Mika Kallio took another gifted win this season, when a ludicrously optimistic and basically impossible move by the reckless Marco Simoncelli pushed Alvaro Bautista wide in avoiding a coming-together and let Kallio through.
Kallio's rise through the field was impressive certainly - but this was just such an annoying, frustrating and unnecessary end to the GP weekend. You always feel nervous when Simoncelli's around (as the commentators at the track said - "at least when he's in front of you, you can see what he's doing...") and today proved the truth of it again.
Although the outcome wasn't as downright dangerous or ugly as his Mugello move on Hector Barbera, it was still hugely crass. And to what effect? He still came second, pissed a few more people off, and let Kallio continue to lead the table (which he wouldn't if Alvaro had come first!)
At least Alvaro rode really well (and professionally) all weekend, taking an excellent pole on his Friday times, the Saturday being a bit piddled on...
Apparently Alvaro 'had words' after the race - and I'm not a bit surprised.
Here's his official quotes:
"I adapted very well to the wind, and felt progressively more comfortable on the Aprilia, riding hard. It is important that we have two consecutive podiums under our belts, something that we hadn’t achieved up until now this year.
We will see if in Holland we can continue this way and fight for the win.
I was going for victory today, but Simoncelli cut me off. You can pass a rider, but you have to brake a little harder to do it, and it’s not normal to pass if you aren’t able to and throw whomever is in your path into the grass. I think that some action will be taken on the matter.
He is a different rider to the rest, very aggressive and one for whom what he wants to do exceeds what he can do. The slow pace of the race meant that Kallio could catch us."
I couldn't agree with the comments more; in fact it's almost exactly what I said about Simoncelli before - that his ambition far exceeds his ability.
Here's the results in full...
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Mika Kallio KTM 42:14.410
2. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 0.353
3. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 1.237
4. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 8.875
5. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 11.359
6. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 16.124
7. Alex Debon Aprilia + 16.136
8. Julian Simon KTM + 18.007
9. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 33.271
10. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 49.681
11. R.Locatelli Gilera + 52.534
12. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 55.311
13. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 57.399
14. Manuel Poggiali Gilera + 57.641
15. Hector Faubel Aprilia +1:04.329
16. R.Wilairot Honda +1:06.156
17. Fabrizio Lai Gilera +1:15.812
18. Russell Gomez Aprilia + 1 Lap
19. D.T.Pradita Yamaha + 1 Lap
NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:
Rider | Team | On lap
Eugene Laverty Aprilia 20
Alex Baldolini Aprilia 14
Mattia Pasini Aprilia 13
Imre Toth Aprilia 12
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1 comment:
you know that i couldn't agree more with you.
but there's at least one "good" thing about this race now: that alvaro got two podiums in as many races and that we can start again to be mad about a third place. we had much worse situations already this season.
but i think and hope we can move on from this and he can be even stronger. and he has to be, looking at the standings. even if he wins every race from now on, it will be tough.
but hope dies last and we believe, we believe, we believe... :)
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