Rossi shows courage and daring to check Checa

Championship leader overcomes effects of crash in practice to score 46th grand prix win after harrying Spaniard into error

This season's runaway MotoGP world championship leader, the 23-year-old Italian Valentino Rossi, bravely and breathtakingly won yesterday's British Grand Prix at Donington Park in spite of riding with a broken thumb and severe bruising suffered when he crashed spectacularly in practice on Friday.

The victory was the 46th in all grand prix classes for rider No 46, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the greatest racing motorcyclists of all time. He particularly wanted to win this his 100th grand prix, but two days previously he had needed to await a doctor's decision since the concussion he also suffered in the crash demanded another scan on Saturday because he could still not remember the incident.

As for yesterday's grand prix it could be thought that a mid-race fall by the early leader, the Spaniard Carlos Checa, on a Yamaha, left Rossi and his hugely powerful 990cc V5 Honda four-stroke, with an easy passage to his seventh win out of eight this season. The fact was that after Checa took an instant lead Rossi kept pestering him, sometimes close in his stripstream and at others some 30 metres behind. Each time they sped down the frighteningly fast Craner Curves, Rossi would close up. Another Italian Max Biaggi, also on a Yamaha, could only watch the pair from an irritating distance. Checa clearly knew that his collar was being felt by Rossi and his machine regularly twitched nervously on the tightest bends.

Rossi's lurking pressure began to pay off as early as the fourth lap when he almost slipped inside Checa but as the winner admitted afterwards: "He was making it very difficult for me. He was faster than me on the fast parts but I was quicker in the slow parts. But overall it was an incredibly fast race.'' Their four-stroke machines seemed to shake the ground under the feet of the 60,000 spectators.

Bad luck soon hit Britain's Jeremy McWilliams, riding a Proton, who had to abandon the race after only six laps. Meanwhile, Rossi again closed tight on Checa who on the ninth lap did amazingly well to stay in control as he bounced out of the saddle. But the Spaniard's luck was not to last. By half-way his hope must have been that Rossi might tire as a result of his crash and settle for second play, which would hardly have dented his substantial lead in the championship. But the London-based Rossi is a tireless character and was biding his time. "After all,'' he said, "I didn't expect victory, for sure. Although the speed of my crash was slow I hit my head very hard.''

His chance came on the 18th lap. As Checa approached Goddard's – ironically, the place where Rossi had crashed – he locked up the front wheel and slithered off. He remounted but had to abandon the race to Rossi, who toyed with Biaggi by letting him close up and then blasting a few laps close to the record of 1min 32.247sec he had set earlier in the race, finally winning by more than two seconds from Biaggi and five seconds ahead of Alex Barros, of Brazil , on a Honda.

Simply appearing at all in yesterday's race did Rossi much credit. His crash could have given him every reason to opt out of the whole weekend. He led the championship with 170 points with his nearest challenger, on 108, being his Honda team-mate Tohru Ukawa who, also in Friday's practice, had crashed more spectacularly and withdrew with a broken bone in his foot and multiple bruising.

Rossi is not unfamiliar with crashing but is also familiar with remarkable recoveries. Indeed, at Donington a year ago he also fell in practice and had to fight his way to the front from the third row of the grid. His courage and stubbornness had put him in a better position at the start of yesterday's race and since his Honda has always been quicker this season than the two-strokes he said he could put up with some discomfort and a bit of a headache. Even so, in theory he faced strong opposition because in Saturday's final practice the first six riders were separated by only three-tenths of a second. All of them badly wanted to take advantage of any problems Rossi may have had, but, in the event, they witnessed another display of unusual skill.

The 15-year-old Chaz Davies, from Herefordshire, rode his Aprilia into 16th position in the 125cc race, missing his first world championship point by one place. The championship leader, Manuel Poggiali, of San Marino, riding a Gilera, finished third to the 27-year-old Arnaud Vincent, of France, also on an Aprilia who had started 16th on the grid. Davies did well not to be outclassed in a tough race of several fallers that came only a week after he was competing in his school sports.

Italy's Marc Melandri, on an Aprilia, achieved his fifth 250cc grand prix win this season but only after daringly leaving his braking late at the final hairpin to stave off a demanding challenge from another Aprilia rider, Fonsi Nieto of Spain.

