Tuesday, October 31, 2006

(Title) Gone in 0.002 Seconds

In one of the closest title races for quite some years, American Nicky Hayden came from behind to overtake five-time defending World Champion Valentino Rossi to win this year's MotoGP World Championship.

By finishing third in Sunday's final race at Valencia, Hayden scored a total of 252 points, just five points more than Rossi who could only finish 13th after an uncharacteristic crash on lap four.

Hayden finished the race some 30 seconds ahead of Rossi, who needed to finish eighth or better to defend his crown. Yet due to the huge time loss after his off-track excursion, Rossi was never a threat to the riders at the top ten, despite the retirement of some of the lesser riders which had made life easier for Rossi.

Yet in the end, Rossi practically lost the title by just 0.002 seconds.

That was how much Spanish rider Toni Elias beat him in the previous race at Estoril just two weeks ago.

In an exciting three-bike scrap in the closing laps, Rossi appeared to have done just enough to fend off Elias and American Kenny Roberts Jr. By that stage Hayden had already been eliminated from the race by his team-mate Dani Pedrosa in a bone-headed and highly controversial move.

Rossi was destined to take the lead in the championship. The question was how many points he would be ahead of Hayden. Had Rossi won, he would have a 13-point lead heading into the final round. Had he finished second, the lead would be just eight points (25 points for a win, 20 points for coming second).

Entered Elias.

Elias had never won a race in the MotoGP. When he only managed to qualify 11th for the race, no one could have guessed he would have such a strong race. And when he managed to out-gun Rossi at the final straight, he single-handedly changed the outcome of this year's championship, by stealing five points from Rossi's firm grasp.

Had Rossi won the race and kept that five extra points, he and Hayden would have been tied with 252 points. And as Rossi had won five races to Hayden's two this year, Rossi would have been crowned World Champion for the sixth consecutive year, despite being a massive 51 points down with just six races to go. Yet Elias' heroics have spoiled the party.

Before that race in Estoril, there were rumours that Elias will not be back next season due to his disappointing performance. That maiden win had not only foiled Rossi's title hopes, but also earned him a new contract next season.

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