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Valentino Rossi celebrates
his victory with champagne on the podium of the Portuguese
Grand Prix in Estoril September 5,
2004. (Reuters) |
Italy's Valentino Rossi, riding a Honda, went a
step further to claiming his sixth world championship after winning the
Portuguese motorcycling Grand
Prix
in Estoril, Portugal.
It was Rossi's sixth MotoGP victory out of 11 races this season and he
looks virtually certain to claim overall victory with five races left.
Rossi dominated this race, which he won for the fourth time in
succession. Japan's Makoto Tamada started from pole position but Rossi was already ahead
after the first of 28 laps and never relinquished the lead.
Makoto finished second and Brazil's Alex Barros was third.
"I wanted to be in front at the beginning, I took the lead on the first
lap and then I had four or five good laps," said the 25-year-old Rossi.
 "I had a big lead and then with 10 or 12 laps to go I slowed down
a bit. Then I saw Tamada and I tried to speed up again."
Rossi's rivals for the title simply could not keep on terms with him.
Sete Gibernau, who is second overall, could only cross the line in fourth and Max Biaggi,
third overall, fell on the first lap.
Biaggi collided with the back end of Loris Capirossi's Ducati to put
him out of the race though Capirossi went on to finish his 100th race in
the top category.
Spain's Toni Elias, riding a Honda, won the 250cc category ahead of
Aprilia riders Sebastian Porto of Argentina and France's Randy de Puniet,
and Spanish Aprilia rider Hector Barbera won the 125cc race ahead of
Finland's Mika Kallio and Jorge Lorenzo of Spain.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-09-06 14:39