Yamaha's Valentino Rossi consolidated his MotoGP championship lead yesterday by cruising to his seventh consecutive Italian Grand Prix win.

Italian Rossi, winner of the preceding races in France and China, recovered from a sluggish start from pole to take the lead within four laps.

The five-time premium class world champion, donning a fancy helmet with his own face on top, never let it go and finished over two seconds ahead of Australian world champion Casey Stoner on a Ducati.

"It was a really great race," he told Mediaset television. "I've won nine times (in my career) at Mugello, seven times consecutively in MotoGP. Beautiful. I do pretty well at this track."

After six races, Rossi has 122 points, 12 more than Spain's Dani Pedrosa, who came in third on a Honda.

Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo of Spain, who is third in the standings, slid off in the first half of the race.

"We've laid down some good foundations, we've improved step by step," added Rossi. "The championship is long and we have to stay up there until the end. I'm in form, but above all the bike and the tires are going well."

San Marino's Alex de Angelis, also on a Honda, did well to finish fourth yesterday after starting on the fourth row of the grid.

The Yamahas of American Colin Edwards and Britain's James Toseland were fifth and sixth, respectively.

Earlier yesterday, Marco Simoncelli notched his first 250cc win after Spain's Hector Barbera bumped into the back of the Italian's Gilera during a duel at the end of the penultimate lap.

Finnish KTM rider Mika Kallio extended his championship lead by finishing fourth in a race in which Barbera's compatriot Alvaro Bautista crashed out early on when leading.

Simone Corsi completed a clean sweep by home riders by bringing his Aprilia home just ahead of Hungary's reigning champion Gabor Talmacsi and Spain's Pol Espargaro in the 125cc race to go top of the standings.

Corsi and Frenchman Mike di Meglio, who came fourth, both have 87 points but the Italian heads the table on race wins after finishing top of the podium for the third time this season.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily June 2, 2008)