You don’t take your 99th career victory if your name isn’t Valentino Rossi, and you almost never see what happened in the final lap in today’s Catalunya race on the Montmelò circuit, if the one of the rider’s involved last name isn’t Rossi.Valentino Rossi took one of his greatest wins ever. Battling with his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo in the 25 lap race and on the final lap dived up on the inside of Lorenzo on the last corner, where no one ever passes, and won the race by a mere 0,095s and it was also the first race to be decided on the the last lap since Estoril, 2006.
World champion Valentino Rossi pipped Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo on the finish line in a thrilling finale to the Catalunya MotoGP.
Casey Stoner, who was suffering from severe stomach pains, was able to stay with the Yamaha pair matching lap for lap for the first 9 laps, but starting dropping off and was completely drained and exhausted when he got to the parc ferme, after holding off Andrea Dovizioso by 0,052s for third place.
With Lorenzo starting on pole, the two riders dominated the race throughout before exchanging the lead several times on the final lap.
But Italian Rossi eventually sealed victory by just 0.095 seconds in front of 90,000 fans in Barcelona -- the 99th win of his remarkable career.
Casey Stoner finished third, meaning that he, Rossi and Lorenzo are now all level at the top of the championship standings on 106 points.
Stoner's Ducati managed to hold off the challenge from Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, who finished fourth, while Loris Capirossi came fifth.
Daniel Pedrosa, Colin Edwards, Randy De Puniet, Mika Kallio and Nicky Hayden completed the top 10 on Sunday.
"It was a great battle, the two Yamahas were flying on this track," Rossi told BBC Sport. "After some laps I knew I had to fight and it was a great fight to the end, I wasn't sure of the result until the end."
Stoner revealed afterwards that he had not been fully fit. "I've been slowly getting a little more sore and sick each day, and I was cramping after the warm-up," he said.
"I was really afraid about finishing the the race -- halfway through I just gave up, I had nothing left, and I decided to just run for the points."
source : www.cnn.com
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