82,000 see Rossi win

Both Rossi and Gibernau were using hard compound rear tyres but Edwards had gambled and chosen a soft compound tyre. The added grip that this gave him at the beginning of the race saw him nearly catch Rossi’s Yamaha but as the laps clocked up the Italian managed to pull away from Edwards until on the last lap when Rossi took a final check over his shoulder Edwards was nowhere in sight, leaving Rossi with a clear win, Edwards in second and Gibernau in third.

Edwards was ecstatic with his first podium in the blue riband class, with both Rossi and Gibernau congratulating him. Rossi jumped on him so hard in the winners enclosure that they both rolled to the floor.

Neil Hodgson put in a strong performance to take 10th place despite riding with a shredded shoulder ligament that is expected to take as much as five months to heal properly.

Valentino Rossi has taken his fifth victory on the Yamaha in front of 82,000 people at the British GP at Donington park while Colin Edwards got his first GP podium.

Despite the rain threatening all day the track stayed dry for the last GP race before the summer break. Rossi took the lead from the first lap and held it until the chequered flag, taking the win by more than four seconds ahead of second placed man Edwards.

It was the Ducati of Loris Capirossi that got the hole shot but his time at the front was limited as both Rossi and Sete Gibernau slipped past him before the end of the first lap leaving Rossi in the lead.

At this point Edwards was still behind the second factory Ducati of Troy Bayliss, but the American Honda rider stormed past both Bayliss and the flagging Capirossi, followed by a quick dart up the inside of his team-mate Gibernau on lap five to take his highest ever GP position.

After a poor qualifying position Norick Abe stormed through the ranks getting up to 8th by lap 28 but he pushed it that bit too far and highsided out, putting an end to a very impressive run.

Max Biaggi and Makoto Tamada both ran incredibly badly on the Camel Hondas. Biaggi started towards the front of the grid but quickly got left behind. At one point lapping three seconds slower than Rossi.