Valentino Rossi hurtles in German MotoGP, so does the title?

In front of 101,083 fans with temperature soaring above 30 degrees at Sachsenring, the thirty lap race appeared like being a test of endurance-both for riders and the tyres. The race was punctuated by plentiful crashes and retirements especially in its tenth round on Sunday.

rossi crash

Five time world champion Valentino Rossi fell early in the race while trying to overtake Randy de Puniet for the sixth place. Regrettably, Rossi couldn't cope to surpass de Puniet who was very fast in the sections with the overtaking spots. So he tried to overtake him on the double right-hander at the bottom of the downhill tad, but he leaned too much and lost the front.

Despite seeing the gap to front runner Casey Stoner broaden to 32 points, Rossi said he was still confident about his chances of winning this year's MotoGP title. Rossi started from sixth but dropped to eighth at the start, taking two laps to pass Alex Barros before finding himself in seventh behind de Puniet on lap three. He soon made his budge on the Frenchman but a small blunder proved costly sending him plummeting into the gravel trap a maneuver which could have seen the fortune change.

valentino rossi image 1

Engulfed with displeasure Rossi alleged the package was working very well and the crash missed the probability to make up a lot of points on Stoner. Rossi cited his only dilemma in the race had been rising water temperature. Fatefully, they lacked a bit of engine power and particularly with this heat they had an issue with water temperature making them loose some power. Besides that the bike was going well and the Michelins did fine all the way to the end.

Ultimately though, Valentino Rossi would look back on the German GP as an opportunity gone begging after being one of the many to crash out while his teammate took one of his best finishes of the season to take some points away from Stoner. Despite a somewhat jaded race day performance, Casey Stoner still managed to extend his championship lead over Rossi. The Italian though will undoubtedly come out swinging when the MotoGP extravaganza hits Laguna Seca for round 11 of the 18 round series.

The Italian apologized:

Unfortunately I made a mistake today and I want to say sorry to everyone - my team, Yamaha and of course all my fans.

Few mentioned that Rossi was upbeat despite the tragedy but his upbeat attitude wasn't that conspicuous at the time he pummeled, for he literally went bizarre with uncertainty, an evidence of which was his estranged behavior immediately after the crash.

[Image: Scotsman]