New victory for Valentino Rossi and Repsol at the Grand Prix of Japan
Nicky Hayden managed to take a contended seventh position; Sebastián Porto fourth in 250, Fonsi Nieto sixth and Toni Elias retires due to mechanical problems
Valentino Rossi and Repsol have started the 2003 season with a convincing victory. If Rossi’s last year victory had several difficulties and a hard fight with his fellow countryman Biaggi, this time, the fight with Capirossi and Max lasted only a few laps. Afterwards, Rossi remarkably increased his pace and took a comfortable lead. From that moment on, the Repsol rider dedicated himself to control his advantage over Biaggi until crossing the finish line. His team-mate Nicky Hayden made a good race at the first Grand Prix of his sports career, overtaking much more experienced riders and finishing seventh. The negative aspect of this race was the heavy accident suffered by local rider Daijiro Kato, who was taken by helicopter to the closest hospital, where he has been hospitalised. The doctor’s forecast in this moment is reserved.
In 250 GP, Jorge Martínez Aspar’s pupils haven’t had a good day. Fonsi made a good start putting himself fourth while his team-mate, Elias, who had started from the twenty-seventh position was quickly making up positions. With Fonsi falling back due to set-up problems, Elias managed to put himself sixth, even overtaking his team-mate. But three laps before the end of the race, Elias’ Aprilia engine broke down and the Repsol rider had to enter the pits. Fonsi, finally had to resign occupying the sixth position.
The Argentinean Sebastián Porto has been with no doubt one of the protagonists of this Grand Prix, despite not having a podium finish. Porto, on his Honda YPF, put himself first at the end of the straight and set a fast pace from the beginning while no other rider was able to follow him. While Nieto, Aoyama, Takahashi, West and Rolfo were fighting for the second position, the Argentinean was moving on until having an advantage of almost five seconds. It seemed as if Porto would be on his way to his second Grand Prix victory. But Poggiali’s answer, who was coming from the back, and that of the rest of the group came soon, and the rider from San Marino finally crossed the finish line on first position. Sebastián Porto finally finished fourth. Héctor Faubel, who was eleventh one lap before the end of the race suffered a crash in the last lap and had to retire, while his team-mate Joan Olivé, last qualified on the grid, managed to get a valuable thirteenth position.
In 125 GP, the first race of the year has followed the usual model of these kind of races: grouped race, lots of emotion, some incidents and a close finish. Dani Pedrosa, second after the practices, started with many possibilities to take the victory, but four laps before the end of the race and after almost dominating throughout the race, he suffered an incident that left him out of the fight for victory. Dani entered too fast in a corner after suffering some mechanical problems with the gears while he was braking simultaneously with other riders.
Alberto Puig’s pupil went off the track and it took him some time to rejoin the race, loosing several positions and finishing finally on seventh position. The contrary happened to Pablo Nieto, who after making a bad start managed to make a great race and make up several positions, jumping up from sixteenth to his final sixth position. His team-mate Héctor Barberá had to retire, while being fifth, after suffering a crash without physical consequences.
