The 32-year-old Spaniard scored a dominant maiden win at a wet/dry Le Mans earlier this season, but this must have surely have been a more satisfying experience, having battled it out with championship leader Marco Simoncelli and Aspar Aprilia rider Alvaro Bautista throughout to come out on top.
Simoncelli took the lead from pole, but Swiss rider Thomas Luthi made a fabulous start from fifth to rocket into second, ahead of Debon, and immediately began to apply pressure.
That's how it stayed in the opening laps, with Luthi almost taking the lead a couple of times as all the while Bautista methodically began to work his way through the field from tenth on the grid.
Luthi crashed his Aprilia entering the stadium section on lap four and this immediately changed the complexion of the race as his absence gave Debon a clear target to focus on - the back of Simoncelli's Gilera.
Behind them, erstwhile championship leader Mika Kallio was already having to defend third position from the flying Bautista, with Hector Barbera keeping a watching brief further back in fifth.
Debon moved into the lead for the first time on lap seven but it lasted just three laps before Simoncelli forced his way back through, as seconds later Bautista elbowed his way ahead of Kallio.
Very quickly the leading duo became a leading trio and the race lit up. Debon continued to lead at the front, while arch rivals Simoncelli and Bautista began trading second place in aggressive fashion.
This continued until three laps from the end when Debon left a small gap coming into the stadium section and Simoncelli pounced into the lead.
Debon reacted immediately, leaving Simoncelli no space to breath, all the while Bautista raged behind them. Meanwhile Barbera had passed Kallio and closed on this battle to make it a two-lap, four-way dice.
But the order remained the same until the final two corners, despite Bautista's best efforts, when Debon dove for the inside of Simoncelli on the final left-right before the finishline. His move forced the Italian to sit up slightly, and as Debon moved ahead so Bautista also sneaked through to take second.
In the space of 400 metres the world championship leader had gone from first to third.
Barbera eventually took fourth with Kallio a damage-limiting, and distant, fifth. Yuki Takahashi took sixth place after a long battle with Mattia Pasini, while Hector Faubel came home a lonely eighth.
Veteran rider Roberto Locatelli finished ninth and Alex Espargaro completed the top ten.
Results to follow
No comments:
Post a Comment