Rd. 1 - Jerez - MotoGP 2006

Valentino Rossi has won the opening round of the MotoGP season for the last five years. It was very odd to see the seven time world-champion starting the race from the third row of the grid (9th position) , it was even more odd to watch him crash in the first turn.
Loris Capirossi won the race, MotoGP rookie Dani Pedrosa amazingly finished 2nd, in front of his team-mate Nicky Hayden in 3rd. Another MotoGP rookie, Tony Elias, finished 4th. Vale got up and rode his crashed bike to finish 14th. Sete started the race from the front row, but retired on the second lap with a mechanical problem.