BY RIZWAN REHMAT
DOHA: Bike legend Valentino Rossi roared to his fourth win at the Grand Prix of Qatar last night, edging pole winner Andrea Dovizioso in an exhilarating cat-and-mouse fight that ended with the Italian posting his 83rd MotoGP victory.
Rossi, 36, started the race from the eighth spot on the grid and gradually worked his way up before catching up with Ducati’s Dovizioso in the last four laps under lights at Losail International Circuit here.
Riding his Yamaha like a man possessed, Rossi trailed the leaders for most part of the race but went past Dovizioso in lap 20 before taking the checkered flag in front of a sizable crowd.
Moments after the start, Rossi lost ground and was pushed to the 10th spot but the ageless warrior regained his composure, jumping to seventh place and then securing fourth place by lap four.
Nine-time world champion Rossi eventually clocked a time of 42:35.717 to seal his win in the 22-lap race.
Dovizioso, who was seeking his second MotoGP career win, was just 0.174 seconds slower than Rossi.
It was Rossi’s first season-opening win since 2010.
Last night’s victory was significantly better than his second-place heartbreak behind Spanish defending champion Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda at the 2014 Grand Prix of Qatar.
After parking the bike in the official parc ferme, Rossi — who won the last of his seven MotoGP titles in 2009 — threw himself into the arms of his Yamaha team-mates.
“Yeah” Rossi said when asked if it was one if his finest races. “I have said this a lot of times — but this was one of my better races because after a bad start, I recovered a lot.
“My team did a really great job in the practice,” Rossi, who raced for Ducati until 2013, said.
“It was fantastic. Step by step, I moved forward. I didn’t give up. It was difficult. After sometime I found really nice lines to ride. Yahama did it,” he said to roars from the fans.
After a seesaw battle, Dovizioso snatched the lead with four laps to go after Rossi pushed Jorge Lorenzo to third. Moments later Rossi grabbed the lead with three laps remaining, but Dovizioso fought back.
Rossi, however, led around the final lap, a position he ended up retaining as Dovizioso’s Ducati didn’t quite have enough to challenge the legendary Italian.
Dovizioso’s Ducati team-mate Andrea Iannone of Italy (+2.250) finished in third spot while Rossi’s Yamaha stable-mate Lorenzo (+2.707) ended the exciting race ahead of fifth-placed Marquez (+7.036). Spain’s Dani Pedrosa (+10.755), Britain’s Cal Crutchlow (+12.384), compatriot Bradley Smith (+12.914), Spain’s Pol Espargaro (+13.031) and Yonny Hernandez (+17.435) completed the top 10 list last night.
Dovizioso, 29, was sapped for energy when he said: “Yes, I am tired. I am really happy to come back like this. The last few laps were really hard.”
The Ducati giant added: “I made really good lap times. It was impossible to attack Valentino in the end. He was really strong in braking and acceleration. He was the best.”
For Marquez, who is seeking a hat-trick of MotoGP titles in as many years, it was a race to forget as the 22-year-old slid off the track at the first turn and lost the advantage of starting the race from third spot on the grid.
Marquez never recovered as 36-year-old Rossi and overnight leader Dovizioso produced that dramatic tussle in the opening race of the 2015 season.
THE PENINSULA
