Japanese GP - Capirossi wins, Stoner takes title

Eurosport - Thu, 27 Sep 11:25:00 2007
Loris Capirossi claimed his first win in a year after gambling on slick tyres early on at the Japanese Grand Prix, but his joy was nothing compared to his team-mate Casey Stoner, who became world champion by finishing sixth.
Stoner's title, his first, capped a sensational win for Ducati and Bridgestone, who also took their inaugural crowns.
On a damp track it was polesitter Dani Pedrosa who assumed an immediate lead on his Repsol Honda from Toni Elias and Valentino Rossi into the first corner.
By the end of the lap though it was wet-weather specialist Anthony West who was the Spaniard's biggest threat, and the Australian nailed him for the lead on lap three into turn 11 after ducking out of the slipstream to make the move.
His joy was to be short-lived though as he was given a ride-through penalty for jumping the start, dropping him to the back of the field.
West's departure from the lead battle gave the lead to Stoner, who had also passed Pedrosa over the start/finish line on lap four.
Pedrosa began falling back on his Michelin wets, being passed by both Marco Melandri and Valentino Rossi inside the first seven laps, and Melandri then shocked Stoner by edging inside him at the V-corner to take the lead.
And that was how it looked like it would stay, but as the track began to dry out, the teams were all faced with a dilemma; do they leave their riders out on wets and risk the tyres collapsing if it dries, or do they bring them in for a slick-shod machine?
The first front-runner to decide to take the latter choice was Capirossi, who had been running seventh at the time. It proved a momentous decision as he immediately began lapping six seconds faster than the leaders.
While he was doing that, Rossi was busy making the most of his Yamaha's Michelin tyres, which were holding up far better than the Bridgestones on Stoner's Ducati and Melandri's Gresini Honda.
Stoner was despatched for second place on lap 13 with Melandri losing the lead to his countryman two laps later, and immediately pitting himself.
Rossi followed a lap later and emerged fifth, still ahead of Stoner, but that became fourth two corners later as he passed Pedrosa, who had crashed out of the lead on his wet rubber.
That handed Capirossi a ten-second lead over Frenchman Randy de Puniet and the pair, both on Bridgestone slicks, duly reeled off the final nine laps to finish first and second.
For Capirossi, the win was his first since the same race last season and was his third in as many years at Motegi. In all it was his ninth Moto GP win.
De Puniet's second place was just as noteworthy as it was his first podium finish, Kawasaki's first for over a year and the first for a Frenchman since Olivier Jacque in China in 2005.
After his pit-stop Rossi immediately became embroiled in a battle between Elias' Gresini Honda and the Dunlop-shod Tech-3 Yamaha of Sylvain Guintoli.
But he was back in the pits just a lap later, dropping him to 15th place as he weaved his Yamaha towards his team's garage with what appeared to be a loose wheel.
The problem elevated Elias to third and Guintoli to fourth, which was where they finished, just half a second apart, giving Guintoli the best finish of his career.
Melandri re-passed Stoner for fifth late in the race, but with Rossi now well behind, the Australian was able to back off and duly came home sixth to become the first Ducati rider to win the world title and, at 21 years old, the second-youngest in Moto GP history.
His result also gave Ducati Moto GP the team's title for the first time, but Ducati themselves still need a few more points to confirm the manufacturers' crown.
Seventh, after his early penalty, was a just reward for West, although it only came after the late retirement of impressive Suzuki wildcard runner Kosuke Akiyoshi.Alex Barros' d'Antin Ducati, Nicky Hayden's Repsol Honda and the Suzuki of John Hopkins completed the top ten with Rossi eventually 13th