July 16, 2006- Sachsenring Results

WOW! That pretty much sums it up. What an exciting race!!! Valentino Rossi turned in one of his most brilliant performances thus far in my opinion. Starting 11th after a mediocre qualifying round yesterday, and hammering home to a #1 finish today. Pedrosa and Melandri didn't make it easy for him either. They put up a tremendous fight. Pedrosa led for about half the race, but didn't run away with it as he did at Donington. Marco Melandri, one of the rolling injured, put up one hell of a fight for the win. He saw the lead several times, but in the end couldn't hang on to it. Nicky Hayden turned in a flawless performance. He mixed it up with Pedrosa right near the end of the race, Dani's on-board cam caught some incredible footage of it. You thought you saw just how close they were, but the proof came after the race in the pits where Hayden's leathers revealed a big, black stripe as evidence that the cameras don't catch it all. The four riders out front, Rossi, Pedrosa, Hayden and Melandri put on an awesome show!! They kept us guessing until the very end. But, in the end, the podium spots went to Rossi, Melandri and Hayden... with Pedrosa finishing a VERY close 4th. Rossi continued the entertainment after taking the checkered flag by hugging his M1 (which he offered a formal apology to in his post-race interview) and kissing the windscreen, then he donned an Italian football jersey over his leathers for his victory lap. You can't help but love him!

Alex Hofmann was out of the race early. I didn't see what happened to him, but they cut to a shot of the pits, and there he was... not on his bike. Casey Stoner was not allowed to run by order of the circuit doctor. He crashed in warm-up. It wasn't a particularly awful crash. It looked like a rather smooth low-side, he didn't lose consciousness, and came back negative for a concussion after a visit to the hospital, but the doctor on hand decided that judging by the amount of damage to his helmet as a result of the crash, it was not safe for him to race. Casey's manager insisted that the damage was due in large part to the gravel, and that he was indeed okay to run, but it didn't happen and Stoner had to watch this one from the side lines.

Kenny Roberts, Jr. was running a fine race, but was counted out about mid-way through when his front end washed out, taking Makoto Tamada out with him. Tamada was flicked off of his own bike on impact and surfed Roberts' bike off the track. He appeared injured, and Roberts stayed with him until the medics got there. He was holding his left leg which was pinched between the two bikes when they made contact. No news yet as to the extent of his injury, but they did say he was able to get up and walk off under his own power, so it shouldn't be too traumatic.

All in all, it was an edge-of-your-seat race, setting the scene for the upcoming US MotoGP at Laguna which will no doubt prove to be one hell of a show!

Here are the final results of today's race:

Position	Rider	Manufacturer
1	Rossi	Yamaha
2	Melandri	Honda
3	Hayden	Honda
4	Pedrosa	Honda
5	Capirossi	Ducati
6	Nakano	Kawasaki
7	Vermeulen	Suzuki
8	Gibernau	Ducati
9	Checa	Yamaha
10	Hopkins	Suzuki
11	Elias	Honda
12	Edwards	Yamaha
13	Ellison	Yamaha
14	Cardoso	Ducati

I'm off to update standings and results......

Until next time......

Rubb'er Down :)

Kristen