Valentino Rossi picked his way through the puddles to claim his ninth victory in 11 races this season as he won the Portuguese MotoGP at Estoril on Sunday.

With just three laps to go it looked as though Rossi would have to settle for second as Sete Gibernau set the pace.

"I made a good start," said Rossi. "I gave my best and took a risk to win.

"I just tried to follow Sete and catch him.

"I'm sorry to see him crash because he deserved to win, but I'm also happy with this result as I couldn't ask for a better position in the championship."

Solid lead

The Italian won comfortably from Carlos Checa, who started in pole, with Japan's Tohru Ukawa in third.

After 13 laps Gibernau had pulled out a lead of more than five seconds.

Rossi began to pick up the pace and was soon lapping in the one minutes 54s but no sooner than he began to close the gap Gibernau responded with a 1:53.

By this point Checa had fought his way back up to third after a poor start, but he was making no impression on Rossi.

"I had a problem at the start. When I shifted in third, the wheel was spinning," said Checa.

"I did all I could even if I knew I couldn't win."

Heavy landing

Throughout the second half of the race Rossi kept the pressure on Gibernau, but it looked as though the leader would have the necessary pace to stay ahead.

However, the Spaniard then lost the bike at a corner and appeared to damage his shoulder as he landed heavily on the track and slid into the gravel.

Rossi swept through and cruised to yet another victory in what is turning into an awesome season for the Italian, who now leads the championship by 89 points.

Northern Ireland's Jeremy McWilliams finished a disappointing ninth.

Meanwhile, Britain's Leon Haslam rode his Cibertel Honda to seventh in the 250cc race, his best result of the season.

And Chaz Davies was 11th in the 125s, his first points-scoring ride in his debut season on the Matteoni Racing Aprilia.

Spaniard Fonsi Nieto took his third 250cc victory of the season on the Aprilia as only 13 riders finished the race.

Championship leader Marco Melandri, of Italy, was second with Argentine Sebastian Porto, on the Petronas Yamaha, third.

In the 125cc class Welshman Davies scored his first points of the season as Frenchman Arnaud Vincent won.

Result:

Portuguese MotoGP

1 Valentino Rossi, (Ita), Honda, 54 minutes 12.962 seconds
2 Carlos Checa, (Spa), Yamaha, 54:35.162
3 Tohru Ukawa, (Jap), Honda, 54:37.182
4 Kenny Roberts, (USA), Suzuki, 54:53.794
5 Max Biaggi, (Ita), Yamaha, 54:55.671
6 Alex Barros, (Bra), Honda, 54:57.026
7 Norick Abe, (Jap), Yamaha, 56:01.974
8 John Hopkins, (USA), Yamaha, 56:16.063
9 Jeremy McWilliams, (Gbr), Proton KR, 54:33.830
10 Tetsuya Harada, (Jap), Honda, 55:01.691

Overall standings (After 11 out of 16 races)

1 Rossi 245 points
2 Ukawa 156
3 Biaggi 144
4 Checa 116
5 Barros 105

250cc results:

1 Fonsi Nieto (Spa), Aprilia, 53mins 58.901secs
2 Marco Melandri (Ita), Aprilia, at 0.684secs
3 Sebastian Porto (Arg), Yamaha, at 7.342
4 Roberto Rolfo (Ita), Honda, at 23.576
5 Roberto Locatelli (Ita), Aprilia, at 49.234
6 Emilio Alzamora (Spa), Honda, at 1min 00.628secs
7 Leon Haslam (Gbr), Honda, at 1:36.634
8 David Checa (Spa), Aprilia, at 1:39.550
9 Dirk Heidolf (Ger), Aprilia, at 2:12.740
10 Hector Faubel (Spa), Aprilia, at 1 lap

World championship standings:

1 Marco Melandri (Ita) 215pts
2 Fonsi Nieto (Spa) 183
3 Roberto Rolfo (Ita) 140

125cc results:
1 Arnaud Vincent (Fra), Aprilia, 49min 05.300sec
2 Simone Sanna (Ita), Aprilia, at 0.867secs
3 Steve Jenkner (Ger), Aprilia, at 2.600
4 Pablo Nieto (Spa) at 48.520
5 Masao Azuma (Jpn), Honda, at 57.972
6 Lucio Cecchinello (Ita), Aprilia, at 1:10.035
7 Gino Borsoi (Ita), Aprilia, at 1:14.682
8 Mika Kallio (Fin), Honda, at 1:27.994
9 Thomas Luthi (Swi) Honda at 1:39.443
10 Daniel Pedrosa (Spa), Honda, at 1:50.519

World standings:

1 Arnaud Vincent (Fra) 194pts
2 Manuel Poggiali (Smr) 171
3 Daniel Pedrosa (Spa) 166

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