Rossi snatches thrilling Estoril win

Championship leader Casey Stoner could do no better than third with his Marlboro Ducati, meaning that he will have to wait at least until next week's Japanese Grand Prix to take the title.

Rossi did not have the best of starts from his third spot on the grid, as by the first turn he was down into fifth place after being overtaken by both Pedrosa, who from fifth jumped to second, and Honda Gresini's Marco Melandri.

Pedrosa's teammate Nicky Hayden did not have the best of starts from pole, as he dropped to third after being overtaken by both the Spaniard and by Stoner, who went from second to first at the first turn.

Rossi exchanged positions a couple of times more with Melandri on the first lap, and eventually emerged ahead. On lap 3 he overtook Hayden for third place and set off to chase the leading duo of Stoner and Pedrosa, who by then were 1.3 seconds ahead.

The Italian managed to close the gap to the two in front on lap 7, just as the leading pair exchanged positions on the run up to the first turn.

On lap 9 Rossi, having just set the fastest lap, outbraked Stoner for second place at the end of the front straight, and repeated the move over Pedrosa exactly one lap later to take the lead.

The next eight laps saw Hayden making up ground on the leading trio, just as Stoner lost touch a bit with the Yamaha and the Honda in front, who in the meantime switched positions when Pedrosa powered ahead of Rossi on the front straight on lap 16.

Lap 23 saw Randy de Puniet's Kawasaki engine exploding in a cloud of smoke on the front straight, Pramac d'Antin's Alex Barros's Ducati engine also smoking and forcing the Brazilian to slow down and retire, and Makoto Tamada's Yamaha Tech 3 crashing out at the chicane.

On lap 24 Rossi overtook Pedrosa when the Spaniard went wide at the first turn, but the Italian does the same a few corners later allowing the Honda back into first, while Stoner closed in on both to within less than a second.

Rossi managed to outbrake Pedrosa at the beginning of the penultimate lap but went in too wide and had to settle again for second, but not for long.

After a few more corners of the same lap another outbraking manoeuvre worked perfectly and the Italian was back in the lead and held on to it until the chequered flag to win by 0.175 seconds.

Stoner ended up a further 1.3 seconds behind, with Hayden taking the fourth spot almost 13 seconds behind Rossi.

Melandri took fifth place four seconds behind the Repsol Honda, with Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins sixth and Carlos Checa's Honda LCR seventh.

Melandri's teammate Toni Elias ended up eight, ahead of the other works Ducati of Loris Capirossi in ninth and the works Yamaha of Colin Edwards in tenth.