite the final attacks of Pedrosa, who finished fourth. Fonsi Nieto, with several mechanical problems had to retire four laps before the end of the race. After this race, Pedrosa is still leading the overall standings, but Porto is now only 36 points behind, with 125 points still at stake.
Good and bad luck in the minor class for the Repsol riders in their morning race. The good one was for Sergio Gadea, who despite the crash he suffered yesterday hurting the ligaments of his left hand, made a good race, allowing Jorge Martínez Aspar’s pupil to finish thirteenth, scoring three points. Bad luck for Pablo Nieto, who finished fourth after an exciting race but had to see how he was just about to get a podium finish and was overtaken a few metres before the finish line. The race has been a continuous surprise with constant changes in the front. Dovizioso took the lead after the start and escaped from the beginning, setting course to what seemed to be another victory for the Italian rider.
Pablo started fourteenth and Sergio twentieth, both of them knowing that they would have to remount positions from the beginning. The crashes of several riders among the top ten, allowed both Aspar pupils to move up positions, Pablo went up to eighth and Gadea was already sixteenth. But on lap ten Dovizioso was forced to retire due to mechanical problems, and a couple of laps earlier Corsi and Stoner, had an incident on the main straight, having to retire as well – the first one crashed and the second had mechanical trouble. It was Barbera who took the lead then, with Kallio following him closely. Some metres behind, Pablo Nieto caught Simoncelli, who was third and passed him. In the last lap however, Pablo was caught and passed almost on the finish line by Lorenzo, having to settle for the final fourth place. Barbera took the victory, while Sergio Gadea, standing the pain on his injured hand, managed to finish in a meritorious thirteenth place.
