[.OrgOwner]

Rossi fights back!

Portuguese MotoGP results and points standings

1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 45 mins 49.911 secs
2. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 45:50.086
3. Casey Stoner (Australia) Ducati 45:51.388
4. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 46:02.862
5. Marco Melandri (Italy) Honda 46:07.254
6. John Hopkins (U.S.) Suzuki 46:08.768
7. Carlos Checa (Spain) Honda 46:21.435
8. Toni Elias (Spain) Honda 46:30.446
9. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducati 46:33.018
10. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha 46:34.585
11. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Honda 46:35.314
12. Anthony West (Australia) Kawasaki 46:44.473
13. Chris Vermeulen (Australia) Suzuki 46:49.913
14. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Yamaha +1 Lap

Overall Points Standings
1. Casey Stoner (Australia) Ducati 287 points
2. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 211
3. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 188
4. John Hopkins (U.S.) Suzuki 150
5. Chris Vermeulen (Australia) Suzuki 147
6. Marco Melandri (Italy) Honda 137
7. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha 106
8. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducati 105
9. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 105
10. Alex Barros (Brazil) Ducati 83
11. Toni Elias (Spain) Honda 71
12. Alex Hofmann (Germany) Ducati 65
13. Randy de Puniet (France) Kawasaki 58
14. Carlos Checa (Spain) Honda 54
15. Anthony West (Australia) Kawasaki 45
16. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Honda 42
17. Makoto Tamada (Japan) Yamaha 33
18. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Yamaha 30
19. Kurtis Roberts (U.S.) KR212V 10
20. Roger Lee Hayden (U.S.) Kawasaki 6

[dicknose]

A bit more of an exciting race - even if a lot of it was "could be"
Rossi looked good as did Pedosa. Hayden had a couple of lap burst after he had dropped a bit behind the lead pack and looked like he could catch them, then faded badly.
Stoner went ok although looked like he was struggling to keep up with the front two and relied on them making mistakes battling for him to stay in touch. Interesting that he said he had a clutch problem.

I guess this only delays the inevitable. Technically Pedosa is still in the title hunt - although I think Stoner only needs to gain 1 pt on him to knock him out.
Rossi is 76 behind with 4 rounds to go, so he really does need Stoner to not finish most of them. Even with 4 wins, Stoner only needs 25 pts, thats a 2nd+11th+2xDNF or even a set of 4x9th places (7pts) would seal it.