PODIUM AND FASTEST LAP FOR ELIAS AT MOTEGI
Melandri also takes starring role with 5th place
 Toni
Elias splashed his way bravely through the rain and played
his race tactics perfectly to finish on the podium at Motegi.
The Gresini Honda rider clocked the fastest lap of the race
on his way to third place, with his team-mate Marco Melandri
just two positions further back. It was a Bridgestone lock-out
on the podium, with Loris Capirossi taking the victory ahead
of Randy De Puniet and Toni Elias. Casey Stoner finished just
behind Melandri in sixth place to clinch the title.
Starting from the second row, Elias got away well but made
an early mistake that saw him drop all the way back to tenth.
The Spaniard then set about making up positions and when the
track started to dry he timed his pit-stop perfectly on the
ninth lap. Once he had gathered his confidence on the slick
tyres, Elias charged through to third place behind De Puniet
and held off a strong challenge from Sylvain Guintoli.
Melandri also produced a fantastic performance but was penalised
by the fact that he led for the majority of the race and couldn't
see when other riders were entering the pits. He eventually
came in eleven laps from the end but didn't have enough time
to recover his position and was forced to settle for fifth
place.
TONI ELIAS (3rd in the race, 11th in the championship
on 87 points): "I'm really happy to be back
on the podium. This is an incredible result after the accident
at Assen. It's been a tough couple of months for me and this
was a nice reward. I got a good start but I lost a few positions
and found myself some way back. I didn't have anything to
lose so I came in early to change bikes. It proved to be the
perfect time and the perfect strategy. In general it has been
a perfect day, following on from a difficult weekend and a
particularly tough race."
MARCO MELANDRI (5th in the race, 6th in the championship
on 148 points): "I was having a good race in
the wet, my feeling with the bike was really good and I was
able to take over from Stoner and build a bit of a lead. When
the track started to dry it was really difficult for me because
I was leading the race and it was hard to judge the right
moment to come and change the bike because there were still
some wet patches. When they told me from pit wall to come
in I did so but it was a few laps too late to come in. It
took me a couple of laps to get used to the bike with the
dry setting and I made a mistake that cost me a few places.
I'm disappointed because I could have fought for the win today.
Unfortunately the flag to flag rule puts the race leaders
at a disadvantage. The positive thing is that I've closed
the gap to fifth and fourth in the championship, with Vermeulen
now four points ahead of me and Hopkins eight."
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