Bautista takes runaway 250cc triumph in Portugal

Alvaro Bautista opened his win account for 2008 with a runaway victory in the 250cc Portuguese showdown. The Mapfre Aspar rider was unstoppable from the opening lap, extending a huge gap over his rivals and repeating his triumph from 2007.

The Spaniard now has three wins in as many years in Portugal, having also crossed the line first in the 2006 125cc race. He now climbs his way back up the quarter litre standings, following disappointment in Qatar and Jerez.

The rider who collided with Bautista on the final lap in previous round –Metis Gilera´s Marco Simoncelli- was once again the closest man to the Spaniard, albeit this time some seven seconds behind. Taking both his and Gilera´s first podium in the 250cc class, Simoncelli was once again involved in a controversial incident in the final stages of the race. He was chased down by Red Bull KTM rider and new World Championship leader Mika Kallio, who came close to impacting with the Italian in the dash for the line.

Once calmed down after flashing a few heated gestures in Simoncelli´s direction, Kallio will have the comfort of a twelve point lead in the class spurring him on. He continued his impressive run of podium finishes which, combined with a retirement from previous leader Mattia Pasini, puts him in an enviable position in the classification.

After a late push through the field, Thomas Luthi took fourth place for the Emmi-Caffe Latte Aprilia team, ahead of Red Bull KTM´s Hiroshi Aoyama and JiR Team Scot´s Yuki Takahashi.

Julian Simon, Hector Barbera and Hector Faubel added to the Spanish top ten contingent, joined by Czech rider Lukas Pesek.

Polaris World rider Pasini crashed not once but twice in the quarter litre race; the Italian fell for the first time when battling with Hiroshi Aoyama for third and, after picking himself and his Aprilia back up, took another tumble when he discovered that his brakes had been damaged in the previous incident.