Buzzin MotoGP

Marco Simoncelli - Metis Gilera 2009

The Italian rider Marco Simoncelli, took the Metis Gilera across the line yesterday to win the 250cc Grand Prix ahead of Alex Debon on the Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens in second, taking his first podium of the season.

Simoncelli, had qualified in pole position in the wet and on a drying track dominated the 45-minute race .  The race was delayed when rain began as the riders lined-up on the grid but half-an-hour later it was all systems go.

The battle for third place was eventually taken by Alvaro Bautista on the Mapfre Aspar Team bike, setting a circuit lap record as he chased Debon but was unable to catch the Spaniard in the remaining time.

Hiroshi Aoyama on the Scot Racing Team bike, finished in fourth place ahead of Hector Barbera on the Pepe World Team machine in fifth and Hector Faubel on the Thai Honda PTT SAG bike in sixth.

Aleix Espargaro on the Balaton Racing Team 250cc, took seventh followed by Thomas Luthi on the Emmi-CaffeLatte machine in eighth, Raffaele De Rosa on the Scot Racing Team bike in ninth and Roberto Locatelli on the Metis Gilera completing the top ten.

At the start of the interrupted race, Ratthapark Wilairot on the  Thai Honda PTT SAG, was caught up in a crash with Alex Baldonlini on the WTR San Marino Team bike and Imre Toth on the Team Toth Aprilia, he was unable to rejoin for the restart.  Mattia Pasini, crashed the Team Toth Aprilia with only three laps remaining and retired from the race.

Here are the results;

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Rider             Bike     Time
 1.  Marco Simoncelli  Gilera   27m11.034s
 2.  Alex Debon        Aprilia  +   0.479s
 3.  Alvaro Bautista   Aprilia  +   0.528s
 4.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Honda    +   0.866s
 5.  Hector Barbera    Aprilia  +   1.260s
 6.  Hector Faubel     Honda    +   5.972s
 7.  Aleix Espargaro   Aprilia  +   8.721s
 8.  Thomas Luthi      Aprilia  +   8.762s
 9.  Raffaele De Rosa  Honda    +  19.176s
10.  R.Locatelli       Gilera   +  27.950s
11.  Alex Baldolini    Aprilia  +  29.601s
12.  Lukas Pesek       Aprilia  +  38.299s
13.  Shoya Tomizawa    Honda    +  51.940s
14.  Jules Cluzel      Aprilia  +  52.919s
15.  Bastien Chesaux   Honda    +1m06.786s
16.  Axel Pons         Aprilia  +1m20.573s
17.  Toby Markham      Aprilia  + 1 lap
18.  Imre Toth         Aprilia  + 1 lap
19.  Joakim Stensmo    Honda    + 2 laps
20.  Valentin Debise   Honda    + 4 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Rider             Bike      Laps
     Mattia Pasini     Aprilia    16
     Mike Di Meglio    Aprilia    16
     Karel Abraham     Aprilia     8
     Vladimir Leonov   Aprilia     0
     R.Wilairot        Honda      DNS

FASTEST LAP: Bautista, 1m24.552s on lap 19