Bautista reels in Luthi for 250cc Assen victory

Alvaro Bautista won out in a two rider battle for victory in the 250cc A-Style TT Assen, imposing his will on Thomas Luthi and winning from pole position.

The Spaniard didn´t have the best of starts in the Netherlands, and on the opening lap he had dropped down to eighth place, the superior drive of his Mapfre Aspar Aprilia machinery bringing him back into contention. He reeled in Thomas Luthi after the Swiss rider had broken free from the pack, with the definitive pass coming on the nineteenth lap.

Bautista then extended his advantage over the Emmi-Caffe Latte man to 4.5 seconds before taking the chequered flag and his second win of 2008. Luthi could not be too disappointed, having achieved his best ever 250cc result.

Marco Simoncelli was again on the podium, for the fifth race in succession. He came out worst from a first corner lack of space, running onto the rumble strip and dropping down places, but fought his way back to the rostrum and cut the World Championship gap between himself and leader Mika Kallio to a solitary point.

Alex Debon and Hector Barbera also featured in the top six, having both run off at the De Bult asphalted section of the track. Barbera´s rejoining the action nearly took out Kallio, who was later overtaken by the pair and the Finn´s Red Bull KTM teammate Hiroshi Aoyama.

Yuki Takahashi, Roberto Locatelli and Julian Simon completed the top ten, whilst the only title contender to crash out was Mattia Pasini on lap eleven.