Rossi outsmarts Gibernau

Valentino Rossi started his quest for a fifth successive world title in dramatic style yesterday, winning the Spanish Grand Prix after his main rival Sete Gibernau was forced off the track at the last corner.

Local favourite Gibernau, the winner in Jerez at his home race last year, had led on his Honda for all but the last two of the 27 laps when Yamaha rider Rossi finally forced his way past the Spaniard on the inside.

The pair, first and second in the title race for the last two years, raced wheel-to-wheel and swapped the lead back and forth over the last two circuits of the track.

It looked like Gibernau just had the edge heading out of the penultimate turn in the season-opening race but Rossi forced his way through on the inside and the two bikes made contact broadside.

Gibernau was forced into the gravel trap and Rossi was left free to cruise across the finishing line with his front wheel raised in triumph.

"It was a very tough race and it was a very tough overtake on the last lap," said Rossi after celebrating his sixth career win at Jerez. "For sure Sete's angry, but that's racing."

A grim-faced Gibernau, who had been hoping to give the estimated 125,000 crowd something to cheer about, refused to talk about the final lap, merely clearing his throat loudly and nursing an injured shoulder.

"Valentino raced a good race," he said. "We'll have to do better."

Gibernau's Italian team-mate Marco Melandri finished third, taking advantage of American Honda rider Nicky Hayden's crash on lap 20 to match his best result in a MotoGP race.

Brazilian Alex Barros, at 34 the oldest rider on the grid, was fourth for Honda, ahead of Kawasaki's Japanese rider Shinya Nakano and Australian former world superbike champion Troy Bayliss.

Earlier, Spain's world champion Dani Pedrosa delighted the huge crowd at the Circuito de Jerez by winning the 250cc race.

The 19-year-old Honda rider started on pole position and led for the entire race, gradually building up a commanding advantage over Argentine Sebastian Porto, who finished second for Aprilia as he did in last year's title race.

San Marino's Alex de Angelis came home a distant third on his Aprilia after first Frenchman Randy de Puniet and then Australian Casey Stoner crashed out while in line for the final spot on the podium.

Pedrosa, who was 125cc champion in 2003 before taking the 250cc title at his first attempt last year, had never won his home grand prix before.

In the 125cc class, Italian teenager Marco Simoncelli recovered after a poor start to claim victory in Jerez for the second year in a row.

The 18-year-old Aprilia rider, whose win last year was his maiden victory, started from pole position but was back in fifth after the first lap of what turned out to be a thrilling opening race of the season.

With Swiss Thomas Luthi, Finn Mika Kallio, Italian Fabrizio Lai and local favourite Pablo Nieto battling it out for the lead, it was not until the 15th of the 23 laps that Simoncelli hit the front.

But once he did, he swiftly built up a comfortable lead, leaving the rest to scrap for podium spots with Kallio, on a KTM, just pipping Honda's Lai for second place after Nieto crashed with two laps to go.