Valentino Rossi turns his victory in Mugello into a big party
Fonsi Nieto second in the 250cc, Dani Pedrosa second in the 125cc and Pablo Nieto third
Once again Mugello has been a big party for the Italians, with a clearly ‘azurro’ premier category race. Capirossi was the first to take the lead in the MotoGP race and a little later it was Biaggi who took over the front position. The Ducati rider, Biaggi and Rossi quickly opened a gap, distancing themselves from the rest of the pack by a couple of seconds. They spent several laps of the race like this until the Repsol rider Valentino Rossi decided, with 8 laps to go, to take control and get a large enough advantage over his rivals in three laps to take the victory. The second place was finally for Capirossi with Biaggi third. Nicky Hayden, on a circuit he hasn’t been able to show himself very competitive throughout the weekend, finished twelfth.
In the 250cc, three riders set a really fast pace from the beginning, what allowed them to open a big gap with regard to the rest. With Poggiali in the lead, De Puniet and Fonsi Nieto caught his slipstream in front of more than 72.000 spectators gathered on the hills of Mugello. After seven laps, Fonsi Nieto began to drop back, unable to follow the San Marino rider’s pace. At mid-race, everything looked as if it would be a very contended fight for victory between Poggiali and De Puniet, but the Frenchman made a mistake and crashed, leaving his second place for Fonsi, a position the Repsol rider kept until taking the chequered flag. The negative side for Jorge Martínez Aspar’s team was Toni Elias’ sixth position, who after several mechanical problems had to resign himself to keep on lapping and finish the race in a back position. Sebastián Porto finished a couple of places behind, eighth, whilst Joan Olivé, managed to finish tenth after a meritorious performance and his team-mate Héctor Faubel fifteenth. In the minor class, the Italian riders took the lead from the first laps on, creating a compact leading group, with Pablo Nieto and Dani Pedrosa lapping comfortably among them. With eight laps to go Pablo managed to take the lead and tried to escape but the local rider Lucio Cecchinello neutralised his try.
In a last thrilling lap and making good use of the fight between the Italian and his fellow countryman Andrea Dovizioso, Nieto passed Dovizioso, finishing off an excellent performance, taking the third place and his second podium on this track. Dani Pedrosa took the start from tenth position and despite the mechanical problems he has had throughout the weekend as well as a light crash during the warm-up, he managed to make up positions and finish second. Leading the second group, joined by Pellino and Giansanti, Héctor Barberá clinched the ninth final position despite having some engine problems. After this race, Pedrosa leads the overall standings with Pablo Nieto seventh and Héctor Barberá twelfth.
Repsol drivers tyres choice: Front / Rear
Valentino Rossi: Hard / Hard
Nicky Hayden: Medium / Medium
Fonsi Nieto: Hard / Hard
Toni Elias: Hard / Hard
Sebastián Porto: Hard / Hard
Héctor Faubel: Hard / Hard
Dani Pedrosa: Hard / Hard
Pablo Nieto: Medium / Medium
Héctor Barberá: Medium / Medium
Joan Olivé: Hard / Hard
