July 21 : Rossi rules at Laguna with first American victory

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi took his first career win on
American soil today, emerging victorious after an epic duel with Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca. The Italian, who signed a new two-year deal with
Yamaha this week, has now won four races this season and is 25 points clear at the top of the championship.
 

Rossi started from second and was able to pass Stoner on the brakes during
the first lap to take the lead. From then on it was clear that the pair
were in a class of their own today as they gradually pulled out a gap from
the chasing pack, trading passes with one another but with no one else
able to stay with them. Stoner was often faster than Rossi on the straight
but the seven-time world champion had the advantage in the twisty parts of
the track and he was able to gain the lead back on the brakes each time
the Australian passed him. With only 100ths of a second between them most
of the time it looked like being a nail-biting race to the end, but on lap
24 of 32 Stoner made a mistake and ran off the track and into the gravel.
This allowed Rossi some breathing space for the final eight laps and he
eventually crossed the line 13 seconds clear of Stoner, who had been able
to remount and still finish second, such was the gap the pair had pulled
out from third-placed Chris Vermeulen.

It was a black day for the other side of the garage however as Jorge
Lorenzo, Rossi’s team-mate, took a huge tumble on the first lap and broke
the third and fifth metatarsal bones in his left foot. He now faces a
battle to be fit for the next race in Brno, in a month’s time. With Dani
Pedrosa missing the race this weekend, Stoner has now moved into second in
the championship behind Rossi with seven rounds remaining.

Rossi: Position: 1 Time: 44’04.311

“What a race today! We made some modifications to our bike after warm-up
and these gave us the last few tenths that enabled me to fight with Casey
today; the result was just fantastic. I got a good start and I was able to
pass him in the first lap, but I knew I had to try and stay in front of
him and it was impossible to relax even for one second. My M1 was
brilliant and so were my Bridgestone tyres; I really only made one
mistake, at the corkscrew when I went a bit wide but in fact the dirt had
quite good grip also! Casey was a bit faster on the straight than me but I
was stronger on the brakes so I had to make all my passes there. I don’t
know how many times we changed the lead but it was a lot and it was great,
great racing for me and I think also for the fans, because it’s been a
while since we’ve been like this. To stay in front I had to do high 21s at
least on every lap and I want to thank my team and engineers for giving me
a bike that could do this. I had a great rhythm and I am really so happy
to win for the first time in America. About the passes, I am sorry that
Casey thinks some of them were a bit strong but I really don’t agree; I
passed only on the brakes, I braked in the same places every time and we
never touched. Of course this was an aggressive race, but it was
definitely a fair one. Now we have the summer break and I am looking
forward to relaxing a bit, but not too much because it’s going to be a
hard fight for the final seven races and we must keep the concentration!”