Sepang MotoGP: Bautista wins race but Simoncelli clinches title

Alvaro Bautista won the 250 GP in Malaysia, but it was Simoncelli who claimed the big victory as a podium finish was enough to grant him the championship.

Marco Simoncelli places third in the 250 clash at Sepang, but this gave him enough points for an unsurmountable lead over the competition in this year’s 250cc championship.

Bautista knew that winning in Malaysia wouldn’t be enough, so he tried some strategy, slowing the pace to try to put some traffic in front of his rival. But in the end the Spanish rider saw it wasn’t working and instead pulled away, gunning for the win for maximum points.

Aoyama, who started from pole position and won the race here last year, managed to overcome news about the future of the KTM 250 team to finish in second place.

Japanese rider Takahashi claimed 4th for JiR Team Scot 250 and Spaniard Alex Espargaro took fifth on his Lotus Aprilia.

1  Alvaro BAUTISTA  SPA  Mapfre Aspar Team   Aprilia  42’56.428   
2  Hiroshi AOYAMA   JPN  Red Bull KTM 250   KTM   42’59.014  
3  Marco SIMONCELLI  ITA  Metis Gilera    Gilera   43’04.771  
4  Yuki TAKAHASHI   JPN  JiR Team Scot 250   Honda   43’07.460  
5  Aleix ESPARGARO  SPA  Lotus Aprilia    Aprilia  43’10.274  
6  Alex DEBON   SPA  Lotus Aprilia    Aprilia  43’10.702  
7  Roberto LOCATELLI  ITA  Metis Gilera    Gilera   43’11.529  
8  Ratthapark WILAIROT  THA  Thai Honda PTT SAG   Honda   43’13.415  
9  Thomas LUTHI   SWI  Emmi – Caffe Latte   Aprilia  43’21.784  
10  Lukas PESEK   CZE  Auto Kelly – CP   Aprilia  43’23.274  
11  Fabrizio LAI   ITA  Campetella Racing   Gilera   43’46.335  
12  Karel ABRAHAM   CZE  Cardion AB Motoracing   Aprilia  43’46.516  
13  Alex BALDOLINI   ITA  Matteoni Racing   Aprilia  44’02.244  
14  Simone GROTZKYJ  ITA  Campetella Racing   Gilera   44’11.972  
15  Imre TOTH   HUN  Team Toth Aprilia   Aprilia  44’16.333  
16  Manuel HERNANDEZ  SPA  Blusens Aprilia   Aprilia  44’32.318  
17  Daniel ARCAS   SPA  Blusens Aprilia   Aprilia  44’57.145  
18  Doni Tata PRADITA  INA  Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia  Yamaha   45’25.270