DONINGTON RESULTS

BRITISH GRAND PRIX: Moto GP: 1 V Rossi (It) Honda 46min 32.888sec; 2 M Biaggi (It) Yamaha +2.371sec; 3 A Barros (Br) Honda +5.533; 4 N Abe (Japan) Yamaha 22.036; 5 O Jacque (Fr) Yamaha +28.087; 6 S Gibernau (Sp) Suzuki +28.400; 7 D Kato (Japan) Honda +28.947; 8 J Hopkins (US) Yamaha +31.497; 9 N Aoki (Japan) Proton +31.947; 10 S Nakano (Japan) Yamaha +41.454; 11 T Harada (Japan) Honda +49.458; 12 G McCoy (Aus) Yamaha +53.709; 13 A Ryo (Japan) Suzuki +54.480; 14 K Roberts (US) Suzuki +54.594; 15 J van der Goorbergh (Neth) Honda +54.866. Not classified: C Checa (Sp) Yamaha; J McWilliams (GB) Proton. Leading world championship standings (after eight races): 1 Rossi 195pts; 2 T Ukawa (Japan) Honda 108; 3 Biaggi 89; 4 Barros 87; 5 Checa 72; 6 Abe 72; 7 L Capirossi (It) Honda 65; 8 Kato 60; 9 Jacque 42.

250cc: 1 M Melandri (It) Aprilia 42min 55.728sec; 2 F Nieto (Sp) Aprilia +0.717; 3 T Elias (Sp) Aprilia +3.493; 4 F Battaini (It) Aprilia +3.934; 5 R Rolfo (It) Honda +4.407; 6 R De Puniet (Fr) Aprilia +19.852; 7 H Aoki (Japan) Honda +21.770; 8 N Matsudo (Japan) Yamaha +24.580; 9 A Debon (Sp) +25.987; 10 S Yuzy (Malay) Yamaha +26.202; 11 C Stoner (Aus) Aprilia +31.621; 12 E Alzamora (Sp) Honda +36.116; 13 R Locatelli (It) Aprilia +45.339; 14 T Sekiguchi (Japan) Yamaha +45.538; 15 D Checa (Sp) Aprilia +57.476. Selected: 16 J Vincent (GB) Honda +1min 00.795sec; 17 L Haslam (GB) Honda +1:03.974; 21 A Whittley (GB) Aprilia +1 lap. Leading world championship standings: 1 Melandri 145pts; 2 Nieto 132; 3 Rolfo 107; 4 Battaini 80; 5 Elias 76; 6 De Puniet 76; 7 Locatelli 67; 8 E Alzamora (Sp) Honda 63; 9 Porto 58; 10 Matsudo 48.

125cc: 1 A Vincent (Fr) Aprilia 42min 57.387sec; 2 D Pedrosa (Sp) Honda +0.193sec; 3 M Poggiali (SA) Gilera +0.699; 4 M Azuma (Japan) Honda +13.482; 5 S Jenkner (Ger) Aprilia +13.643; 6 J Olive (Sp) Honda +14.073; 7 A De Angelis (S Marino) Aprilia +15.650; 8 Y Ui (Japan) Derbi +18.608; 9 A Dovizioso (It) Honda +20.761; 10 S Aoyama (Japan) Honda 21.553; 11 S Perugini (It) Italjet +41.238; 12 A Ballerini (It) Honda +41.942; 13 J Lorenzo (Sp) Derby +46.464; 14 F Lai (It) Honda +46.699; 15 M Giansanti (It) Honda +52.816. Selected: 16 C Davies (GB) Aprilia +56.261; 21 C Elkin (GB) Honda +1 lap; 22 C Martin (GB) Honda +1 lap; 24 L Camier (GB) Italjet +1 lap. Not classified: G Fairbrother (GB) Honda; M Smart (GB) Honda. Leading world championship standings: 1 Poggiali 147pts; 2 Pedrosa 131; 3 Vincent 128; 4 L Cecchinello (It) 91; 5 Jenkner 80; 6 P Nieto (Sp) 54; 7 S Sanna (It) 48; 8 Ui 46; 9 Olive 46; 10 Azuma 45.