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Fiat Yamaha Team's Valentino Rossi (Photo: Yamaha Racing) ยป More Photos
Valentino Rossi ended a seven-race losing streak to stake his claim for the world championship with a commanding victory in the Chinese Grand Prix today. The Italian scored his first win since Portugal last September and, more importantly, his first win using Bridgestone tires on his Yamaha M1.
In cool and heavily overcast conditions Rossi produced a sublime front-running performance to lead 18 of 22 laps, finishing with a 3.8s advantage over Dani Pedrosa on a Honda.
World Champion Casey Stoner was a distant third, his Ducati 15.9s behind at a track where the fast young Australian won a year ago.
Almost overshadowing an intense mid-race battle between Rossi and Pedrosa was brave Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, who rode fearlessly to finish fourth. In fifth place was Italian Marco Melandri who finally hit form for Ducati with American Nicky Hayden sixth.
After heavy morning rain eased, the track was dry for the race, but with temperatures down most riders went for a softer tire choice. A strong tailwind on the main straight helped produce 340 kph top speeds and many braking moves saw riders
Stoner’s Ducati topped the speed charts at 343 kph with Rossi Rossi’s Yamaha on 340 kph and Pedrosa’s Honda at 332.
Pedrosa made a lightning start and jumped ahead of Edwards and Stoner on lap two but he was quickly joined by Rossi and the pair pulled away for a two-man battle.
Rossi and Pedrosa increased the pace until four laps from the end when Pedrosa eased off, concerned that he would damage his over-revving motor because of the tailwind.
Watch the Last Lap of the Race
“I’m very, very happy because it has been along time since I won, and with the change of tires there has been a lot of work to do with the Yamaha,” Rossi said. “When I saw the rain in the morning I was upset but when the track was dry for the race I thought today could be my day. It was a great battle with Dani, he was very fast early but I had a good rhythm at the end.”
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