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Rossi wins Dutch Grand Prix
Defending champion Valentino Rossi bagged a first place finish in the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen on Saturday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:52 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Assen:
Defending champion Valentino Rossi bagged a first place finish in the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen on Saturday. Rossi started the Dutch Grand Prix from pole position. But a poor start from the Italian allowed his team mate Marco Melandri to rapidly move to the head of the field. Rossi fell back into sixth place, but the Yamaha rider would soon be battling his way through the field. Squeezing through Japan's Shinya Nakano was passed on lap two as Rossi moved into fourth place and the Italian then had Honda riders Sete Gibernau, Nicky Hayden and Melandri in his sights. Hayden conceded second place to Gibernau on a bend, but Rossi also squeezed through into third place. Gibernau's efforts to hold off Rossi came to an end on lap eight of 19 with 'The Doctor' passing the Spaniard on the inside line. It took Rossi another two laps to catch his compatriot Melandri, and once the Movistar Honda rider had been overtaken it appeared that it would be a cruise to the finishing line. Concerted effort However, former 250cc world champion Melandri closed in on the championship leader in the final laps and Rossi had to make one last concerted effort to hold the first place. Rossi's sixth win of the season came in a time of 38 minutes, 41.808 seconds and he became the first Yamaha rider to win five MotoGP races in succession. Melandri took second place, his best result since joining MotoGP in 2003, with Rossi's Yamaha team mate Colin Edwards claiming third. Sebastian Porto sealed his second successive Dutch GP victory in the 250cc class. The Argentine held on to first place in the latter stages with championship leader Daniel Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo in close attention. Winning time Porto won in a time of 38 minutes, 2.148 seconds, with Spaniard Pedrosa grabbing second place ahead of his compatriot Lorenzo. Hungary's Gabor Talmacsi moved level on points with Mattia Pasini at the top of the 125cc standings following his second GP win of the season. Talmacsi, who was also victorious in Italy, finished ahead of Spain's second placed Hector Faubel and Pasini in third with a winning time of 38 minutes, 9.487 seconds. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
Formula 1
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