Vermeulen wins wet Le Mans race

The Rizla Suzuki rider, who started the race from 12th place, made the most of the conditions by being among the first riders to switch to wet tyres and then resisting pressure form second-placed Marco Melandri for the second half of the race.

A light drizzle started falling before the race even started, prompting the officials to declare it a wet race, meaning that at any point during the race the riders could go back to the pits to change bikes, provided they are fitted with different tyres.

The race started in opposite directions for the two Fiat Yamahas: pole-setter Colin Edwards fell to fifth position within a couple of corners, while teammate Valentino Rossi, starting from fourth, took first place in the same timespan.

Ducati's Casey Stoner was second by the end of the first lap, but by lap five he was down to sixth, behind Rossi, Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, d'Antin Ducati's Alex Barros, Yamaha Tech 3's Sylvain Guintoli, and Honda Gresini's Melandri respectively.

The next lap saw Frenchmen de Puniet and Guintoli showing their hand in their home race, with the latter overtaking the former for first place after both passed Rossi on the same lap.

That was the start of the Italian's troubles, as he made a mistake on lap seven and was overtaken by four other riders, including Carlos Checa who fell off his Honda LCR in the manoeuvre.

The following lap saw Guintoli crashing out of the race from second place, with Rossi nearly running over the rookie.

Honda Gresini's Toni Elias fell on the same lap, while de Puniet crashed out of the race on the following lap while in the lead, giving up first place to Hopkins.

That was when riders started to come in to switch to bikes fitted with wet tyres with Vermeulen, Honda's Nicky Hayden, Ducati's Loris Capirossi, Barros, Yamaha Tech 3's Makoto Tamada, and Shinya Nakano on the Konica Minolta Honda being the first ones in the pits.

Hopkins, Melandri and Rossi came in on the next lap. The Suzuki rider emerged in the lead, followed by Vermeulen who overtook Honda's Dani Pedrosa for second.

The Australian then passed his teammate for first while still on lap 11, while Melandri overtook Hopkins for second and Rossi took fourth place from Pedrosa.

On the next lap Rossi passed Hopkins for third, while Stoner overtook Pedrosa and Hayden for fifth place.

At this point Edwards had his second visit to the pits to switch back to dry tyres, after having gone for wets on the fourth lap in an effort to make up for his poor start by gambling on the rain increasing early on. He ultimately ended the race in 12th and last place, three laps down on Vermeulen.

On lap 14 Hayden overtook Pedrosa for fifth place, which immediately became fourth with Hopkins going wide into the gravel and rejoining in eighth position.

The following laps saw Melandri closing in on Vermeulen but never managing to overtake him, with the pair consistently opening up the gap over Rossi, who gave up his third place to Stoner on lap 17, then fourth to Hayden on lap 23, then fifth and sixth to Pedrosa and d'Antin Ducati's Alex Hofmann on lap 25.

On the next lap Hayden had a major accident, with his bike sliding off under braking and barrel rolling through the gravel trap and destroying itself. The American got back up and appeared to be okay, although he reportedly went to have his hand checked by doctors.

On the 28th and last lap Barros crashed out of the race, giving up his eighth place to Capirossi, who was the last rider on the leading lap, 20 seconds behind Hopkins.

Behind Vermeulen and Melandri, Stoner took third place and further increased his lead in the championship over Rossi, who had to settle for sixth in the race behind Pedrosa and Hofmann.

Pos  Rider              Bike      Time
 1.  Chris Vermeulen    Suzuki    50:58.713
 2.  Marco Melandri     Honda     +  12.599
 3.  Casey Stoner       Ducati    +  27.347
 4.  Daniel Pedrosa     Honda     +  37.328
 5.  Alex Hofmann       Ducati    +  49.166
 6.  Valentino Rossi    Yamaha    +  53.563
 7.  John Hopkins       Suzuki    +1:01.073
 8.  Loris Capirossi    Ducati    +1:21.241
 9.  Makoto Tamada      Yamaha    +   1 lap
10.  Sylvain Guintoli   Yamaha    +   1 lap
11.  Fonsi Nieto        Kawasaki  +   1 lap
12.  Colin Edwards      Yamaha    +  3 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Alex Barros        Ducati
     Kenny Roberts Jr.  KR
     Nicky Hayden       Honda
     Shinya Nakano      Honda
     Randy de Puniet    Kawasaki
     Toni Elias         Honda
     Carlos Checa       Honda