Bushiee46
24-07-2007, 08:41
World champion Jorge Lorenzo stormed to his sixth win of the season in the 250cc Dutch TT at Assen, leading virtually from start to finish on his Fortuna Aprilia.
The 20-year-old Spaniard started from pole position and was never headed once he passed Andrea Dovizioso - who had made a better start - mid-way round the opening lap.
Alex de Angelis, up from seventh on the grid, made a good fight of it after passing the Scot Honda rider for second on lap five and narrowed Lorenzo's lead to under a second.
But as Lorenzo put his foot down the San Marinese rider could not stay with him and settled for second - 3.851 seconds behind - allowing the former to repeat his win in last year's race and take his 14th career victory.
"It thought it would be easier than it was," said Lorenzo. "But Alex has been riding so fast in the race, faster than I hoped he would.
"We have won though and in the sixth win we have looked great in the points considering what we lost at Donington. I have to be happy with that."
Behind the battle at the front the rest of the field became strung out early on. Alvaro Bautista was out to change all that though, passing Thomas Luthi - who was racing with a dislocated shoulder - for fourth place on lap five and setting about Dovizioso.
As ever the Italian was riding his Scot Honda as hard as it would go, but his lack of straightline speed made him a sitting duck for Bautista, who got by cleanly on lap 16 to join his Aspar Aprilia team-mate de Angelis on the podium.
As if that was not bad enough, Doviziso's fourth place meant his deficit to Lorenzo in the championship was increased from 11 points to 23 with de Angelis now level on points with him in second.
Luthi looked set to take a comfortable fifth but suddenly lost around two seconds of pace at mid-distance. After losing three places his Caffe Latte Aprilia gave up the ghost with six laps to go, forcing him out of the race.
That meant that fifth place would go to either Hiroshi Aoyama, Marco Simoncelli or Hector Barbera.
Gilera rider Simoncelli looked to have the battle won when he banged shoulders with Aoyama on the back straight but he had not bargained on the KTM rider being braver on the brakes at the final chicane.
The move gave Aoyama fifth from Simoncelli and Toth Aprilia rider Barbera. Mika Kallio followed them home on the second KTM but lost touch when he had a near-crash at the Hoge Heide when his left leg came away from the peg.
Roberto Locatelli was a hugely popular ninth on the second Gilera, with the Italian finishing in the top ten for the first time since having his feet re-attached after a qualifying crash at the Spanish Grand Prix in April.
And Yuki Takahashi completed the top ten for Scot Honda.
But he only secured the place on the final lap when Shuhei Aoyama's Repsol bike mysteriously slowed, dropping him to 13th in what was already a bad race for his team after Julian Simon earlier retired from the top ten through engine problems.
Irishman Eugene Laverty was lapped on his way to 21st on his LCR Honda but Britain's Dan Linfoot crashed out on lap 11 at the same de Bult corner that claimed his Sicilia Aprilia in qualifying
1 J Lorenzo (ESP) Spain's No1 00:00.000
2 A De Angelis (SMR) Master MVA Aspar Team 00:03.857
3 A Bautista (ESP) Master MVA Aspar Team 00:08.683
4 A Dovizioso (ITA) Humangest Racing Team 125cc 00:17.948
5 H Aoyama (JPN) KTM Red BUll 00:30.800
6 M Simoncelli (ITA) Gilera 00:31.135
7 H Barberá (ESP) Team Toth 00:33.323
8 M Kallio (FIN) KTM Red BUll 00:40.807
9 R Locatelli (ITA) Gilera 01:11.829
10 Y Takahashi (JPN) Humangest Racing Team 125cc 01:18.958
11 F Lai (ITA) Campetella Racing Aprilia 01:19.361
12 T Sekiguchi (JPN) Campetella Racing Aprilia 01:26.810
13 S Aoyama (JPN) Honda 01:26.850
14 R Wilairot (THA) Thai Honda PTT 01:28.717
15 K Abraham (CZE) AB Cardion Blauer 01:28.949
16 D Heidolf (DEU) Kiefer Castrol Honda 01:30.407
17 A Espargaro (ESP) Blusens Aprilia 01:33.812
18 E Vazquez (ESP) Blusens Aprilia 01:37.706
19 A Baldolini (ITA) Kiefer Castrol Honda 01:44.925
20 J Cluzel (FRA) Angaia Racing 01:47.373
The 20-year-old Spaniard started from pole position and was never headed once he passed Andrea Dovizioso - who had made a better start - mid-way round the opening lap.
