Melandri: I had nothing to lose.

Marco Melandri made history at Phillip Island on Sunday when he became the first rider to win a continuous MotoGP race using two different bikes!

The reason for Melandri's unique accomplishment was a combination of rain and the flag-to-flag racing rule, introduced at the beginning of last season, which states that dry races will no longer be stopped due to rain - but that riders instead have the option of pitting, under full racing conditions, and switching to a second bike fitted with a different specification of tyres (in this case full wets).

The rule was yet to be properly tested, with riders choosing to stay out on slicks in the previous rain interrupted races held since the start of 2005, but heavy rain just six laps into the Australian Grand Prix finally triggered the much anticipated bike swaps from the 19 rider field.

Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano had led the early stages of the race, but saw his advantage disappear after staying out one lap longer than his nearest competitors.

Meanwhile, Melandri had judged his race to perfection and - after the pitstops - began to pick up places with alarming speed as he lapped two seconds quicker than anyone else on track. Melandri took the lead from Ducati's Sete Gibernau on lap 16 of 26 and never looked back as he crossed the line nearly ten-seconds ahead of his nearest challenger.

The victory marked Melandri's third of the 2006 season, but was his first since sustaining a broken collarbone and other upper body injuries at the start of June's Catalan Grand Prix, which cost him valuable championship points.

"It was an incredible race and it came just at the right time for me. To win at Phillip Island, the track where I won the 250 title, in whatever conditions is an incredible feeling," stated Marco. "It was so difficult, but I had nothing to lose in the championship which perhaps gave me the room to try things.

"I made a good start and got into third position on the first lap. It then started to rain and so I had to ride with care. When it started falling harder I came into the pit-lane to change the bike. It was a strange situation, like when you play on the playstation, because there were a lot of people in the pit-lane and it was hard to get to your own box.

"Back on the track I had to ride without 'forcing' because it was hard to keep the feeling in slippery conditions. When I started to feel comfortable and increased the pace I was able to get past Vermeulen and Gibernau. When I saw that there were 11 laps to go after I took the lead I knew that I just had to keep riding smoothly. It's been... not easy but good fun. The bike and the Michelin tyres worked very well and it helped that I know the circuit so well fro winter testing."

The Fortuna Honda rider's Phillip Island victory, the 24-year-old's fifth in the premier-class, has put him equal third in the points with Dani Pedrosa, 32 behind leader Nicky Hayden with three rounds and 75 points to go.