- 23,800
- Philippines
An action packed weekend at Valencia today...
Of course, before going to the MotoGP race, we need to mention the last race of the 250cc class, which was a cracker. Hiroshi Aoyama survived a rodeo ride through the gravel when Hector Barbera pushed him off-line to keep on track and seal his first and last 250cc championship over reigning champion Marcus Simoncelli.
Simoncelli, on the other hand, pushed hard, grinding his way from 8th to 1st in a tremendous charge to catch Barbera... pushing Aoyama out of the way to take second then trading places with Barbera a few times before finally clinching first. From this position, he could have taken the championship if Aoyama had finished 12th or lower, but no such luck... less than a dozen laps from the finish, he lost the rear end of the bike out of turn one, got it all crossed up, recovered, and then lost the bike completely under braking into turn two.
Aoyama takes the championship, a Japanese driver on a Japanese bike, to the delight of the Japanese fans in Spain... Barbera takes the win and edges Simoncelli out of second place in the championship.
It's a shame that the 250ccs will give way to 600cc prototypes with a set engine supplier. I don't think a virtual one-make race will be as much fun as a multi-manufacturer race.
-
Oh... and Valentino Rossi seals the MotoGP championship. The drama of a race to the line with Casey Stoner was not to be, though... as Casey crashes out on the very first lap.
No, not the first lap of the race. He goes over the high side of his Ducati on the warm-up lap. From the pole. Ouch.
Still... it was an exciting afternoon... well... the 250cc race was... the MotoGP championship was just a walk in the park for Rossi... *yawn*... going from fifth to second, finishing just behind Danny Pedrossa.
Of course, before going to the MotoGP race, we need to mention the last race of the 250cc class, which was a cracker. Hiroshi Aoyama survived a rodeo ride through the gravel when Hector Barbera pushed him off-line to keep on track and seal his first and last 250cc championship over reigning champion Marcus Simoncelli.
Simoncelli, on the other hand, pushed hard, grinding his way from 8th to 1st in a tremendous charge to catch Barbera... pushing Aoyama out of the way to take second then trading places with Barbera a few times before finally clinching first. From this position, he could have taken the championship if Aoyama had finished 12th or lower, but no such luck... less than a dozen laps from the finish, he lost the rear end of the bike out of turn one, got it all crossed up, recovered, and then lost the bike completely under braking into turn two.
Aoyama takes the championship, a Japanese driver on a Japanese bike, to the delight of the Japanese fans in Spain... Barbera takes the win and edges Simoncelli out of second place in the championship.
It's a shame that the 250ccs will give way to 600cc prototypes with a set engine supplier. I don't think a virtual one-make race will be as much fun as a multi-manufacturer race.
-
Oh... and Valentino Rossi seals the MotoGP championship. The drama of a race to the line with Casey Stoner was not to be, though... as Casey crashes out on the very first lap.
No, not the first lap of the race. He goes over the high side of his Ducati on the warm-up lap. From the pole. Ouch.
Still... it was an exciting afternoon... well... the 250cc race was... the MotoGP championship was just a walk in the park for Rossi... *yawn*... going from fifth to second, finishing just behind Danny Pedrossa.
Last edited:
Bad form posting results without the SPOILERS tag.
By holding off Dovizioso he mathematically gave 5th place in the Championship to Edwards, his teammate at Tech 3 next year. The other America riders (Edwards and Hayden) also rode fabulous races themselves. Should be interesting to see how well Spies does against Edwards next year, once he gets a bit more riding time on the MotoGP bikes 👍
