MotoGP – The ogre of Tavullia devours his 100th success in Assen! – GP 250: Fantastic Aoyama!

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The ogre of Tavullia devours its 100th success in Assen !

MotoGP - The ogre of Tavullia devours his 100th success in Assen! - GP 250: Fantastic Aoyama!

At 30, Valentino Rossi seems to have retained the same motivation as when he started in 1996: yesterday at the Assen Grand Prix, the Italian genius took pole, the fastest lap in the race and above all his 100th victory, all categories combined…. Respect !

GP 250: Fantastic Aoyama !

While Bautista or Simoncelli started favorites to set the best time of this seventh meeting of the season, it was finally Hector Barbera who took his second consecutive pole on Friday afternoon with a time of 1,40,019 !

The hot Barbera is less than two tenths of a second ahead of Japanese Hiroshi Aoyama, championship leader Alvaro Bautista and future Honda-Gresini MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli. Spaniard Aleix Espargaro takes the lead in the second row ahead of more experienced drivers like Alex Debon, Raffaele de Rosa and Mattia Pasini.

Teammate of Bautista, Mike di Meglio continues his acclimatization to his new official RSA and signs the ninth fastest time. His compatriot Jules Cluzel will start from 17th position following a fall that caused a second fracture to the collarbone of the Montluçonnais: if the courageous n ° 16 will be able to start the race, he will have to grit his teeth and brave the pain on the selective Assen route…

The race : While the thermometer indicates a timid 22 ° C and the skies are still loaded, it is the poleman Hector Barbera who has the best start ahead of Espargaro, Simoncelli, Debon and Aoyama. Very quickly, the reigning world champion goes on the attack on Espargaro and crunches Barbera in the process! Obviously, Marco Simoncelli is looking to escape in order to manage his race and try to catch up with his penalizing three white results…

But his loyal rival obviously does not hear it that way: Alvaro Bautista quietly nibbles places and here he is already in the exhausts of a Barbera slightly taken down by Simoncelli’s Gilera! The n ° 19 quickly manages to take the measure of Hector Barbera who finds himself under the threat of a Mike di Meglio visibly in great shape !

Already cruelly diminished by his collarbone broken twice since the start of the season (!) Jules Cluzel goes to the mat, but gets up visibly unharmed. The sole French representative now, Mike di Meglio must let Hiroshi Aoyama pass, who does not hesitate to manhandle his Honda to come back in contact with the three Italians who precede him !

While Simoncelli takes advantage of the fight between Barbera, Bautista and Aoyama to widen a slight gap, Mike di Meglio gradually loses contact on the four men: suddenly unable to keep pace with the lead, the Toulouse player accuses more than four seconds of delay on a Hector Barbera relegated to fourth place following the incessant passes of arms opposing him to Aoyama and Bautista !

Wheels in wheels with less than ten laps from the finish, Simoncelli, Bautista and Aoyama explain themselves on the superb Dutch track: Alvaro Bautista overtakes the Italian, immediately imitated by the Japanese and his Honda! Simoncelli does not seem (no longer?) In a position to retort: ​​would his choice of tire (soft at the front) be detrimental at the end of the race ?

Winded up like a clock, Hiroshi Aoyama hoists his Honda alongside Bautista’s official Aprilia and taxes him in front of Simoncelli! Far behind and visibly in difficulty, Mike di Meglio loses three places at once and turns in increasingly worrying times…

Several lengths behind the leaders, Hector Barbera and Marco Simoncelli cling to the edge of the penultimate chicane, forcing the Italian to straighten up and pass briefly into the artificial turf! But the contacts did not stop there during this end of the race with twists and turns: at the start of the last chicane, Alvaro Bautista confused speed and precipitation and violently collided with Hiroshi Aoyama’s machine at the change of angle which caused the ‘entails in an impressive cabriole !

The Japanese only have to unroll the last lap in the lead – the mudguard and exhaust twisted in the maneuver! – in order to sign his second victory of the season which propels him to the top of the championship !

The Honda rider precedes Hector Barbera and Marco Simoncelli – who takes points from the unfortunate Bautista in the operation – Aleix Espargaro, Roberto Locatelli and Alex Debon. Mike di Meglio only finished eleventh after a superb half of the race, betrayed by a rear tire that the Toulouse driver will judge as "certainly defective"at the end of the race.

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