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Rossi: Pushing for win 'wasn't smart'

Valentino Rossi has admitted that he made an error of judgement by pushing too hard to win in as rain hit Donington Park, but was delighted that he was able to recover to fifth after crashing

The reigning champion's title rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner had already fallen and been delayed by a poor tyre choice respectively when Rossi crashed at the Esses while trying to fend off Andrea Dovizioso, who went on to win.

Rossi was still able to extend his points lead after rejoining and charging back from 11th to fifth place, and while he rued his error, he said the same predilection for risk-taking had helping him to many victories in the past.

"I regret the mistake," he told Italia1. "Today I was racing for the win, even after Lorenzo's crash, so this attitude induced me into an error today, but it has made me win 101 races. Anyway, that's how it went.

"In any case, today I've done a great race, because when I was in the lead I was going extremely quick, and Dovi was smart to stay behind. Obviously I had to let him pass or slow down anyway, but it was very difficult to understand how much it was raining.

"Luckily I dropped the bike while going slow and I was already leaning a lot so the bike slid very little and it didn't break. This are 11 extremely important points, because from the crash I made an incredible recovery. I chose to stay on the track on slicks even though it was raining a lot and it was the right decision, as I managed to snatch fifth from Toseland. These 11 points increase my lead to 25, so it's very good.

"I'm left with the regret for the mistake: it was a strategy error, I should have been smarter. This is the second mistake I've made in a race this year, it's a big shame. I'm left however with the 11 points gained over Lorenzo, which are extremely important, and it was a great race anyway, because I was the quickest man today."

He said the race, which saw several small rain showers but was rarely wet enough to need wet tyres, was among the hardest he had competed in.

"This has been a very odd race, and it was probably the most difficult I've ever done, because the conditions were so difficult, and controlling the slicks was really a gamble," Rossi said.

"However, with the rain tyres you wouldn't go quicker, so using those would have been useless. So you had to ride very smoothly. I was going well, but I made a small mistake there.

"I approached Dovizioso on the cool down lap and told him he owes me ten euros: I took all the risks and took him to a 13-second advantage over the rest before crashing, so on second thoughts he owes me at least one thousand...

"Anyway, I'm happy for Dovi, he's done a good race."

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