Rossi takes historic win in first ever race at Shanghai

Valentino Rossi became the first ever winner of a MotoGP event in China as he
took an authoritative victory in torrentially wet conditions at the Shanghai
International Circuit on Sunday. Rossi took the lead from Kenny Roberts on the
fifth lap after the Suzuki rider suffered from a mechanical problem, opening up
a clear gap over the rest of the field and looking comfortable until a thrilling
finale.

Surprisingly the man to challenge Rossi with a late charge was Olivier Jacque,
returning to MotoGP as a replacement for the injured Alex Hofmann at Kawasaki to
score his first podium in the class. With seven laps to go Jacque overcame Sete
Gibernau in second place and closed in on the World Champion at the front,
taking chunks out of the Italian's lead with every lap but running out of time
as Rossi took the flag by 1.7 seconds.

"I got off to a good start in the race and I was quite surprised to be at the
front so quickly," explained Rossi after the race. "There was a lot of water on
the track so I had to keep my concentration at 100%. When I saw Olivier's name
on my pit board I didn't understand who it was because they only put an 'O' on
there. I thought "who is O?". I thought perhaps it was a Chinese rider - then I
realised it was OJ!. At the end of the race he was faster than me but I managed
to keep out front and win the race."

Gibernau's disappointment at losing out on second place was compounded on the
last lap when he conceded third to his team-mate Marco Melandri after apparently
suffering with a mechanical problem. Melandri's second podium of the season
moves him up to second place in the championship, 25 points adrift of Rossi,
whilst fourth place for Gibernau means he is now fifth overall behind Alex
Barros and Max Biaggi, who finished eleventh and fifth respectively today.

Jurgen Van Den Goorbergh capped a day full of surprises as he clinched sixth
place on his return to MotoGP as a replacement for the injured Makoto Tamada
on the Honda. The Dutchman held off a late charge from John Hopkins, who
previously ran off the track after leading the race on the opening lap, fighting
back to take a creditable seventh. Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden and Ruben Xaus
completed the top ten.

Casey Stoner took his second successive victory in the 250cc class after a close
battle with Andrea Dovizioso. Stoner made a poor start from pole position but
recovered to take the lead by the end of the opening lap and never looked back.
Dovizioso stalked the Australian all the way to the line but was happy to settle
for a second place finish that lifts him above Dani Pedrosa to the top of the
championship standings. Stoner also moved ahead of Pedrosa to second place
overall, with the defending World Champion dropping to third after taking sixth
place today. Hiroshi Aoyama clinched his first podium of the season in third
after Randy De Puniet retired with a technical problem, with Alex de Angelis and
Sebastian Porto completing the top five.

Mattia Pasini clinched his first victory in a 125cc rain delayed for half an
hour by standing water on the track surface. Pasini led for the majority of the
race in a close battle with fellow Italian Fabrizio Lai, taking the flag by
just 0.065 seconds after overtaking his compatriot in the final corner. Gabor
Talmacsi took his first podium in third whilst eleventh place for his team-mate
Mika Kallio was enough to maintain the championship lead by a single point from
Lai.

INFO 2005/49. 1-05-2005
DORNA COMMUNICATIONS
www.motogp.com