Alex de Angelis, up from seventh on the grid, made a good fight of it after passing the Scot Honda rider for second on lap five and narrowed Lorenzo's lead to under a second.
But as Lorenzo put his foot down the San Marinese rider could not stay with him and settled for second - 3.851 seconds behind - allowing the former to repeat his win in last year's race and take his 14th career victory.
"It thought it would be easier than it was," said Lorenzo. "But Alex has been riding so fast in the race, faster than I hoped he would.
"We have won though and in the sixth win we have looked great in the points considering what we lost at Donington. I have to be happy with that."
Behind the battle at the front the rest of the field became strung out early on. Alvaro Bautista was out to change all that though, passing Thomas Luthi - who was racing with a dislocated shoulder - for fourth place on lap five and setting about Dovizioso.
As ever the Italian was riding his Scot Honda as hard as it would go, but his lack of straightline speed made him a sitting duck for Bautista, who got by cleanly on lap 16 to join his Aspar Aprilia team-mate de Angelis on the podium.
As if that was not bad enough, Doviziso's fourth place meant his deficit to Lorenzo in the championship was increased from 11 points to 23 with de Angelis now level on points with him in second.
Luthi looked set to take a comfortable fifth but suddenly lost around two seconds of pace at mid-distance. After losing three places his Caffe Latte Aprilia gave up the ghost with six laps to go, forcing him out of the race.
That meant that fifth place would go to either Hiroshi Aoyama, Marco Simoncelli or Hector Barbera.
Gilera rider Simoncelli looked to have the battle won when he banged shoulders with Aoyama on the back straight but he had not bargained on the KTM rider being braver on the brakes at the final chicane.
The move gave Aoyama fifth from Simoncelli and Toth Aprilia rider Barbera. Mika Kallio followed them home on the second KTM but lost touch when he had a near-crash at the Hoge Heide when his left leg came away from the peg.
Roberto Locatelli was a hugely popular ninth on the second Gilera, with the Italian finishing in the top ten for the first time since having his feet re-attached after a qualifying crash at the Spanish Grand Prix in April.
And Yuki Takahashi completed the top ten for Scot Honda.
But he only secured the place on the final lap when Shuhei Aoyama's Repsol bike mysteriously slowed, dropping him to 13th in what was already a bad race for his team after Julian Simon earlier retired from the top ten through engine problems.
Irishman Eugene Laverty was lapped on his way to 21st on his LCR Honda but Britain's Dan Linfoot crashed out on lap 11 at the same de Bult corner that claimed his Sicilia Aprilia in qualifying
1 J Lorenzo (ESP) Spain's No1 00:00.000
2 A De Angelis (SMR) Master MVA Aspar Team 00:03.857
3 A Bautista (ESP) Master MVA Aspar Team 00:08.683
4 A Dovizioso (ITA) Humangest Racing Team 125cc 00:17.948
5 H Aoyama (JPN) KTM Red BUll 00:30.800
6 M Simoncelli (ITA) Gilera 00:31.135
7 H Barberá (ESP) Team Toth 00:33.323
8 M Kallio (FIN) KTM Red BUll 00:40.807
9 R Locatelli (ITA) Gilera 01:11.829
10 Y Takahashi (JPN) Humangest Racing Team 125cc 01:18.958
11 F Lai (ITA) Campetella Racing Aprilia 01:19.361
12 T Sekiguchi (JPN) Campetella Racing Aprilia 01:26.810
13 S Aoyama (JPN) Honda 01:26.850
14 R Wilairot (THA) Thai Honda PTT 01:28.717
15 K Abraham (CZE) AB Cardion Blauer 01:28.949
16 D Heidolf (DEU) Kiefer Castrol Honda 01:30.407
17 A Espargaro (ESP) Blusens Aprilia 01:33.812
18 E Vazquez (ESP) Blusens Aprilia 01:37.706
19 A Baldolini (ITA) Kiefer Castrol Honda 01:44.925
20 J Cluzel (FRA) Angaia Racing 01:47.373