MotoReview

Over the next few laps both James Ellison and Jose Luis Cardoso, both on Dunlop tyres, entered the pits for new rear tyres. The high speed corners and harsh acceleration at the Istanbul circuit were obviously taking their toll on tyres but fortunately none of the front runners had to pit. That said, one of the quickest men of the weekend during practice sessions and at the start of the race did lose a lot of time because of a rear tyre problem. Any ideas? Yep, Sete Gibernau, who eventually finished in 11th.

By lap 17 it was a Honda 1, 2, 3 and 4, with the massively quick Dani Pedrosa now in the lead, followed by Melandri, Stoner and Hayden. The Yamahas were clearly struggling with the Istanbul Park circuit but sometimes Valentino Rossi just pulls it off regardless, and this was one of those days. The #46 bike was now 5th.

In the closing laps of the race the top four switched positions every couple of corners. As the final lap began Stoner was leading from Melandri, Pedrosa and Hayden.

By now Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri had a bit of a lead and Dani Pedrosa wasn't keen on settling for the final podium position. Unfortunately the Spanish rookie lost the front of his Honda RC211V as he went into turn one of the final lap. Dani managed to get the bike back on track and across the line, but for 14th place rather than 3rd. In his own words, ‘maybe I was not fully concentrating on the job'.

Melandri Celebrates

Valentino finished in 4th and you have to believe that if the race was a few laps longer there was a fair chance he'd have ended it on the podium.

Full Turkish MotoGP Results.