Moto2: Lorenzo takes comfortable win
Jorge Lorenzo took a comfortable win in the 250cc race of the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai despite an error early in the race
Lorenzo recovered from his early mistake to take the lead on lap seven, a lead he never relinquished as he opened up a four-second lead by the end of the race.
"This is fantastic for us," Lorenzo said after the race. "It has been a perfect race, not perfect because at the beginning I struggled and I have done a mistake. But after this, it has been a perfect race with very very good fast pace."
Alvaro Bautista came through the field to take second, denying Andrea Dovizioso who looked set for second place for most of the second half of the race.
With the win, Lorenzo extends his championship lead to 27 points over Dovizioso, with Alex de Angelis and Alvaro Bautista another nine and twelve points further back respectively.
Mika Kallio took the lead at the start with Jorge Lorenzo close behind, Lorenzo taking the lead down the long back straight before making a mistake at the hairpin and running wide, dropping down to sixth place.
Lap two and it was Dovizioso taking the lead from Kallio at that same hairpin, as Lorenzo began to make his way back up the order. As they completed lap six Dovizioso led from Alex de Angelis and the recovering Lorenzo.
The back straight on lap seven saw a change at the front, Lorenzo taking the lead as Dovizioso lost two places to both Lorenzo and de Angelis, Lorenzo setting a series of fastest laps as he opened up a gap in first position.
Lap ten saw a change for second as Dovizioso took de Angelis at the hairpin early in the lap, immediately opening a gap over him, as de Angelis fell back into the clutches of the charging Bautista who like Lorenzo lost several places on lap one.
On lap sixteen of 21 Bautista moved ahead of de Angelis, and now looked set to threaten Dovizioso before the race was over, as he reduced the gap to the second-place runner.
With two laps remaining the battle for second was joined, Bautista diving through to second halfway through lap 20. But Dovizioso was not giving up, and retook second at the sharp left hander before the back straight.
Bautista, however, had a top speed advantage with his Aprilia over Dovizioso's Honda, and used it well to sneak ahead as they headed into the braking area for the hairpin, edging his rival onto the kerb under brakes.
Dovizioso ran wide but stayed upright to take third as Bautista moved back into second, but there was nothing either of them could do to stop Lorenzo taking a comfortable victory.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 44:17.095 2. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 3.904 3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 5.031 4. Alex de Angelis Aprilia + 6.560 5. Mika Kallio Ktm + 10.248 6. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 10.502 7. Julian Simon Honda + 10.832 8. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 30.484 9. Hiroshi Aoyama Ktm + 32.895 10. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia + 50.977 11. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 51.699 12. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda + 53.036 13. Anthony West Aprilia +1:01.663 14. Taro Sekiguchi Aprilia +1:14.603 15. Arturo Tizon Aprilia +1:14.754 16. Jules Cluzel Aprilia +1:39.890 17. Eugene Laverty Honda +1:47.005 18. Imre Toth Aprilia +1:50.516 19. Jin Xiao Yamaha + 1 lap Did not finish: Marco Simoncelli Gilera Alex Baldolini Aprilia Karel Abraham Aprilia Shuhei Aoyama Honda Dirk Heidolf Aprilia
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