MotoGP – The Grand Prix of San Marino 250 lap by lap –

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The Grand Prix of San Marino 250 lap by lap

MotoGP - The Grand Prix of San Marino 250 lap by lap -

On his land, Marco Simoncelli wants to be intractable … But in his wake, ready to do anything to regain him points in the championship, Bautista, Kallio and especially the fiery Barbera are determined to thwart his plans ! Round by round.

Currently leading the championship, Marco Simoncelli starts the weekend with the provisional pole on Friday afternoon in front of his home crowd! The Italian dominated Barbera, Luthi, Aoyama, Takahashi, Simon and especially Kallio who does not appear at best on the Misano track !

Zoom on …

The Poggiali judgment, 125 world champion in 2001, then 250 in 2003, Manuel Poggiali – unsurprisingly – decided with his team to retire: "Time passes, life gives us other motivations and new goals present themselves. What I have achieved as a pilot is fantastic and I really enjoyed it. But now I have to focus on other things, the first of them being the birth of my son".

But it is still too early to slash the champagne for Simoncelli and his team: the next morning Barbera is extremely threatening and takes pole position at the end of the qualifying session in the afternoon! For 0.077 seconds behind his rival, Marco Simoncelli will start from second place on the grid, just ahead of Aleix Espargaro, Yuki Takahashi, Aoyama, Luthi, Simon and Faubel. Rimini driver Mattia Pasini opens the third row ahead of Kallio, Bautista and previous race winner Alex Debon.

The race !

departure : Yuki Takahashi surprises everyone and enters the first corner in the lead! Behind him, Hector Barbera and Simoncelli are already starting to explain themselves before Espargaro, Aoyama, Bautista, Luthi, Simon and Locatelli.

In quick succession, Barbera and Simoncelli pass the unfortunate Takahashi who pays for the stoppage of the development of his Honda by a cruel lack of acceleration out of a curve. Aleix Espargaro also took the opportunity to overtake the Japanese thanks to a clean and flawless interior and here is the author of the hole shot relegated to fifth position in a few sequences. !

2nd round : Hector Barbera takes the lead in the timing unit, followed like his shadow by championship leader Marco Simoncelli. The two men largely precede Espargaro, Takahashi, Aoyama, Bautista, Luthi, Simon and Mika Kallio. The local of the event, the San Marinese Mattia Pasini appears only in 11th position.

Alvaro Bautista made a good comeback from his 11th place on the grid and the n ° 19 was particularly swift: he passed Aoyama at the entrance of the last chicane with impressive ease and was now fifth. !

3rd round : Barbera and Simoncelli are still wheel to wheel, while Takahashi got back the best from Espargaro. Taking advantage of the aspiration, the two official KTMs pass the Aprilia de Bautista and relegate the Spanish to seventh place just ahead of Luthi !

Surprising his world Takahashi returns to the leading men with his Honda, while Simoncelli seeks the opening on Barbera. Alex Debon is the victim of a violent high side during re-acceleration and Hector Faubel cannot avoid the machine which slips on the track and falls in turn! In the maneuver Thomas Luthi lost many places to avoid the crash. Fortunately the pilots get up unscathed.

Yuki Takahashi swerves in the short straight line of the circuit and passes Simoncelli from the inside on the looming left curve! Too greedy, the Japanese widens at the end of the curve and the Italian immediately resumes its place !

The latter attacked Barbera and passed him in the last corners of the Italian layout! Big disappointment in the KTM clan after the retirement of Krumenacher in 125: Mika Kallio hits the back of his own teammate’s bike driving the two official abandoned KTMs! The Finn thus losing contact with Simoncelli in the championship a little more !

4th, 5th and 6th rounds : The n ° 58 starts the loop in front of Barbera, Takahashi, Espargaro and Mattia Pasini, author of the fastest lap in the race! Marco Simoncelli slammed an extremely fast time to try to get rid of the threat of his opponents. Pasini and Bautista come back hard on Espargaro and the junction should be done before the end of this lap. Barbera attacks and passes the leader who fights at the next chicane to take the lead again! Contact between the two motorcycles is inevitable, but the two riders remain on their wheels under the greedy eyes of Yuki Takahashi who has come dangerously close to the two riders. !

7th round : Mattia Pasini passed Espargaro on braking from the pit straight line and took fourth place behind Takahashi, Barbera and Simoncelli. Just before the last chicane of the circuit, Hector Barbera attacks the leading man: he tries to go through the interior, but he kept too much speed and misses his point, leaving Simoncelli who does not want to give up anything. in artificial turf !

Yuki Takahashi took the opportunity immediately to take the lead in the race and the Japanese tried to widen a slight gap on the two pilots who offered him the leadership of the event on a plateau !

8th round : Alvaro Bautista taxes Espargaro on braking the straight line of the pits, while Pasini infiltrates under the wheels of Simoncelli! The two men quickly reconnect with Hector Barbera who is struggling to try to get back on Takahashi !

The Spaniard takes advantage of the power of his Aprilia to take the Japanese’s aspiration and the n ° 21 passes the Honda under braking! Mattia Pasini and Marco Simoncelli do not miss a beat just behind, preceding Bautista, Espargaro, Simon, Locatelli and Luthi.

Hector Barbera misses again in the entry of a chicane and his maneuver hinders Takahashi, but especially benefits Pasini who overtakes the two drivers from the inside! Simoncelli in turn passes Takahashi and points in the seat back of his rival, Hector Barbera.

9th, 10th, 11th and 12th laps : Mattia Pasini tackles this round in the lead with Barbera, Simoncelli, Takahashi, Bautista, Espargaro and Simon and Luthi on her trail! Simon passes Debon’s teammate thanks to a daring interior in a fast right, but the pilot cannot keep the point of rope and Alex Espargaro easily returns !

