ROSSI OPENS TITLE DEFENCE WITH DETERMINED VICTORY AT JEREZ
 Gauloises
Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi put the gloss on a perfect
start to his defence of the MotoGP World Championship at the
Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez today, smashing the lap record
by over two seconds and adding an incredible race victory
to the pole position he took in yesterday’s qualifying
session. The reigning World Champion stalked Sete Gibernau
(Honda) for almost the entire race, passing him for the first
time two laps from the end but allowing the Spaniard back
in front with a mistake halfway through the final circulation.
The pair diced their way through the decisive series of fast
right-handers in the second half of the lap before Rossi demonstrated
that he has talent and determination in equally abundant measures
with a brave pass on the brakes into the final left-hand hairpin.
The Italian’s effort was particularly special thanks
to the hard work put in by the Gauloises Yamaha Team engineers
and staff, who worked against the clock to find the ideal
set-up for his YZR-M1 after an uncharacteristic crash in this
morning’s warm-up.
Meanwhile, Rossi’s Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin
Edwards kept his promise of passing as many riders as possible
after starting from 15th on the grid. The American made steady
progress despite the dusty track surface, making overtaking
precarious anywhere off the racing line, eventually sealing
ninth place on his Yamaha MotoGP debut.
VALENTINO ROSSI, 1st (Race time - 45’43.156;
Fastest lap - 1’40.496)
"That was an amazing race, an incredible victory and
really difficult, especially after the fall I had this morning
in the warm-up. Luckily I wasn’t hurt and the team did
a great job to fix the problem and set up my other bike for
the race. Gibernau set a fast pace from the start but I just
tried to stay with him and then attacked at the end. I got
in front but I made a mistake on the last lap on the braking
and Gibernau got past. We passed each other again in the fast
rights but I got a better exit and there was enough space
for me to pass him in the final corner, it was the only place
where I could pass. We touched but motorbike races are sometimes
like this. I know Sete is not happy but there are going to
be 16 more races this year and there will be many more hard
battles. The level of this race was really high. ”
COLIN EDWARDS, 9th (Race time - 46’20.764;
Fastest lap - 1’41.596)
"The setting we found for the bike at the tests and
during qualifying didn’t seem to work after the change
in conditions, and with the wind and the dust this morning
we decided to make some adjustments. We basically went back
to the base setting we’d found at the Phillip Island
and Catalunya tests but it didn’t work in the way we
had hoped. It was a difficult race, it was hard for me to
get any traction down. Despite that I was in the fight for
sixth until another rider sneaked past on the inside and I
lost touch with the group I was following. We were searching
for something and didn’t find it but we’ve learnt
a lot as a team this weekend. Now we have to move on and put
this lesson to good use at Estoril. "
JEREMY BURGESS – ROSSI’S CREW CHIEF
“In spite of the problems we had this morning, everything
came good for the race – especially Valentino. He rode
very intelligently behind Gibernau and then passed him at
the end. He opened out 0.3 seconds in the first section and
looked comfortable but he made a small mistake, which set
up a brilliant finale. It’s a great start to the year
for us – pole position, a new lap record and the race
win. We couldn’t ask for more.”
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