TITLE DECIDER AT VALENCIA
28 October 2006 - Moto GP

Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s Gran Premio bwin.com de la Comunitat Valenciana from pole position, after a storming qualifying practice in which he set a new best lap record.

Rossi’s last remaining title rival, Nicky Hayden, will take off from row two knowing that he has to beat the Italian tomorrow if he is to stand any chance of taking the 2006 crown.

The final race of the season promises to be a humdinger, with the top seven setting times within half a second of each other and the Valencia circuit well known for a layout which provides tight finishes. Whilst Rossi aims for his eighth world championship, and sixth premier class title, American Hayden battles to take his first and become only the second rider ever to come from behind in the final race of the season to clinch the series.

As at Jerez in the first race of the season, there will be two Ducatis on the front row tomorrow afternoon. Troy Bayliss, on an amazing return to MotoGP competition as a stand in for the injured Sete Gibernau, put in the second fastest time of the session to edge out team-mate Loris Capirossi.

Shinya Nakano was relegated to fourth after Capirossi’s last-gasp lap, racing his final Grand Prix for the Kawasaki Racing team, whilst two team-mates who have it all to do to secure an individual title line up alongside the Japanese rider.

Hayden and his Honda colleague Dani Pedrosa have a valuable two-pronged attack in their armoury, despite being down in fifth and sixth respectively. Pedrosa knows that this week he can make amends for his unfortunate accident two weeks ago in Portugal with an important contribution this weekend, especially if he can finish second in the event of a Hayden victory.

Casey Stoner, this morning taken to hospital after complaining of a back problem, was seventh, ahead of Suzuki riders Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins and Colin Edwards, too far away from his Camel Yamaha team-mate on the grid to really be in a position to aid him as he did at Estoril.

Nicky Hayden is already a winner this weekend, having been presented with a BMW Z4 M Coupé as the prize for being MotoGP''s best qualifier this season. BMW M President Professor Ulrich Bruhnke was on hand to hand the keys over to Hayden, with his combined qualifying time for this season''s seventeen GPs and pre-season Official Test totalling 30''57.341, nearly 7 seconds ahead of the nearest challenger. Basketball legend Michael Jordan joined Hayden on laps of the track in his new car.

Mr. Vito Ippolito was today presented to the press at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit after being elected as the new FIM President last week in Brazil.

Hiroshi Aoyama made yesterday’s provisional pole position stick with an inspired showing in the second 250cc qualifying session. The Japanese rider took his first top spot of the season, and the first ever for KTM in the class, as he aims for third place in the overall classification, clocking a lap of 1’35.109.

Jorge Lorenzo will also be on the front row for his home race, hoping to take his maiden quarter-litre championship tomorrow. Thirteen points behind in the standings, the only rider who stands in his way, Andrea Dovizioso, could only manage seventh on the grid.

Alex de Angelis and Roberto Locatelli complete the front row, ahead of Marco Simoncelli and Hector Barbera. Dovizioso will have to work his way past all these talented riders if he is to take victory tomorrow and get his hands on this year’s 250cc crown.

Shuhei Aoyama, David de Gea and Alex Debon completed the top ten.

The fastest man in every 125cc session at Valencia, Alvaro Bautista sealed pole position for tomorrow’s race in a Master MVA Aspar Team-dominated qualifying session.

At their home track, the Valencian squadron took all four front row spots with a dominant display, with Bautista ahead of Hector Faubel, Sergio Gadea and Mattia Pasini, the only non-Spaniard on the first line of attack. Mika Kallio and Pol Espargaro, who has already won at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit this year as part of the CEV Buckler Spanish Championship, completed the top six, followed by Lukas Pesek, Julian Simon, Sandro Cortese and Randy Krummenacher.

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