Bushiee46
24-07-2007, 08:43
Hiroshi Aoyama put a stunning move on Alex de Angelis to claim his first win of the season in the 250cc German Grand Prix and head the KTM team's first one-two finish as Mika Kallio overtook the San Marinese rider at the final corner.
The victory delighted the 25-year-old Japanese rider, for whom the triumph was his first since his home race last year and the fourth of his career.
"It's almost one year since my last win so I am so proud of this result," said Aoyama. "It's been such a hard season because I had an injury early on but since Donington everything's come together.
"Yesterday and today I had a good feeling but today it was even better. I chose the hardest tyres we had available and it was good. It gave me an advantage right to the end."
Nobody had any idea of what was to follow as front-row starter Andrea Dovizioso made the best start of all to lead from pole-sitter Kallio, de Angelis and Aoyama.
It was Aspar Aprilia rider de Angelis who looked in no mood to sit back though as he took advantage of a mistake at the final corner by Scot Honda rider Dovizioso to nip into the lead at the end of the fourth lap.
He then cleared off into the distance, building a one-second lead over the Italian and holding it until beyond the half-distance point as the battle for second became extremely heated.
Kallio and Aoyama both briefly relieved Dovizioso of his position at turn one, but both were felled in their attempts to hang on by the late braking of Hector Barbera, who tried on five successive laps to make a do-or-die move at the turn.
Each time though the Toth Aprilia rider slid wide, usually taking somebody else with him. It was to prove costly as his front tyre died on him, leaving him a sitting duck for world champion Jorge Lorenzo on lap 21.
Lorenzo had made a bad start after starting fourth but made it back to that position by the end of the race, passing Dovizioso for the place with two laps remaining.
By that time though the front three had gone clear, or at least as clear as half a second can be, with Aoyama right on the tail of de Angelis and coping better with his hard Bridgestones than de Angelis was on his softs.
Aoyama eventually put a do-or-die move on de Angelis at the bottom of the hill halfway round the last lap and just hung on to win by 0.119 seconds.
In his attempt to grab victory at the last corner de Angelis ran wide and let Kallio though to claim the best finish of his career, making him the first Finn to stand on a 250cc podium since Penti Kohronen at the 1976 Italian Grand Prix.
De Angelis' result saw him take a clear second place in the championship and reduce the deficit to leader Lorenzo from 23 points to 20 after the Fortuna Aprilia rider took fourth.
Dovizioso faded to fifth with Barbera a lonely sixth. Marco Simoncelli and Yuki Takahashi were seventh and eighth for Gilera and Scot Honda.
Thomas Luthi and Roberto Locatelli completed the top ten for Caffe Latte Aprilia and Gilera.
Julian Simon threw away an easy top-six finish when he crashed out at half-distance on his Repsol Honda after colliding with a backmarker, while Alvaro Bautista ended his miserable weekend in the gravel on lap three.
British interest ended on lap 11 when Dan Linfoot crashed his Sicilia Aprilia out at the Omega while Irishman Eugene Laverty's race ended in the gravel at the same spot as Bautista on lap 20.
1 H Aoyama (JPN) KTM Red BUll 41:16.191
2 M Kallio (FIN) KTM Red BUll 41:16.310
3 A De Angelis (SMR) Master MVA Aspar Team 41:16.465
4 J Lorenzo (ESP) Spain's No1 41:16.770
5 A Dovizioso (ITA) Humangest Racing Team 125cc 41:17.487
6 H Barberá (ESP) Team Toth 41:28.042
7 M Simoncelli (ITA) Gilera 41:33.499
8 Y Takahashi (JPN) Humangest Racing Team 125cc 41:38.500
9 T Luthi (CHE) Emmi Caffè Latte 41:45.049
10 R Locatelli (ITA) Gilera 41:52.174
11 A Espargaro (ESP) Blusens Aprilia 41:53.568
12 S Aoyama (JPN) Honda 41:58.402
13 D Heidolf (DEU) Kiefer Castrol Honda 42:07.286
14 A Baldolini (ITA) Kiefer Castrol Honda 42:09.607
15 J Cluzel (FRA) Angaia Racing 42:12.187
16 T Sekiguchi (JPN) Campetella Racing Aprilia 42:12.296
17 A Bautista (ESP) Master MVA Aspar Team 42:23.626
18 F Lai (ITA) Campetella Racing Aprilia 42:25.919
19 R Wilairot (THA) Thai Honda PTT 42:33.831
The victory delighted the 25-year-old Japanese rider, for whom the triumph was his first since his home race last year and the fourth of his career.
