MotoReview

Although there was little competition for the lead in the last half of the race, Pedrosa's anxiousness to get passed Marco Melandri in the early stages of the race very nearly cost him dearly. On lap five he attempted a pass at the Melbourne loop, somehow losing both the front and rear of the bike in the space of a second or two and then recovering afterwards. The near-crash cost Pedrosa a couple of positions but it was only a temporary setback and the Repsol Honda rider has no such troubles a few laps later when trying a similar move.

The real action was to be found in the battle for the bottom two steps of the podium. The Honda machines of Marco Melandri, Casey Stoner and Kenny Roberts Jr (well, Honda engine) had a comfortable margin over the rest of the pack at one point, but were holding each other up as they fought for position. As a result it wasn't long before Valentino Rossi made his way up to fifth, which soon became fourth and then third as he and Marco Melandri started to put a gap between themselves, Stoner and Roberts.

The last lap saw the two Italian riders fighting it out for second, with Rossi eventually taking advantage of Melandri running wide at the Melbourne loop and going on to take second 0.2 seconds ahead of the Fortuna Honda rider.

Elsewhere the Americans that dominated last weekend in Assen were at it again - this time with Colin Edwards coming out in top for 6th place, ahead of Nicky Hayden in 8th. The top 10 was completed by the still suffering Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa on the ever-improving Dunlop-shod Tech 3 Yamaha.

2006 British MotoGP Race Results

1) Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 44'54.878 
2) Valentino Rossi Camel Yamaha Team 44'58.742 + 3.864
3) Marco Melandri Fortuna Honda 44'58.894 + 4.016
4) Casey Stoner Honda LCR 45'00.654 + 5.776
5) Kenny Roberts Team Roberts 45'04.474 + 9.596
6) Colin Edwards Camel Yamaha Team 45'16.588 + 21.71
7) Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team 45'20.642 + 25.764
8) John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 45'23.912 + 29.034
9) Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team 45'30.484 + 35.606
10) Carlos Checa Tech 3 Yamaha 45'35.320 + 40.442
11) Makoto Tamada Konica Minolta Honda 45'35.940 + 41.062
12) Randy De Puniet Kawasaki Racing Team 45'37.075 + 42.197
13) Alex Hofmann Ducati Marlboro Team 45'46.332 + 51.454
14) James Ellison Tech 3 Yamaha 46'12.682 + 1'17.804
15) Jose Luis Cardoso Pramac d'Antín MotoGP 45'13.279 + 1 lap
16) Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 45'43.130 + 1 lap
17) Shinya Nakano Kawasaki Racing Team 19'39.618 + 17 laps
18) Ivan Silva Pramac d'Antín MotoGP 7'58.157 + 25 laps