Alex Bar💫ros believes that two incidents beyond his control prevented him from taking the fight to race winner Sete Gibernau at Qatar on Satur๊day.

The Brazilian had qualified second behind Gibernau, but slipped to fifth at the end of the first lap - a position he held until rammed by Valentino Rossi as the Italian a🌌ttempted a clumsy pass on lap 4 of 22.

The impact, forജ which Rossi instantly apologised, forced Alex to run wide, but he recovered quickly... only to become a victim of Shinya Nakano's exploding Kawasaki later on the same lap.

The 33-year-old lost the front of his factory spec RCV on oil and this time couldn't keep his machine on the already slippery asphalt. ꦇBarros rejoined the race in 18th and courageously fought his way all the way up to fourth at the chequered flag.

"Really disappointed," sighed Barros afterwards. "I got a bad start an꧒d I s♋aw Sete and Checa pulling away so I know I need to catch-up. I pass Xaus and then Valentino touched me and knocked me off line.

"I go in the dirty section of the track and come back a few places later. Then I see the Kawasaki smoking and I am righ💜t behind. I brake and I feel the front go so I just run off the track and come back in nearly last place I think.

"I then have to recover everything and we start the race again. I know I had a chance to fig🦹ht with Sete today. We had a great opportunity and we missed the opportunity. The machine felt good and I need to look positively forward. I need to win. I want a victory. We have thre꧑e races left this year," he concluded.

Repsol Honda𝔍 team-mate Nicky Hayden finished fifth.