Max Biaggi won the Pacific Grand Prix at Motegi on Sunday after a breath-taking battle with world champion and arch rival Valentino Rossi.
Max Biaggi won the Pacific Grand Prix at Motegi on Sunday after a breath-taking battle with world champion and arch rival Valentino Rossi.
Benefiting from a mistake by the world champ that left him to fight back from ninth, while a controversial high-speed collision would decide the final podium place in what was arguably the most exciting race of the year so far.
On the penultimate lap, Biaggi was riding faultlessly up front to keep his commanding 5secs lead intact, when Makoto Tamada muscled past Hayden towards the end of lap with the pair swapping paint through the underpass which led to Tamada’s eventual disqualification.
1. Max Biaggi
2. Valentino Rossi
3. Nicky Hayden
4. Sete Gibernau
5. Marco Melandri
6. Alex Barros
7. Tohru Ukawa
8. Loris Capirossi
9. Shinya Nakano
10. Akira Ryo
11. Ryuichi Kiyonari
12. Noriyuki Haga
13. Olivier Jacque
14. Nobuatsu Aoki
15. Kenny Roberts Jr
16. Andrew Pitt
17. Colin Edwards
18. Tamaki Serizawa