The popular Italian saying "Class is more than just water" has been used in regard to Valentino Rossi on numerous occasions in the past, and after Sunday's splendid race in Shanghai, appears more appropriate than ever.
The Tavullia champ conducted a perfect race to victory on a track flooded with torrential rain, demonstrating almost otherworldly mastery of his M1 bike under the most delicate conditions as he kept his balance on the treacherously slippery surface celebrating its "baptism" as a GP circuit in more ways than one. Thanks to his extraordinary sensitivity, the Dainese pilot left all his adversaries far behind with the sole exception of a fantastic Olivier Jacque appearing in his first GP race as the only one able to keep up with Valentino - at the good distance required by safety that day!
If Sunday saw Valentino break out ahead over the rest in the standings with a 25-point lead, things didn't go so well for Max Biaggi, still faced with tune-up problems and unable to express all his undisputed talent.
Daniel Pedrosa finished 6th in the 250 Class race after starting from the 2nd spot in the starting grid; technical problems in his Honda cited as the cause of this disappointment, while a good , Simone Corsi beat Jorge Lorenzo to the finish line for the 8th place spot.
In this year's fiercely competitive 125 Class, Simoncelli also came in 6th after leaving from the 2nd starting grid position, sliding down to 4th in the ranking .but a mere 9 points behind the leader Kallio.
Remaining on the subject of competition, for the first time ever two D-Challenge participants reaped the full number of points available, an accomplishment even more remarkable in a race that was truly unpredictable owing to the weather conditions. Our compliments go to pseudonyms Emanuelef and Fomeyer!
In the meantime, the final standings are still dominated by Italian Dukeofhell with a 43-point lead over Dane Cirkeline1965 and British Nagai coming in with 35 and 34 points respectively.