Italy GP. Race

Rossi Ukawa and Fonsi Nieto, on the podium in Italy
Valentino Rossi has been the great star of the Grand Prix of Italy, taking the victory in front of some sixty thousand tifossi at the circuit of Mugello. Today’s race has been a nice and interesting duel between both Repsol Hondas and both 4-stroke Yamahas. During the whole race Rossi and Biaggi were fighting for the victory, while their teammates were doing exactly the same only a couple of seconds behind. Finally, the Repsol Honda machine of Valentino Rossi took the lead, leaving Biaggi’s Yamaha a bit over two seconds behind, while Ukawa managed to pass Checa, taking the third place, but with a difference of only two tenths of a second. In the 250cc both Repsol riders, Fonsi Nieto and Toni Elias monopolised the attention of the race: the first one for his excellent recovery, which took him from seventh to the final third position, and the second due to his performance during the whole race, his fifth race in this class, managing to stay among the four fastest riders until the end of the race. Elias, who was third with two laps to go, couldn’t avoid being passed by his own teammate in the last lap, finishing fourth. The winner of the race was the local rider Marco Melandri, who is now second in the overall classification, fifteen points away from the championship leader Fonsi Nieto. The minor category of the championship has experienced today one of the best races of the season, with more than ten riders fighting for victory all through the race. While Daniel Pedrosa was within that leading group, his teammate Joan Olivé crashed out together with the local rider Giansanti in the first corner of the race. Manuel Poggiali took the victory, and Daniel Pedrosa finished fourth in the final race classification.