Carlos Checa, despite not being at his best due to a fever. On Sunday, Checa overtook Gibernau at the start and led from the opening lap until lap twelve, when Gibernau passed Checa after he ran slightly wide on a long right-hander. He then pulled a 0.800 second gap to Checa, who was coming under pressure from Max Biaggi as he closed in with ten laps to go. Gibernau never came under threat from Checa and crossed the line +1.671 clear to score his second win of the season. In the next three races, Gibernau would narrowly miss out on the victory three consecutive times when Rossi beat him on the final lap. In Italy, Gibernau took his second consecutive pole position on Saturday, beating Nicky Hayden with 0.369 seconds. On Sunday, the race was red-flagged after seventeen laps due to rain. Before the race was red-flagged, the battle for first place was going on between Rossi, Makoto Tamada, Gibernau and Biaggi. The race was later restarted for the remaining six laps, with the grid determined by the running order before the suspension. With the track drying, but with substantial rain at turn one, Rossi had built up a one-second lead over Gibernau heading into the last lap, and though Gibernau tried to close the gap, he could not prevent Rossi from winning the race 0.361 seconds ahead. In Catalunya, Gibernau took his third consecutive pole on Saturday, 0.363 seconds ahead of Rossi. On Sunday, Gibernau started off well and led for much of the race, but couldn't prevent a hard-charging Rossi - whose Yamaha had less tyre and grip problems than Gibernau's Honda - from taking first place with two laps to go to win the race with a narrow 0.159 second margin. Rossi's win meant that he had reduced his gap with Gibernau to only five points in the standings. In the Netherlands, Gibernau missed another potential pole position when his clutch broke on his final qualifying run and he couldn't fully open the throttle on Saturday, gifting pole to Rossi instead by 0.682 seconds. On Sunday, Gibernau and Rossi dominated the top positions after briefly disposing of a well-starting Carlos Checa until lap ten, when Alex Barros Repsol Honda caught the pair and surprised Rossi by overtaking him on the start/finish straight, only to fall a lap later when an apparent mechanical failure locked up his rear