After much suffering, Valentino Rossi has made it in the promised land of America.
Something historical and magic took place on the weekend at Laguna Seca, until this round Rossi’s nemesis, who resisted the continual attempts from Casey Stoner.
The rivalry between Rossi and Stoner is appreciated by all and even this weekend, we saw great challenges and competition, with Rossi coming out on top, knowing that tenths of seconds can become seconds.
Leaving no space to the young Australian, Rossi pushed and pressed, with Stoner making small errors until the last one on the final corner.
For spectators this was a perfect race, with Rossi keeping a slower, more patient pace which paid off in the end.
Losing a battle like this with Rossi though, means that Stoner comes off with the honour of having strived and battled with one of the greatest in modern motorcycle racing.
America will be left with one of the hardest but most beautiful battles that MotoGP will remember.
With such a spectacle, the rest of the pack was left a little behind – in fact a whole second and a half.
Some sparks occurred from the rest of the grid, including third place to Vermeulen, and fourth place to Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso who had a hard nut to crack in Hayden.
Fifth place went to Nicky Hayden, who risked being overtaken on the last by Randy De Puniet, followed by Elias, future Suzuki man Ben Spies and then James Toseland.
Closing the top ten is Nakano followed by wild card Hacking from Kawasaki.
13th place went to De Anglesi, 15th to Capirossi, while Lorenzo unfortunately had another nasty crash, blaming it on a fracture in his foot, though he will return to race at Brno.
MotoGP – Race – Laguna SecaPos.
Rider Nation Team Total time1 V.
ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 44′04.
3112 C.
STONER AUS Ducati Team + 13.
0013 C.
VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 26.
6094 A.
DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 34.
9015 N.
HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 35.
6636 R.
DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 37.
6687 T.
ELIAS SPA Alice Team + 41.
6298 B.
SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 41.
9279 J.
TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha + 43.
01910 S.
NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 44.
39111 J.
HACKING USA Kawasaki Racing Team + 46.
25812 S.
GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 55.
27313 A.
DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 55.
52114 C.
EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 1′02.
38015 L.
CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1′08.
20716 M.
MELANDRI ITA Ducati Team + 1′10.
96217 A.
WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team 1 LapNo finish: J.
LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team