News

Laverty retires as Linfoot comes home 20th

19/08/07

Ireland's Eugene Laverty retired from today's 250cc race with nine laps to go at Brno while Yorkshireman Dan Linfoot finished 20th in what turned out to be a fairly processional affair.

MotoGP rider-elect Jorge Lorenzo led from start to finish with Andrea Dovizioso in attendance. The pair extended their lead lap after lap on Alex de Angelis and Mika Kallio until the distance was six seconds with seven laps to go.

Lorenzo upped his pace with five laps to go and pulled a 1.5s lead on the Italian. Kallio snuck past De Angelis for the last place on the podium on lap 15 while Alvaro Bautista attempted to drag Hector Barbera up to the fight for third.

Reigning world champ Lorenzo pulled the pin with four laps to go and managed to lap half a second quicker than Dovizioso, taking the chequered flag with nearly eight seconds in hand.

De Angelis hit the deck with three laps to go trying to put a move on the KTM of Kallio. The Fin ran wide and then pulled his bike back on-line, but collected De Angelis who had tried to run up the inside. Barbera took Bautista for fourth on the penultimate lap.

Japanese rider Taro Sekiguchi is stable and receiving treatment in hospital after an horrific crash in morning warm up. After being unsighted by dust, he was in collision with Marco Simoncelli's prone Aprila - which was laying on track after a lowside. He suffered chest injuries and was airlifted to hospital.

Results:

1 25 1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fortuna Aprilia APRILIA 41'04.954
2 20 34 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Kopron Team Scot HONDA 41'12.662
3 16 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 41'16.061
4 13 80 Hector BARBERA SPA Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 41'18.376
5 11 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Master - Mapfre Aspar APRILIA 41'18.898
6 10 4 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 41'18.943
7 9 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi - Caffe Latte Aprilia APRILIA 41'27.771
8 8 60 Julian SIMON SPA Repsol Honda 250cc HONDA 41'41.293
9 7 73 Shuhei AOYAMA JPN Repsol Honda 250cc HONDA 41'41.321
10 6 15 Roberto LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 41'42.506
11 5 3 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM Master - Mapfre Aspar APRILIA 42'07.570
12 4 32 Fabrizio LAI ITA Campetella Racing APRILIA 42'18.483
13 3 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 42'19.017
14 2 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing APRILIA 42'19.529
15 1 7 Efren VAZQUEZ SPA Blusens Aprilia Germany APRILIA 42'19.597
16 8 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT-SAG HONDA 42'20.119
17 28 Dirk HEIDOLF GER Kiefer - Bos - Sotin Racing APRILIA 42'20.428
18 16 Jules CLUZEL FRA Angaia Racing APRILIA 42'45.018
19 10 Imre TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 42'58.752
20 45 Dan LINFOOT GBR Team Sicilia APRILIA 43'02.057