Win number five for Rossi – Part 1 of 2

Valentino Rossi won his first Grand Prix at the Brno Circuit in the Czech Republic, 13 years ago and from the onset of the weekend it was obvious that he was still hungry for victory. In qualifying, Rossi rewrote the record books by setting the quickest lap ever by a motorcycle at the Brno circuit. The performance guaranteed pole position for Rossi with Lorenzo and Pedrosa next to him on the grid. Despite Rossi’s dominance, the weekend was not without incident, as he crashed during practice, a day before the Grand Prix and bruised his thumb. As they lined up for the warm up lap on Sunday, there was no indicator of bruised fingers, egos, or discolored leathers on the grid, as all the riders were focused on the task at hand. One hundred and forty thousand fans packed the venue, the largest gathering of spectators at an event for the weekend in Europe, inorder to witness the massive encounter, in terms of its implications for the World Championship. According to the commentator “ It’s big, it’s very big” (referring to the Grand Prix and what it meant).

Exciting Battle

When the race began Pedrosa took the hole shot and sped to the lead in front of Rossi . Lorenzo did not get a good start. Three corners into the race, Rossi made his intentions known. He obviously wasn’t prepared to lay low, waiting to pounce. He pounced early, like a hungry carnivore after prey. He went to the front. At the end of lap 1, the lines were drawn, Rossi in front followed by Pedrosa and Lorenzo. Lorenzo in my view, has a bright future and he is as determined as they come. Lorenzo outfoxed Pedrosa and took second place with 19 laps to go. With the move on Pedrosa, the Rossi – Lorenzo fire was rekindled and what a fire it was. Both Fiat Yamaha riders were clicking off identical lap times – they could not have been closer! Lorenzo came battle ready and it was evident, because try as he did, Rossi could not break him and they traded quickest lap times (bearing in mind that during qualifying Rossi was quickest in each split on the circuit). Lorenzo was definitely making a name for himself. It was hard to focus on the rest of the field, but there was an exciting battle on for 4th place between Tony Elias and Dovizioso, who was still riding high from his victory in Britain. Elias was riding a champion’s race as Dovizioso could not find the right combination to pick the lock that Elias had on 4th place.

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-line Writer