Misano MotoGP: Bautista takes the win in a heated 250 clash

Mapfre Aspar Team rider Alvaro Bautista took his third win of the season at a dramatic 250 race today at Misano.

Lining up on the grid today Spaniard Hector Barbera was in pole position after winning the qualifying duel he had with rival Metis Gilera rider Simoncelli. That left the Italian Simoncelli in second on the front row, followed by Lotus Aprilia rider Espargaro and Takahashi for JiR Team Scot 250.

With 23 laps still to go, Alex Debon crashed out with a nasty highside, taking out fellow Spanish rider Hector Faubel in the process.

Championship contender Mika Kallio also had some bad luck early on when he ran into the back of his Red Bull KTM 250 team mate Hiroshi Aoyama, putting them both out of the race at Misano today.

Up at the front, the race started to get very heated with 19 laps to go when Barbera forced Simoncelli off track, letting Yuki Takahashi move up past them into first place.

Mattia Pasini was having a good race, even moving into first at one point as the other front runners battled it out and slowed each other down, but a clash with Barbera eventually ended with Pasini crashing out spectacularly. The Italian fortunately escaped unharmed.

Pushing hard near the end of the race, Simoncelli make a mistake and slid off the track, but he was up on his feet almost before he'd stopped sliding and got back into the race, impressively still managing to take 6th place.

1  Alvaro BAUTISTA  SPA  Mapfre Aspar Team   Aprilia  43'15.831  
2  Yuki TAKAHASHI   JPN  JiR Team Scot 250   Honda   43'17.919  
3  Hector BARBERA   SPA  Team Toth Aprilia   Aprilia  43'19.583  
4  Roberto LOCATELLI  ITA  Metis Gilera    Gilera   43'23.303  
5  Julian SIMON   SPA  Repsol KTM 250cc   KTM   43'26.693  
6  Marco SIMONCELLI  ITA  Metis Gilera    Gilera   43'37.011  
7  Thomas LUTHI   SWI  Emmi - Caffe Latte   Aprilia  43'45.271  
8  Ratthapark WILAIROT  THA  Thai Honda PTT SAG   Honda   43'49.713  
9  Lukas PESEK   CZE  Auto Kelly - CP   Aprilia  43'50.882  
10  Karel ABRAHAM   CZE  Cardion AB Motoracing   Aprilia  44'01.236  
11  Fabrizio LAI   ITA  Campetella Racing   Gilera   44'03.091  
12  Federico SANDI   ITA  Matteoni Racing   Aprilia  44'26.495  
13  Manuel HERNANDEZ  SPA  Blusens Aprilia   Aprilia  44'26.713  
14  Toni WIRSING   GER  Racing Team Germany   Honda   44'49.163  
15  Simone GROTZKYJ  ITA  Campetella Racing   Gilera   43'29.476  
16  Doni Tata PRADITA  INA  Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia  Yamaha   43'44.942  

Not classified
 Aleix ESPARGARO  SPA  Lotus Aprilia    Aprilia  32'11.887   
 Eugene LAVERTY   IRL  Blusens Aprilia   Aprilia  23'43.733   
 Imre TOTH   HUN  Team Toth Aprilia   Aprilia  22'03.318   
 Mattia PASINI   ITA  Polaris World    Aprilia  18'22.842   
 Hiroshi AOYAMA   JPN  Red Bull KTM 250   KTM   5'07.423   
 Mika KALLIO   FIN  Red Bull KTM 250   KTM   5'07.497   
 Hector FAUBEL   SPA  Mapfre Aspar Team   Aprilia  3'29.465   
 Alex DEBON   SPA  Lotus Aprilia    Aprilia  3'29.753   
 Alex BALDOLINI   ITA  Matteoni Racing   Aprilia  1'50.835