Rossi ends victory drought with China MotoGP win

AFP ©

SHANGHAI (AFP) - Motorcycling supremo Valentino Rossi rode his Fiat Yamaha to victory at the China Moto GP on Sunday to snap a seven race winless streak, beating Spain's Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner of Australia.

The five-time Moto GP world champion from Italy completed the Shanghai race, the fourth of the season, in 44mins 08.061secs, with Pedrosa's Honda nearly four seconds behind, and Stoner, on a Ducati, a distant third.

Rossi, 29, champion here in 2005, snatched away Pedrosa's lead on the fourth lap, as the two riders ran away from the pack at an already tough Shanghai circuit made more difficult by slightly wet conditions.

It was Rossi's 62nd victory in the premier racing class and he celebrated by immediately pulling off the track, kissing his bike and then sitting on the barrier near the pits, grinning at the crowd.

"I'm very, very happy. It's been a long time without victory," said the flamboyant Italian, who had not won since last season's Portugal race.

"I felt confident with my bike from the first lap. The start was not so bad and after I went in front I kept my rhythm. It was a great battle with Dani."

The mercurial icon of motorcycle racing had struggled this season to get his bike in tip-top balance after he switched to tyre-makers Bridgestone, but those troubles appeared to have vanished in Shanghai.

"My rhythm was fantastic to the end, and I was able to ride the bike like I wanted, so it was a great victory," Rossi said.

Pedrosa, who glued himself to Rossi's tail through most of the race, said his opponent was too strong.

"It was a hard race... at the end I just slowed down cause I saw that I could not get him," said the 22-year-old Spaniard.

The race was almost an entirely different affair, as morning rain drenched the track and showers threatened before the start.

Although Rossi won emphatically in Shanghai's debut Moto GP event four years ago, lapping his rivals in the pouring rain, he did not want to test those conditions again.

"This morning when I saw rain, I was quite upset, but when I understood that maybe it was possible to race in the dry, I thought that today was my day," he said.

After finishing third in Portugal last month, and second in Spain, Rossi is now third in the standings with 72 points, 19 behind Pedrosa and two behind Spain's Jorge Lorenzo.

Rookie Lorenzo, riding with a fractured left ankle, finished a gutsy fourth after falling back in the early laps.

At one point it looked like the Mallorca native, who turned 21 on Sunday, might not get off at all when he was forced to push his bike over the start during the warm-up lap.

Lorenzo, a 250cc double world champion, suffered the worst crash of his career during Friday's practice, when he slammed into the asphalt after losing control of his 800cc Fiat Yamaha.

Record-setting pole-sitter American Colin Edwards was seventh in Yamaha Tech, initially fighting for the lead with Rossi, Pedrosa and Stoner, but then sealing his fate when he went off the track.