Randy de Puniet
The MotoGP race was initially red flagged after a crash at the first corner, caused by Loris Capirossi's Ducati making contact with teammate Sete Gibernau's front brake lever. Six riders were involved; John Hopkins, Dani Pedrosa and Randy de Puniet were able to take the restart, while Gibernau, Capirossi and Marco Melandri were not. After the second start was aborted due to an issue with Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki on the grid, the grid reformed for a third time and the race was shortened from 25 laps to 24.