Qatar moto gp

salil_kulkarni · 2nd October 2004, 20:48

Even before the race began, it promised a whole lot of entertainment. Max Biaggi and Valentino Rossi were penalised and had 6 seconds added to their respective qualifying times, hence being pushed to the back of the grid. All this because their team personnel had gone on track the previous night to clear all the dust off the starting position for the respective riders. Everyone knew a fight was on, and with Sete Gibernau on the front row of the grid, he was sure to fight for a race win, to cut down on his 39 point deficit to Rossi in the Championship with 3 more races to go.
The start was electric, the 1st lap saw Rossi show his true class. By the end of the 1st corner, he had passed about 9 bikes and at the end of the 1st lap, he was up from about 22nd to 8th, thats an awesome 14 positions in a single lap. Rossi fought onto come upto 4th, but then with a slight error coming out of the corner, lost control of the bike and crashed. Meanwhile Biaggi slowly built up his race climbing up the order to finally finish 6th.
Sete Gibernau was setting the pace at the front after taking the lead, but it was his team mate Colin Edwards who set fastest lap after fastest lap to come upto 2nd.
In the end, the Telefonica Movistar Team got a 1-2 finish with Gibernau winning the race(clawing back 25 points from Rossi's lead) with Edwards 2nd, and Ruben Xaus getting his 1st podium in Moto GP and the 1st Podium of the year for Team Ducati coming in 3rd.
All in all, an awesome race, filled with retirements on a brand new circuit(which is literally in the middle of the desert), putting Qatar on the world map for Motorcycle Racing.

Shan2nu · 2nd October 2004, 21:12

I agree, though i missed the 250cc race, the MotoGP and 125s were amazing. Rossi was just trying too hard.

I've a feeling that Collin let Sete win this one. If Sete wasn't his team mate and if his championship wasn't on the line, the SBK boy would have flown past him.

The 125s produced the closest possible finish in Motorsport history. Lorenzo beat Dovizioso, not bcoz he crossed the finish line first, but bcoz he had the fastest lap of the race under his name.

Yup, the gap between them at the finish line was 0.000 secs!!!! Even the timing devices went off for a sec. They showed Dovi as the winner and 1/4 a sec later changed it to Lorenzo.

Shan2nu

2nd October 2004, 20:48	#1
salil_kulkarni BHPian Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Turin, Italy Posts: 173 Thanked: 4 Times	Even before the race began, it promised a whole lot of entertainment. Max Biaggi and Valentino Rossi were penalised and had 6 seconds added to their respective qualifying times, hence being pushed to the back of the grid. All this because their team personnel had gone on track the previous night to clear all the dust off the starting position for the respective riders. Everyone knew a fight was on, and with Sete Gibernau on the front row of the grid, he was sure to fight for a race win, to cut down on his 39 point deficit to Rossi in the Championship with 3 more races to go. The start was electric, the 1st lap saw Rossi show his true class. By the end of the 1st corner, he had passed about 9 bikes and at the end of the 1st lap, he was up from about 22nd to 8th, thats an awesome 14 positions in a single lap. Rossi fought onto come upto 4th, but then with a slight error coming out of the corner, lost control of the bike and crashed. Meanwhile Biaggi slowly built up his race climbing up the order to finally finish 6th. Sete Gibernau was setting the pace at the front after taking the lead, but it was his team mate Colin Edwards who set fastest lap after fastest lap to come upto 2nd. In the end, the Telefonica Movistar Team got a 1-2 finish with Gibernau winning the race(clawing back 25 points from Rossi's lead) with Edwards 2nd, and Ruben Xaus getting his 1st podium in Moto GP and the 1st Podium of the year for Team Ducati coming in 3rd. All in all, an awesome race, filled with retirements on a brand new circuit(which is literally in the middle of the desert), putting Qatar on the world map for Motorcycle Racing.
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2nd October 2004, 21:12	#2
Shan2nu Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Hubli - Karnata Posts: 5,533 Thanked: 125 Times View My Garage	I agree, though i missed the 250cc race, the MotoGP and 125s were amazing. Rossi was just trying too hard. I've a feeling that Collin let Sete win this one. If Sete wasn't his team mate and if his championship wasn't on the line, the SBK boy would have flown past him. The 125s produced the closest possible finish in Motorsport history. Lorenzo beat Dovizioso, not bcoz he crossed the finish line first, but bcoz he had the fastest lap of the race under his name. Yup, the gap between them at the finish line was 0.000 secs!!!! Even the timing devices went off for a sec. They showed Dovi as the winner and 1/4 a sec later changed it to Lorenzo. Shan2nu
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