World champion Valentino Rossi celebrated his first race for Yamaha by winning the South African motorcycle Grand Prix in Welkom on Sunday, the first of the 16-race season, starting his quest for a fourth world championship.
The former Honda star became the first rider to win back-to-back races on different bikes as he took the chequered flag at the high-altitude 4,242km Phakisa Freeway track in a time of 43 minutes and 50,218 seconds in mild and sunny conditions.
Archrival Max Biaggi on a Honda was second, followed by last year’s winner, Sete Gibernau of Spain, also on a Honda at the end of the 28-lap race.
”This weekend, this race must be one of the best of my career,” Rossi said shortly afterwards.
The ”Doctor” complimented his adversary, saying it ”was a great show, a great race and a great battle with Max”.
The flamboyant London-based Rossi got off to a flying start, followed by Gibernau, but came under intense pressure from Biaggi, who passed the Spaniard and stuck to Rossi for the duration of the race.
A dogfight ensued, with both riders changing front position several times, neither of the two riders wanting to give the other the advantage of an open track.
The fight continued and Rossi pushed Biaggi out on a right-hander with two laps to go, both riders almost touching wheels, and held on to take the chequered flag, giving Yamaha their first win since the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2002 when Biaggi won there.
Rossi threw down the gauntlet to his critics who described his new bike as inferior to the last two Hondas that carried him to world championship victories.
Initial fears that the bike may have been underpowered against the mighty Hondas also failed to materialise.
He said: ”The bike is quite good. The tyres started to move after about seven or eight laps but stayed constant after that.”
After the race finished, Rossi stopped at the side of the track and went on to his knees in front of the blue machine, overwhelmed by emotion, before taking to the track again to do a tyre ”burnout”.
Biaggi, who seemed delighted with his second place, said he tried to catch Rossi after he was passed just before the end of the
race, but was unable to so.
”Congratulations to Rossi, he had a very fast race,” Biaggi said, adding that the Honda team wanted to continue their testing following limited time at Catalunya and Jerez in Spain, where parts arrived late and where they were hampered by rain.
Sunday’s victory gave Rossi his 60th win since starting his Grand Prix career in 1996, racing 125cc machines.
It also set him on a quest to equal Australian legend Mick Doohan’s record number of 12 wins in one MotoGP season and to give Yamaha its first constructors’ championship since 2000.
Sunday’s race was run in front of about 45 000 spectators and now moves to Jerez for the second leg of the season, to be run on May 2. — Sapa-AFP