“No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.”
– John Donne, Meditation XVII

That quote may be true in it’s context but there is one man that certain stands alone in the world of MotoGP and he’s quickly becoming permanently associated with an island. In this case the man is Valentino Rossi and that island is Phillip Island.

The weekend started off interestingly enough. As I mentioned in my preview on Friday both Loris Capirossi and Kenny Roberts Jr crashed their way out of the event in practice on Thursday. These wouldn’t be the only riders bitten by the high speed corners before the weekend was over.

Qualifying was typically thrilling. Carlos Checa, always a rider that seems to find his pace when contract time rolls around, was consistently fast. Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau were also near the front for most of the session. However, when the clock started winding down it was Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden that set the pace. Both put in fast laps once the Q-tires came out but it was Hayden who ultimately did the business to win his third pole position of the season by setting a new lap records for the Phillip Island circuit. Rossi and Gibernau completed the front row with all three riders seperated by just 1/3 of a second.

At the other end of the grid, Franco Battaini on the WCM failed to make the 107% cut-off and thus wouldn’t normally line up for the race. For whatever reason the FIM waived the rule thus allowing him to race. I have two theories for this: First, Battaini is Italian and, coincidentally, so is most of the FIM board. I’ve bitched already this season about how Rossi wasn’t penalized after his Motegi accident when Spaniard Lorenzo was suspended for a similar accident in the 250GP class that same day. Naturally, I’m not surprised that an Italian rider is given a reprieve from the rules when it might otherwise mean he wouldn’t be riding. My second theory has to do with the depleted field caused by the absence Team Proton and then compounded by Capirossi and Roberts accidents. Surely the FIM knows that a grid of 18 bikes is bad for marketing and that losing one of those because of qualifying rules hurts even more. The FIM needs bikes on the grid to have a viable product to sell to the fans, especially with the World Superbike Series showing such strong growth this year. At this point the FIM needs everyone on a bike that they can get and thus can’t afford to disqualifying someone even if they can to compromise safety to do it. Bad juju either way.

Okay, I’ll move beyond the qualifying controversy… Once the race got under way it was Hayden who led the way off the line. The young rider from Kentucky looked confident perhaps because the track contains so many ultra fast left turns which may play to his past as a dirt tracker in America. One rider who didn’t have such a great start was Max Biaggi as the Italian crashed out about halfway through the first lap. Since Biaggi had been leading the battle for second in the points his early exit, along with Capirossi’s absence, threw the door wide open for Hayden, Melandri and Edwards to capitalize.

Almost immediately the race soon broke into small groups. The lead battle was Hayden, followed by Rossi and Melandri. Behind them, Gibernau, Edwards and Checa were locked in their own battle. Behind them came Barros, Tamada and Nakano. Rossi soon made his way to the front and brought Melandri with him. Despite showing speed in his pass on Hayden, Melandri was unable to go once Rossi had clear track in front of him and could cut fast laps. The American Repsol Honda rider, on the other hand, re-passed the Italian aboard Gresini Honda and re-closed the gap to the World Champ out front. The Yamaha rider tried his best to out pace the Honda but couldn’t shake the Kentucky Kid.

Further back, Olivier Jacque had another tough race on the Kawasaki this time pitting early with tire problems. It was announced this weekend that Jacque’s countryman Randy De Puniet will be riding the Kawasaki next year so it looks like Jacque may again be out of a job in the GP paddock. He needed some strong rides in these last wild card appearances to convince team bosses he’s got what it takes and it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Another rider that needed a good result this weekend was Alex Barros. Unfortunately, the Brazilian threw his Honda down the track at the ultra fast Haystack corner and was lucky to survive the crash with only severe bruising. Still, a DNF wasn’t what he needed this weekend especially with rumors floating around the Carlos Checa was in talks with Sito Pons about a ride on the Camel Honda in ‘06.

Around half race distance Vale realized he couldn’t break the field and so he shifted tactics and slowed the pace. Nicky initially didn’t take the bait but with lap times two seconds a lap slower than those run by the trailing pair he eventually re-passed for the lead. However, the damage was already done. Melandri and Carlos had closed the gap and what had been a mano-a-mano struggle was now a four rider scrap. Once the gap was closed Rossi again went to the front and again dropped his lap times in an effort to break away. Meanwhile Hayden was fighting for position with Melandri and couldn’t immediately respond. It took two laps for Hayden to shrug of the pursuing riders but by then Rossi had built up a one second gap. Nicky took back a few tenths but there wasn’t enough time left to catch back up. Valentino managed the gap and won the race. Carlos used the power of the Ducati to pip Marco’s Honda at the line for third. Sete was a lonely fifth, followed by an equally lonely Colin in sixth.

Valentino Rossi’s win accomplished two things. First, it marks the Italian’s 11th win of the season. This ties his previous best record for single season victories. It also puts him just one race away from equalling Doohan’s all-time record of twelve race wins in one year of GP racing. With two races left this season, Rossi still has a chance to break that record if he can sweep both of them. The second thing accomplished by his victory was locking up Manufacturer’s Title for Yamaha. This gives Rossi a perfect trifecta for the year having won the Rider’s Championship, the Team Championship and the Manufacturer’s Championship for ‘05.

Hayden’s second place moves him into a tie with Marco Melandri for second in the championship. Edward’s sixth place finish moves him to fourth overall eight points behind the two Honda riders. Biaggi falls to sixth a further three points behind Edwards and Capirossi slips to sixth eleven points behind Biaggi. With 50 points still available in the final two races, the season runner-up is still a long way from being decided but it is quickly narrowing down to a Hayden, Melandri and Edwards contest.

…but out front Rossi is still an island unto himself.

[image from the Motocourse web site.]