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Moto2: Aoyama beats Bautista to 250cc win

Hiroshi Aoyama took the 250cc championship lead after beating Alvaro Bautista to victory in a thrilling Jerez race

The Japanese rider only sealed the win at the final corner of the final lap as Bautista slid wide while trying desperately to secure a home win.

Pole-sitter Alex Debon had led the early laps under huge pressure from Bautista, Marco Simoncelli and Hector Barbera, before being elbowed back to fourth as the other trio commenced an epic lead battle that raged for the entire distance.

As Simoncelli and Bautista repeatedly swapped first place - and Barbera lurked right behind them - Aoyama's Scot Honda steadily crept into contention, joining the lead group around one third into the race.

He soon forced his way to the front of the pack, but could not escape from Bautista, who led into the closing stages.

Halfway around the final lap, Aoyama sliced past Bautista but they still had to negotiate the classic passing place at the final hairpin. Bautista jinked out from behind the Honda and dived down the inside under braking, briefly retaking the lead only to run wide on the exit and allow Aoyama to accelerate back past and claim his first win of the year.

Simoncelli fell away a little in the closing stages, holding off Barbera for third and getting his title defence underway after missing Qatar and retiring in Japan.

Thomas Luthi beat Mattia Pasini to fifth, with Devon crashing out while battling in this group. Qualifying star Jules Cluzel dropped back to eighth, behind Gabor Talmacsi.

Pos  Rider                 Bike     Time
 1.  Hiroshi Aoyama        Honda    45m08.805s
 2.  Alvaro Bautista       Aprilia  +   0.132s
 3.  Marco Simoncelli      Gilera   +   2.706s
 4.  Hector Barbera        Aprilia  +   2.769s
 5.  Thomas Luthi          Aprilia  +  17.946s
 6.  Mattia Pasini         Aprilia  +  17.950s
 7.  Gabor Talmacsi        Aprilia  +  26.288s
 8.  Jules Cluzel          Aprilia  +  26.472s
 9.  Roberto Locatelli     Gilera   +  27.646s
10.  Raffaele de Rosa      Honda    +  32.369s
11.  Mike di Meglio        Aprilia  +  32.617s
12.  Shoya Tomizawa        Honda    +  34.241s
13.  Lukas Pesek           Aprilia  +  36.889s
14.  Hector Faubel         Honda    +  37.237s
15.  Ratthapark Wilairot   Honda    +1m16.786s
16.  Imre Toth             Aprilia  +1m25.509s
17.  Bastien Chesaux       Honda    +    1 lap
18.  Aitor Rodriguez       Aprilia  +    1 lap
19.  Vladimir Leonov       Aprilia  +    1 lap
20.  Valentin Debise       Honda    +    1 lap

Retirements:

     Axel Pons             Aprilia  22 laps
     Ivan Maestro          Aprilia  18 laps
     Alex Baldolini        Aprilia  10 laps
     Alex Debon            Aprilia   9 laps
     Karel Abraham         Aprilia   3 laps

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