Assen MotoGP: Alvaro Bautista wins 250 race

Alvaro Bautista has won his second 250GP of the season, and his first from pole in Assen this morning after catching early leader Thomas Luthi.

The threat of rain did fall and slowed the riders down, but it was not enough to be a safety concern and so the riders were able to battle it out for themselves on track.

Marco Simoncelli took the final podium spot in third six seconds behind second placed Luthi.

The race was slightly delayed at the start after another downpour hit the Assen circuit, but all the riders were happy enough to head out on slick tyres once the race did start.

Marco Simoncelli took the initial lead but lost out in the first corner mêlée as Alex Debon slotted into the lead and Simoncelli was pushed down to 12th.

Russel Gomez crashed out on the second corner as his team-mate Ireland’s Eugene Laverty was in 19th place.

By the end of lap two it was Thomas Luthi out in the lead and had gained a two second lead on second placed Debon. Donington Park winner Mika Kallio was on a mission after a bad start from ninth to get through for the final podium spot by lap three, but his third spot didn’t last for long as pole man Alvaro Bautista had other ideas.

Bautista was then gaining on second placed Debon and by lap six he was past the Lotus Aprilia rider. Up front Luthi was now 3.195secs in the lead. On lap eight Bautista set the fastest lap of the race so far with a 1:40.631 while the gap to Luthi in the lead was down to 2.070secs.

With Bautista taking another chunk out of the fastest lap with a 1:40.485, he pulled more time out of Emmi Caffe Late Aprilia man Luthi’s lead, and it now sat at 1.420secs.

Mattia Pasini retired with mechanical problems on lap 11, as second placed Alvaro Bautista was once again taking chunks out of Luthi’s lead with the gap down to 0.407secs as the Spaniard continued to post fastest laps with a new best time of 1:40.340.

Bautista made his move and took the lead on lap 13 and immediately created a gap on his Mapfre Aspar Aprilia.

Hector Barbera, trying to take third from Alex Debon, ran wide as he attempted to pass the Spaniard, ran off track and almost took out Kallio as he re-joined.

On lap 15 the times were visibly slowing as spots of rain began to drop on the riders’ visors but as the race directors had deemed it a wet race it would not be stopped as the 125GP was unless there was a serious safety issues.

Out front though Luthi had retaken the lead from Bautista and the pair continued to battle for the lead as Bautista was ahead again on lap 19.

The battle for third was also hotting up as Alex Debon got the better of the KTM pairing of Mika Kallio and Hiroshi Aoyama to move into fourth and was now chasing down Marco Simoncelli.

And Bautista held on to take his second victory of the season, his first from pole of his 250cc career 4.597secs ahead of second placed Thomas Luthi. Debon did not manage to make it an all Aprilia podium as Simoncelli held on to take the final podium spot on his Metis Gilera.

Ireland’s Eugene Laverty finished one place outside of the points in 16th.

Assen MotoGP 250 race results:

1 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 40’54.117
2 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi – Caffe Latte APRILIA 40’58.714
3 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 41’00.120
4 Alex DEBON SPA Lotus Aprilia APRILIA 41’03.151
5 Hector BARBERA SPA Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 41’03.196
6 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 41’05.632
7 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 41’06.991
8 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN JiR Team Scot 250 HONDA 41’07.739
9 Roberto LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 41’15.285
10 Julian SIMON SPA Repsol KTM 250cc KTM 41’22.906
11 Hector FAUBEL SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 41’31.724
12 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT SAG HONDA 41’31.858
13 Fabrizio LAI ITA Campetella Racing GILERA 41’32.846
14 Alex BALDOLINI ITA Matteoni Racing APRILIA 41’33.282
15 Lukas PESEK CZE Auto Kelly – CP APRILIA 41’37.154
16 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 41’48.288
17 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Lotus Aprilia APRILIA 41’48.451
18 Frederik WATZ SWE Jaap Kingma Racing APRILIA 42’18.547
19 Doni Tata PRADITA INA Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia YAMAHA 41’22.050
20 Imre TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 41’50.516