Moto2: Dovizioso wins, Lorenzo crashes
Andrea Dovizioso took a huge step closer to Jorge Lorenzo in the 250cc championship by winning a dramatic and extremely wet British Grand Prix after race-long leader Alex de Angelis fell with just a lap and a half remaining
Lorenzo was another of the many riders to crash in the sodden conditions, and the reigning champion was unable to rejoin.
De Angelis had eased away from Dovizioso and Lorenzo in the opening stages, with the latter pair swapping places on lap two when Dovizioso had a major twitch through Goddards.
Although Lorenzo could not close on de Angelis, he remained within a couple of seconds of the leader until suffering a violent high-side at Coppice on lap 10. He was unhurt and attempted to rejoin. but his bike could not be shifted from the gravel trap.
Lorenzo's departure was the cue for Dovizioso to begin pressuring de Angelis. The pair swapped fastest laps for the remainder of the race, with Dovizioso getting significantly closer to de Angelis when the leader was blocked in traffic with three laps left.
De Angelis still looked secure in the lead until the penultimate lap, when he fell near the bottom of the Craner Curves.
The lead duo's advantage over the rest of the field was so great that de Angelis was able to rejoin and still take second - 22 seconds behind the victorious Dovizioso, but 40 seconds clear of third-placed Hiroshi Aoyama.
Alvaro Bautista would have been in line to inherit third when Lorenzo retired, if he hadn't crashed at Coppice two laps before Lorenzo's similar accident.
Aoyama therefore came through to take the place, having resisted pressure from Julian Simon until the Repsol Honda rider had a low-side at Coppice eight laps from the end. Simon recovered to take seventh.
Yuki Takahashi stepped up to challenge Aoyama, but missed out on third by 0.2 seconds.
Mika Kallio dropped from fifth to sixth with a last lap fall, moving Shuhei Aoyama into the top five.
Thai rider Ratthapark Willairot took a career-best eighth, ahead of wildcard rider Dan Linfoot and Karel Abraham, with everyone from seventh-placed Simon onwards lapped at least once.
Given the appalling conditions, the race saw fewer accidents than had been feared. But frontrunner Hector Barbera failed to finish after three separate falls in the early laps.
Marco Simoncelli crashed his Gilera when holding fifth early on, while his teammate Roberto Locatelli also fell when 12th - both without injury.
Classified: Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 48:40.173 2. Alex de Angelis Aprilia + 22.102 3. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM +1:03.137 4. Yuki Takahashi Honda +1:03.370 5. Shuhei Aoyama Honda +1:25.269 6. Mika Kallio KTM +2:07.333 7. Julian Simon Honda + 1 lap 8. R.Wilairot Honda + 1 lap 9. Dan Linfoot Aprilia + 1 lap 10. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 1 lap 11. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia + 1 lap 12. Dirk Heidolf Aprilia + 1 lap 13. Taro Sekiguchi Aprilia + 1 lap 14. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 1 lap 15. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap 16. Efren Vazquez Aprilia + 2 laps 17. Toby Markham Yamaha + 2 laps Not classified: Rider Bike Laps Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 23 R.Locatelli Gilera 14 Jules Cluzel Aprilia 14 Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 10 Thomas Luthi Aprilia 10 Marco Simoncelli Gilera 9 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 8 Eugene Laverty Honda 6 Hector Barbera Aprilia 5
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