"It's almost one year since my last win so I am so proud of this result," said Aoyama. "It's been such a hard season because I had an injury early on but since Donington everything's come together.
"Yesterday and today I had a good feeling but today it was even better. I chose the hardest tyres we had available and it was good. It gave me an advantage right to the end."
Nobody had any idea of what was to follow as front-row starter Andrea Dovizioso made the best start of all to lead from pole-sitter Kallio, de Angelis and Aoyama.
It was Aspar Aprilia rider de Angelis who looked in no mood to sit back though as he took advantage of a mistake at the final corner by Scot Honda rider Dovizioso to nip into the lead at the end of the fourth lap.
He then cleared off into the distance, building a one-second lead over the Italian and holding it until beyond the half-distance point as the battle for second became extremely heated.
Kallio and Aoyama both briefly relieved Dovizioso of his position at turn one, but both were felled in their attempts to hang on by the late braking of Hector Barbera, who tried on five successive laps to make a do-or-die move at the turn.
Each time though the Toth Aprilia rider slid wide, usually taking somebody else with him. It was to prove costly as his front tyre died on him, leaving him a sitting duck for world champion Jorge Lorenzo on lap 21.
Lorenzo had made a bad start after starting fourth but made it back to that position by the end of the race, passing Dovizioso for the place with two laps remaining.
By that time though the front three had gone clear, or at least as clear as half a second can be, with Aoyama right on the tail of de Angelis and coping better with his hard Bridgestones than de Angelis was on his softs.
Aoyama eventually put a do-or-die move on de Angelis at the bottom of the hill halfway round the last lap and just hung on to win by 0.119 seconds.
In his attempt to grab victory at the last corner de Angelis ran wide and let Kallio though to claim the best finish of his career, making him the first Finn to stand on a 250cc podium since Penti Kohronen at the 1976 Italian Grand Prix.
De Angelis' result saw him take a clear second place in the championship and reduce the deficit to leader Lorenzo from 23 points to 20 after the Fortuna Aprilia rider took fourth.
Dovizioso faded to fifth with Barbera a lonely sixth. Marco Simoncelli and Yuki Takahashi were seventh and eighth for Gilera and Scot Honda.
Thomas Luthi and Roberto Locatelli completed the top ten for Caffe Latte Aprilia and Gilera.
Julian Simon threw away an easy top-six finish when he crashed out at half-distance on his Repsol Honda after colliding with a backmarker, while Alvaro Bautista ended his miserable weekend in the gravel on lap three.
British interest ended on lap 11 when Dan Linfoot crashed his Sicilia Aprilia out at the Omega while Irishman Eugene Laverty's race ended in the gravel at the same spot as Bautista on lap 20.
1 H Aoyama (JPN) KTM Red BUll 41:16.191
2 M Kallio (FIN) KTM Red BUll 41:16.310
3 A De Angelis (SMR) Master MVA Aspar Team 41:16.465
4 J Lorenzo (ESP) Spain's No1 41:16.770
5 A Dovizioso (ITA) Humangest Racing Team 125cc 41:17.487
6 H Barberá (ESP) Team Toth 41:28.042
7 M Simoncelli (ITA) Gilera 41:33.499
8 Y Takahashi (JPN) Humangest Racing Team 125cc 41:38.500
9 T Luthi (CHE) Emmi Caffè Latte 41:45.049
10 R Locatelli (ITA) Gilera 41:52.174
11 A Espargaro (ESP) Blusens Aprilia 41:53.568
12 S Aoyama (JPN) Honda 41:58.402
13 D Heidolf (DEU) Kiefer Castrol Honda 42:07.286
14 A Baldolini (ITA) Kiefer Castrol Honda 42:09.607
15 J Cluzel (FRA) Angaia Racing 42:12.187
16 T Sekiguchi (JPN) Campetella Racing Aprilia 42:12.296
17 A Bautista (ESP) Master MVA Aspar Team 42:23.626
18 F Lai (ITA) Campetella Racing Aprilia 42:25.919
19 R Wilairot (THA) Thai Honda PTT 42:33.831