After too long a commercial break, the leading order has changed considerably: Hector Barbera is now in the lead ahead of Marco Simoncelli after having caused the downfall of the native child, Mattia Pasini! Six km from his home, the Italian driver is quite manly dispossessed of a possible victory and sure that Barbera’s maneuver must leave him with a bitter taste! Simoncelli takes the lead again at the start of the thirteenth round following a further gap by Barbera.

13th round : The Italian crosses the finish line in a leading position to the cheers of an audience which is entirely dedicated to him! Hector Barbera, however, remains very dangerous and the aggressiveness deployed in overtaking several times at the limit of sportiness, augurs a torrid final !

Takahashi and Bautista put together the leading men who continue to explain themselves with the manner: Barbera taxes Simoncelli, but he passes it again with authority at the start of a rapid left! This time, it’s Barbera’s turn to slightly raise her motorcycle to avoid the collision! This does not prevent the Spaniard from taking better care of his exit and regaining the advantage over his rival from the next corner. !

14th round : Hector Barbera contains Simoncelli, while Bautista gets the best of Takahashi. Aleix Espargaro appears clearly behind the group of four. Marco Simoncelli tries another attack on Barbera and passes him cleanly through the inside in a tight right.

But the n ° 21 does not hear it that way, goes up to his opponent and cuts him off from the chicane! It’s getting hotter between the two pilots !

15th and 16th rounds : Alvaro Bautista is more and more threatening on Simoncelli, himself very busy finding the opening on this damn Barbera! Yuki Takahashi struggles to keep up, but manages to keep in touch to take advantage – why not – of a possible racing event! Espargaro and Simon are more than three seconds behind, leading Roberto Locatelli and Thomas Luthi.

Marco Simoncelli once again overtakes Hector Barbera at the start of a quick left and we feel that the Italian was drawing on the reserves of his Gilera to keep his course during the overtaking. !

17th and 18th laps : Marco Simoncelli has widened a slight gap on Barbera, but he reacts and comes back to contact! Bautista takes advantage of a gap from Barbera to steal second place, while Thomas Luthi is the victim of a passage through the synthetic turf beyond the vibrators: the Swiss rider does not fall, but loses a lot of time.

Alvaro Bautista doubles Simoncelli thanks to a stretch before the last chicane and here is the former world champion 125 at the head of this GP of San Marino !

19th, 20th and 21st laps : The four leading drivers are held in a handkerchief, while Aleix Espargaro is forced to return to the pits, visibly plagued by mechanical problems.

The leading order does not change: Simoncelli is looking for the loophole in Bautista, but the Italian remains behind the Spaniard for the moment. Tired for n ° 58, Hector Barbera chose this moment to retry an attack completely doomed to failure and the Spanish rushed straight on the Italian at a breathtaking speed entering the curve !

Marco Simoncelli is forced to leave the track and fortunately he manages to control his bike (and his rage!) And get back on the track next to his opponent! Yuki Takahashi naturally takes the opportunity to pass the two rivals and here is the Japanese second in this crazy GP supplement! Just before the last chicane, Simoncelli throws his Gilera under the wheels of Barbera who lifts up slightly to let his opponent pass! The tension between the two drivers since the crash of Mugello must now be at its peak !

22nd round : Marco Simoncelli must give way again to a decidedly very motivated Barbera, but the Italian retorts from the next turn and it is his turn to touch his rival’s Aprilia and push him completely outside the turn ! Hector Barbera does not fall and immediately sets off again on coal, but it is likely that with such maneuvers the two pilots will be summoned by the safety commission to order them to a little restraint !

But the Italian will not benefit for long from his muscular overtaking: the Gilera n ° 58 appears in the gravel, but the pilot has clung to the handlebars throughout his slide and can set off again without delay in the wake of Julian Simon who fifth point !

23rd round : Alvaro Bautista heads for victory with Yuki Takahashi in his wake and a little further Hector Barbera. At 34, Roberto Locatelli points to a very good fourth place, ahead of Simon and Simoncelli. Thomas Luthi is seventh ahead of Wilairot.

Last round : Bautista started the last lap with a comfortable lead over Yuki Takahashi, while Locatelli came back slightly on Barbera. The n ° 19 obtains his fifth victory in 250, ahead of Takahashi, Barbera, Locatelli, Simon, Simoncelli, Luthi, Wilairot, Pesek, Abraham, Lai, Sandi and Hernandez.

In the general classification, Bautista of course took advantage of this victory, but the Spaniard was still 27 points behind leader Marco Simoncelli. On the other hand, the fall of Kallio allows the driver of Aspar Martinez to come back to only one point of the Finnish with five races of the end of the season. Hector Barbera is in fourth place ahead of Debon, Pasini, Takahashi, Aoyama, Luthi and Simon.

They are explained:

Alvaro Bautista (1st) : "It was the toughest weekend of the year so I’m very happy with my victory in this heat and after a tough battle. Saturday and Friday I couldn’t be very fast and I lacked feeling in the turns. I thought it was going to be a tough race. My team worked hard during the warm-up. I had a lot of fun on the track. I knew the race would be complicated because I was starting from a distance, so I attacked. I had some braking problems at the start, but I was able to catch up with the leading group. After the collision between Hector and Marco, the race was much easier. Thank you all".

Yuki Takahashi (2nd) : "It was a tough race. I gave it my all because I knew the others were very fast, and I had to be careful with them. When Barbera and Simoncelli were fighting against each other, I concentrated more and that allowed me to reach this second place".

Hector Barbera (3rd) : "It was a strange race. At first, with the tank full, I had some problems at the front. I had a fight with Marco and we lost a lot of time because of the many passes. I also had issues with the rear tire and the race was very physical".

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR

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