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2006-09-24 Capirossi dominates Motegi race
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 Loris Capirossi rode another dominant race in Japan, as he lead from start to finish, eventually winning 5 seconds from Valentino Rossi. Capirossi started superbly from the pole position, leading into first corner that everyone took cautiously in order to avoid typical Motegi incidents. Marco Melandri also had great start, following Capirossi in opening laps of the race.
Gibernau was right behind Melandri at the start, followed by Rossi, Stoner, Nakano, Elias, De Puniet and Hayden. In the middle of lap 1, Rossi goes in front of Gibernau to third position, while Melandri attacks Capirossi, but without much success. Championship leader Nicky Hayden completes lap 1 in 8th place, trying to catch up riders in front for the rest of the race.
As race goes on, leading group of Capirossi, Melandri, Rossi and Stoner makes gap to other riders. Leading trio soon makes gap to second group of riders, in which are Stoner, Gibernau and Nakano. Hayden tries to catch this group from the back of the field. Stoner falls at the middle of the race, ending hopes for good finish in Japan.
Around half of the race, Loris Capirossi increases pace and starts making gap to Melandri and Rossi. Rossi at the same time starts to attack Melandri, hoping that once he passes him, maybe he can catch Capirossi. Gibernau has meanwhile made gap to Nakano and rides in lone 4th place. In lap 15, Rossi gets in front of Melandri, and tries to make up 1.2 seconds to Capirossi. However, Capirossi once again sets pace and makes even greater gap to Rossi, winning his third race of the season. Melandri ends race in lone 3rd place behind Rossi.
Real battle was for 4th place, where Nakano managed to catch Gibernau, and decided to pass him in last lap. Nakano's attempt was too aggresive and causes front tyre of his Kawasaki to colide with rear of Gibernau's Ducati, and Nakano crashes only few corners from the end of the race, luckily without taking Gibernau with him. Gibernau finishes race in strong 4th place, in front of Hayden in 5th, who get extra point thanks to Nakano's last lap crash.
Toni Elias finishes race in respectable 6th place, with Dani Pedrosa working his way from the back of the field to 7th place. Colin Edwards finished in 8th, in front of Kenny Roberts Jr and Makoto Tamada in 9th and 10th places.
After Motegi, with two races remaining in the championship, lead of the Nicky Hayden to Valentino Rossi reduced to 12 points, so we may expect one of greatest season endings in history of MotoGP.
Motegi - Complete race results
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