Sorry if this write up's a bit slow but as soon as yesterday's race ended I was out on a ride-out with Simbo.
Wow! What a race. It was a real fairing banging, place swapping race. Unless of course you were Casey Stoner on the Ducati who was gifted the lead by an early Rossi mistake and who stayed way out the front for the rest of the race. Good ride by the Aussie I must say.
Rossi looked set early on, taking the lead from his pole position but after running wide on a corner he got sucked back down the field. He came back up the ranks (with Elias hot on his tail) but then it all stopped working for him and he fell further and further back. It looked to me like a tyre issue. I suspect Yamaha chose the wrong tyres yesterday.
There was a heart stopping crash caused by Jacques on the Kawasaki launching his bike mid corner and mid pack. He managed to take out Pedrosa, Edwards (who has never looked more gutted after his second place qualification), Guintoli and Vermeulen (who managed to get back on the track).
Hopkins rode out of his skin and I was gutted when he slipped from third to seventh.
The suprise of the race was Alex Barros getting into fourth on the D'antin Ducati. Seems like it was a good day for Ducatis. It was nice to see Capirossi take a third place, looks like his head's finally back in race mode.
Great race, a real classic and I think it bodes well for the rest of the season on the 800s.