Valentino Rossi won the Italian Grand Prix for the fourth straight year on Sunday, passing old rival Max Biaggi two laps from the end.
Rossi led the first all-Italian sweep of the top four positions in the top motorcycling division and has now won four of the first five races this season.
He powered his Yamaha around the 5,245km Mugello circuit for 23 laps in 42 minutes and 42,994 seconds. Biaggi notched his best finish this season in second at a gap of 0,359 seconds, with Loris Capirossi third and Marco Melandri fourth.
Capirossi passed Melandri shortly before the finish to take the last podium position.
”This is great for the four of us,” Rossi said. ”Seeing all the fans here makes us want to do well, and we did it.”
Carlos Checa finished fifth, while fellow Spaniard Sete Gibernau fell on the seventh lap.
”The tire slipped. I was pushing hard and that’s what happens when you go all out. Hopefully, we can get our luck going again in Barcelona,” Gibernau said, referring to next weekend’s race in Spain.
Rossi leads the MotoGP standings with 120 points, followed by Melandri with 71 and Biaggi with 67. Gibernau remained with 53 points and dropped from third to fourth place with 12 races remaining.
Rossi edged closer to Mick Doohan’s record of six victories at Mugello from 1993 to 1998.
Daniel Pedrosa won the 250cc race on a Honda and added to his championship lead, beating fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo and Alex de Angelis of San Marino.
Hungary’s Gabor Tamalcsi took advantage of a wild last lap to win the 125cc race on a KTM ahead of Switzerland’s Thomas Luthi and Joan Olive of Spain. Series leader Mika Kallio and Hector Faube were fighting for the lead at the last corner when Kallio fell and brought Faube down with him. — Sapa-AP