Dani Pedrosa crowned in South Africa and Valentino Rossi second.
Pablo Nieto finishes fifth in 125; in 250, Nieto seventh due to problems and Elias eighth with physical pains.
In 125cc, Dani Pedrosa made a masterful race. The Japanese Youichi Ui set a quick pace from the first lap, producing a group of six outstanding riders, including Dani Pedrosa and Pablo Nieto. Once the group had left the rest of the pack behind, the race took place without incidents, waiting for the last laps to start the fight for victory. Dani Pedrosa showed his experience and coldness, moving up from the fourth position in the penultimate lap to the first under the chequered flag. This victory, the first of the 2003 season, allows Alberto Puig’s pupil to reach the Spanish Grand Prix leading the overall standings. Pablo Nieto, who was starting from second position, finally finished fifth, while his team-mate Héctor Barbera finished thirteenth.
Good and bad luck for the Repsol riders in the quarter-litre class. Fonsi Nieto, fourth on the grid and with options to fight for victory, had problems with a fast degrading front tyre that notably reduced his possibilities to perform. Second at the end of the straight after the start, Fonsi began loosing positions along the race until crossing the finish line in seventh position, right ahead of Toni Elias, who was still convalescent of his crash on Friday and was not able to follow the rhythm of the leading pack. On the other hand, Sebastián Porto managed to improve positions in this second race of the season. Starting from the second row of the grid and keeping the eighth place during the first laps, he began making up positions finally finishing fourth.
Héctor Faubel has also been one of the Repsol riders with a good performance today at the South African Welkom circuit. Faubel, starting from the third row of the grid, took the chequered flag in eleventh position after keeping himself on the ninth and tenth spot throughout the race. His team-mate Joan Olivé, with mechanical problems in his engine, had to enter the pits in the third lap of the race.
The MotoGP race has been an addiction creating race, with Sete Gibernau especially motivated due to the loss of his team-mate Daijiro Kato, and Valentino Rossi ready to do anything to get a victory that slipped through his fingers last year, after being overtaken by his team-mate Ukawa. Obviously there were the rest of the riders ready to give a surprise as well. The race started with a delay of almost one hour due to the oil lost by Kenny Roberts’ Suzuki on the track during the warm-up lap. Once the problem had been solved, the starting procedure was restarted. The start as such was not incident-free, Edwards lost balance after his front tyre lifted, touching McWilliams, both finishing off track.
Gibernau started setting a quick pace, while Rossi stayed back and his team-mate Hayden got a place around the tenth position. As the race was progressing, Rossi passed his rivals one by one, reaching Gibernau on the last lap, with a gap of half a second between them, which Rossi finally was unable to close. His team-mate Nicky Hayden, showing himself every time more competitive on his Repsol Honda RV211V, managed to overtake much more experienced riders than him such as Carlos Checa, Olivier Jacque, Norick Abe and Shinya Nakano, taking the chequered flag in seventh place, only one second behind Tour Ukawa, winner of the Grand Prix last year.
