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Melandri and Rossi big winners in Australia
Marco Melandri took victory in the Australian GP this weekend, as he and Valentino Rossi yet again made ground on championship leader Nicky Hayden.
In increasingly wet conditions it was Kawasaki rider Shinya Nakano who made the early running but the adverse weather necessitated a pit stop and he was usurped midway through the race by the trio of Sete Gibernau, Chris Vermeulen and Melandri.
The Honda rider edged past Vermeulen on lap 15 and rounded Gibernau a lap later for a lead that he comfortably held onto, while after a poor start Rossi finally managed to shake off Hayden and take third, with the American coming fifth.
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Melandri said afterwards: "I really love this track. I have won the 125cc race and I also won the 250cc world championship here.
"At the beginning in the wet it was very difficult, but when I found my rhythm I learned my bike was working very well. I was watching my pit board but nobody was coming and I just ran very smooth to the finish."
Despite finishing ahead of title rival Hayden, Rossi was less upbeat after the race and lamented that in drier conditions he could well have won, but admitted that in the circumstances a podium finish was a good result.
The Yamaha rider is now in second place and 21 points behind Hayden with a possible 75 still up for grabs, while Melandri is in joint third position with rookie Dani Pedrosa, whose title hopes were badly dented with a 15th place finish on Sunday.
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