Rossi takes win with stunning last lap at Le Mans

Valentino Rossi set a new circuit record on the final lap of the Grand Prix
Alice of France to take his third victory from the opening four rounds of the
MotoGP World Championship after a thrilling battle with Sete Gibernau. Rossi got
a bad start from pole position but made his way through the pack from sixth
place as his Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards led they way.

Rossi caught Edwards by lap nine after passing Loris Capirossi and Nicky Hayden
and the pair built a comfortable advantage over the rest of the field. However,
a stunning charge from Gibernau in the second half of the race saw the Spaniard
surge from seventh place to third, repeatedly setting the fastest lap of the
race and swiftly closing in on the front two. Gibernau's charge sparked Rossi
into life and, after both passing Edwards in the same corner on the 21st lap,
the pair went head-to-head in a breathtaking finale.

"I made a mistake at the start, just like at the last round in China, but I made
positions up lap by lap with some good overtaking moves and eventually caught
Colin," explained Rossi, who crossed the line with an advantage of 0.382 seconds
after clocking a time of 1'33.226. "I stayed behind him for a while because his
rhythm was good, but then Gibernau arrived very fast from behind so I decided to
try and overtake him and push to the maximum. Every lap I was better and better
and I set the fastest time of the race on the final lap. I am very happy."

Whilst second place for Gibernau moves him up to third in the championship
behind his team-mate Marco Melandri, who finished fourth today after an intense
battle with Max Biaggi, Edwards's first podium for Yamaha in third place moves
him up to sixth overall. Hayden and Capirossi eventually dropped to sixth and
seventh respectively after their electric starts, with Shinya Nakano taking
eighth place ahead of Toni Elias and Troy Bayliss.

Local hero Olivier Jacque missed out on a top ten finish by less than a second
as he clinched eleventh place to the delight of the home crowd, with Ruben Xaus,
Kenny Roberts, Jurgen Van Den Goorbergh and Roby Rolfo completing the points.
Carlos Checa, Shane Byrne, James Ellison and Alex Barros all crashed out but
were uninjured.

Dani Pedrosa denied Randy De Puniet home victory with a last lap move just three
corners from the end of an exciting 250cc race to recover the World Championship
lead by four points over Andrea Dovizioso. Dovizioso led for the opening nine
laps before Casey Stoner, De Puniet, Jorge Lorenzo and Pedrosa all took turns at
the front, with the Frenchman grasping control on the penultimate lap. The
75,000 crowd were on their feet as De Puniet looked certain to take victory but
Pedrosa produced a stunning recovery to take his second win of the season.
Dovizioso clinched the final podium spot in third place with Stoner and Lorenzo
completing the top five.

Thomas Luthi took his first ever victory in the 125cc race from pole position
after streaking into a lead of over eight seconds from the third lap. The Swiss
rider never looked in danger as a packed second group gave chase, with Sergio
Gadea and Mika Kallio eventually winning the battle for the remaining two podium
positions. The result means Kallio now leads the championship by twelve points
from Luthi, with Marco Simoncelli in third place after taking fifth place today.

INFO 2005/57. 15-05-2005
DORNA COMMUNICATIONS
www.motogp.com