World champion Valentino Rossi rounded out a second season of domination of MotoGP with his ninth victory of the year at the Valencia Grand Prix today. The 24-year-old Italian still had to work hard for what could be his last victory on the Honda RCV.
Spain's championship runner-up Sete Gibernau did his best early in the race to give the 121,342-strong crowd some local success to cheer about.
But Rossi, who secured a third straight title in Malaysia last month, once again showed that he is at his best when under pressure and did enough to keep the Catalan in second place.
Ducati's Loris Capirossi, taking part in his 200th grand prix, finished third ahead of his fellow Italian Max Biaggi to deprive Honda of a podium sweep.
Rossi's 59th victory in 124 grands prix at all levels - his first at the Ricardo Tormo circuit - ensured that he tied motorcycling great Giacomo Agostini's record of consecutive podiums with his 22nd straight top-three finish. His 357 points this season is also a record, exceeding his own 2002 mark by two.
Filed by James Boylan
