Rossi wins after race stopped due to rain.

Valentino Rossi secured his third victory of the season at Le Mans today as the MotoGP race was ended early due to rain making conditions dangerous. Shortly before the red flag was displayed Rossi has just taken the lead from Ukawa, while Max Biaggi was hot on the heels of the Honda 4-strokes in third.

Off the starting line, the two Hondas and the Yamahas of Biaggi and Checa raced ahead of the rest of the field, and it remained that way until Checa fell and ended what had been a successful weekend up to that point. Biaggi produced a surge moving him to the front of the field, but his lead only lasted a short while until the Hondas began to push hard. Behind them, Abe and Katoh closed up dangerously and then caught them as track conditions began to deteriorate in the drizzle. However Kato slid off the track and tumbled across the gravel below the Dunlop bridge, ending any chances he had of scoring points. When the race was suspended, Abe finished fourth ahead of Kenny Roberts.

Rossi now has a 34 point advantage over team-mate Ukawa in the championship standings. He is some 50 ahead of Capirossi in third with just four rounds of the season gone. The World Champion has now claimed 3 wins and a second place.

Top ten finishers:

1.Valentino Rossi
2.Tohru Ukawa
3.Max Biaggi
4. Norick Abe
5.Kenny Roberts
6.Nobuatsu Aoki
7.Loris Capirossi
8.Alex Barros
9.Regis Laconi
10.Jeremy McWilliams

Full results to follow.