Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Kallio leads KTM 1-2 at Shanghai

Mika Kallio led home a KTM 1-2 with victory in the 250cc race of the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai on a drying track.

Kallio made his way up the order in the opening laps of the race, before taking the lead when early race leader Alvaro Bautista crashed at turn one while leading on lap nine.

Kallio, who had just taken second place from Hector Barbera before Bautista's crash, pulled away and was never headed.

Behind him, his KTM teammate Hiroshi Aoyama was also moving forwards, moving from fifth at the start of lap nine to second at the end of it, on his way to completing a 1-2 for the KTM team.

Yuki Takahashi looked set to take third place after passing Marco Simoncelli on lap 14. But on the last corner of the last lap he ran wide and slowed, dropping from third to seventh, handing the place to Mattia Pasini whose steady move up the order paid off with a podium finish.

Simoncelli finished fourth, ahead of Alex Debon and Hector Barbera, who after leading the race early, fell back as the laps wound down, eventually finishing in sixth place.

Bautista remounted after his crash on lap nine, finishing the race in the points in twelfth position, just over a minute behind Kallio.

CLASSIFIED: Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Mika Kallio KTM 48:12.217 2. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 3.238 3. Mattia Pasini Aprilia + 13.811 4. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 18.474 5. Alex Debon Aprilia + 21.066 6. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 25.158 7. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 29.990 8. R. Wilairot Honda + 39.871 9. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 48.344 10. Hector Faubel Aprilia + 55.470 11. R. Locatelli Gilera + 55.832 12. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia +1:00.442 13. Eugene Laverty Aprilia +1:00.732 14. Fabrizio Lai Gilera +1:36.975 15. D.T. Pradita Yamaha +1:37.080 16. Imre Toth Aprilia +1:45.018 17. Russell Gomez Aprilia +2:13.718 NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Rider Bike On lap Alex Baldolini Aprilia 14 Julian Simon KTM 5 Thomas Luthi Aprilia 5 Karel Abraham Aprilia 4 Lukas Pesek Aprilia 2 Manuel Poggiali Gilera 0 FASTEST LAP: Kallio, 2:15.834 on lap 19

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