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NOYES: Rossi Returns To Scene Of Miracle Victory
Written by: Dennis Noyes   
06/30/2009
Miraflores de la Sierra (ESP)
 
(Photo: Yamaha Racing) ยป More Photos

PROGRAMMING NOTE: MotoGP Qualifying from Laguna Seca will air on SPEED on Saturday, July 4 at 10:00pm ET.

Valentino Rossi is on a roll. MotoGP’s superstar clinched his 100th GP victory in Assen last weekend and his narrow victory over Jorge Lorenzo with a perfect last-lap, last-corner pass at the Circuit de Catalunya in the previous round is already considered by most MotoGP journalists as a masterpiece win, certainly one of the best and most precise (errorless on Rossi’s part) races of those 100 triumphs.

But the most exciting races of those one hundred wins include some wild and ragged moves -- especially the downfield block that he put on Sete Gibernau at the 2005 Spanish Grand Prix and the move that some call “The Miracle of the Corkscrew” when the Italian put both wheels in the sand as he made a dodgy pass on Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca’s emblematic corner last year.

And Rossi will be the first to admit that neither the “adelantamiento imaculado” (“The Immaculate Overtaking) on the final corner of the final lap at Catalunya this year over Lorenzo nor “The Miracle at the Corkscrew” were part of any planned strategy. In both races, against Stoner at Laguna last year and against Lorenzo two races ago, Rossi says, “I was trying to pass everywhere on the track.”

Rossi Runaway At Assen Breaks Tie

Valentino Rossi leads the MotoGP title chase by a mere five points over his teammate and emerging superstar
Jorge Lorenzo. The man who came out on the short end of an extravagantly brutal duel with Rossi last year in Laguna Seca, Casey Stoner, sits third in the points table and only nine points back, but for the second consecutive race he finished third and physically ill.

This is not the first time that Rossi came into the seventh race of the season tied for the lead. The Italian showed up at the seventh race of the season level on 106 points with Spain’s Lorenzo and Australian Stoner, but long-time Rossi observers recall that the last time Rossi came into the seventh round of the championship tied for the lead, that was back in 2004, both he and his rival Sete Gibernau crashed out in Rio de Janeiro and the tie lasted until Sachsenring where Rossi was fourth and Gibernau crashed again. After that Rossi pulled away, slowly at first, but with authority over the final races. He closed the season with three straight wins and clinched the title two races to go.

Last year when the series came into Laguna Seca, Rossi was leading in points but losing ground. He had not had a win since Round 6 in Mugello. Stoner had won three races in a row and, though he was still trailing the Italian by 20 points (187-167), he had the momentum and was threatening to break the Rossi challenge and repeat his 2007 World Title.

That was before the race that many believe broke not only Stoner’s momentum but also his trust for Rossi -- that fragile trust that exists between rivals who give each other room on the road.


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