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YAMAHA CLINCHES CONSTRUCTORS'' CROWN WITH ROSSI''S 11TH WIN
16 October 2005 - Yamaha
Yamaha completed a clean sweep for 2005 today as the Constructors'' World Championship was added to the Riders'' and Teams'' titles thanks to Valentino Rossi''s eleventh win of the season at Phillip Island.
Round: 15 - Australian MotoGP Circuit: Phillip Island Date: 16 October 2005 Crowd: 65000 Temp: 16ºC Weather: Clear Sky The Gauloises Yamaha Team rider held off a strong challenge from Nicky Hayden (Honda) to continue his undefeated run at this circuit, which stretches back to 2001. Rossi started well from second on the grid and chased pole setter Hayden over the opening two laps before taking the lead and making several attempts to escape. However the American hung on and was presented with the opportunity to retake the lead when Rossi dropped the pace at the halfway stage. After studying Hayden for three laps, Rossi regained control on lap nineteen and managed to open out a one-second cushion as Hayden became embroiled in a scrap with Marco Melandri (Honda). Hayden eventually got the better of the Italian but Rossi was able to control his lead until the end of the race, winning by 1.007 seconds. Colin Edwards remains in the hunt for second in the riders'' championship after a battling sixth place finish today. The Texan had struggled all weekend to match the excellent pace he found here during pre-season testing and was unable to hang on to the front group after starting from fifth on the grid. Edwards now lies in fourth place overall, eight points behind Hayden and Melandri, who are tied for second with two rounds remaining. Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha team) 1st ''It has been an amazing season and today we have won the constructors'' title for Yamaha in the year of their 50th Anniversary, so I am very happy. Congratulations to everybody. Eleven wins in the year matches my own record and to do it at Phillip Island is very special for me. I have won a lot of important races here, especially the 2001 500cc title and the title last year for Yamaha and it is a magic track for me - I love it. Today was tough, I had a great rival in Nicky Hayden and it was a great race. I got to the front after two laps and had a good rhythm so I pushed two or three times to escape. Every time Nicky came with me so I let him pass me just to see how it was. Then some more riders arrived so I tried again and this time I managed to get a one second advantage, which was like gold! I managed to hold it until the last lap and to celebrate the win in front of this great crowd is always a magnificent pleasure. Thank you to them and to everybody else who has made this season so special.'' Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team) 6th ''That wasn''t great. We''ve been chasing our tail a little bit all weekend with the set-up and unfortunately we ran out of time and ideas. In the winter everything seemed okay here but this time we''ve been playing catch-up. In the end we went towards Valentino''s setting, which was obviously working well for him, but for me it was just spinning up too much, even with the front wheel off the ground, which isn''t normal. I want to thank the whole team for their hard work and congratulate Yamaha for the constructors'' title. It''s just a shame it didn''t work out for me today.'' Jeremy Burgess - Valentino Rossi''s crew chief ''It''s been a good weekend for us, starting off with some fast and consistent times on Friday and Saturday and then staying in good shape as the other riders got better in the build-up to the race. Valentino controlled the race today and gave another example of why he is World Champion - he rides with his head as much as his wrist. It was nice for the Australian guys in the team to win their home race but more than that we are delighted for Yamaha to win the constructors'' title. It was our only remaining target for the season so now we can look forward to the last two rounds and see what comes up.'' Tony Elias (Fortuna Yamaha team) 9th ''We had a traction problem throughout practice which stopped us from being any higher up. In the race the problem still affected me on the corner exits and I had to fight really hard during the race to try and hang on. We have to still keep looking forward though, and continue working to improve every time we go out. Next week we go to Turkey and I hope that we can further improve our results.'' Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team) 12th ''I had a lot of problems in the first five laps, because the bike felt heavy, I was running wide and I couldn''t get the corner exits that I wanted. I suffered a lot over those first five laps, and I lost touch with the group ahead of me, but I gradually fought my way back. In races though, you have to be fast from the first to the last lap. I''ve picked up points though, and my pace at the end was pretty good.'' Race classification MotoGP Round: 15 - Australian MotoGP Circuit: Phillip Island Circuit Length: 4448 Lap Record: 1'' 30.332 (Marco Melandri, 2005) Race: 27 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 41'' 8.542 2 N. Hayden Honda USA +1.007 3 C. Checa Ducati ESP +4.215 4 M. Melandri Honda ITA +4.232 5 S. Gibernau Honda ESP +14.088 6 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +33.200 7 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN +45.055 8 M. Tamada Honda JPN +45.103 9 T. Elias Yamaha ESP +45.104 10 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +50.260 11 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS +50.697 12 R. Xaus Yamaha ESP +1'' 8.324 13 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA +1'' 31.737 14 J. Ellison Blata WCM GBR +1 lap(s) 15 F. Battaini Blata WCM ITA +1 lap(s) Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1'' 30.332 Championship standings MotoGP Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 331 2 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 170 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 170 4 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 162 5 Max Biaggi Honda ITA 159 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 148 7 Sete Gibernau Honda ESP 137 8 Alex Barros Honda BRA 129 9 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 114 10 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 87 11 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 76 12 Kenny Roberts Suzuki USA 63 13 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 59 14 Toni Elias Yamaha ESP 58 15 Troy Bayliss Honda AUS 54 16 Ruben Xaus Yamaha ESP 49 Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 345 2 Honda 291 3 Ducati 178 4 Kawasaki 115 5 Suzuki 96 6 Blata WCM 13 7 Proton KR 1 7 Moriwaki 1 Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points 1 Gauloises Yamaha Team 493 2 Repsol Honda Team 329 3 Team Movistar Honda MotoGP 307 4 Ducati Marlboro Team 262 5 Honda Camel 193 6 Kawasaki Racing Team 134 7 Team Suzuki MotoGP 122 8 Fortuna Yamaha Team 111 9 Konica Minolta Honda 88 10 D''Antin MotoGP 25 11 Blata WCM 14 12 Team Roberts KR 1 Race classification GP250 Round: 15 - Australian MotoGP Circuit: Phillip Island Circuit Length: 4448 Lap Record: 1'' 33.381 (Sebastian Porto, 2004) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 32.099 (Sebastian Porto, 2004) Race: 25 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 39'' 18.195 2 S. Porto Aprilia ARG +27.000 3 J. Lorenzo Honda ESP +8,674.000 4 H. Barbera Honda ESP +24.838 5 A. Dovizioso Honda ITA +24.868 6 H. Aoyama Honda JPN +24,872.000 7 R. de Puniet Aprilia FRA +37.274 8 R. Locatelli Aprilia ITA +47.013 9 A. Debon Honda ESP +56.602 10 S. Guintoli Aprilia FRA +56.747 11 C. Davies Aprilia GBR +1'' 9.126 12 D. Heidolf Honda GER +1'' 9.796 13 J. Smrz Honda CZE +1'' 9.830 14 S. Jenkner Aprilia GER +1'' 14.472 15 A. Ballerini Aprilia ITA +1'' 14.497 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Porto Aprilia ARG 1'' 33.503 Championship standings GP250 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 264 2 Casey Stoner Aprilia AUS 213 3 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 171 4 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 154 5 Sebastian Porto Aprilia ARG 152 6 Jorge Lorenzo Honda ESP 134 7 Randy de Puniet Aprilia FRA 130 8 Alex de Angelis Aprilia SMR 129 9 Hector Barbera Honda ESP 99 10 Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia FRA 75 11 Yuki Takahashi Honda JPN 68 12 Simone Corsi Aprilia ITA 59 13 Alex Debon Honda ESP 58 14 Roberto Locatelli Aprilia ITA 47 15 Mirko Giansanti Aprilia ITA 34 Manufacturers standings GP250 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 304 2 Aprilia 298 3 KTM 30
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