Moto2: Lorenzo takes dominant victory
Jorge Lorenzo all but clinched this year's 250cc world title with a dominant lights-to-flag win today at Phillip Island
The Spaniard led into turn one and was never headed, extending his margin at around a second per lap, to take victory by 20 seconds over second place.
It extended Lorenzo's lead in the championship to 45 points over challenger Andrea Dovizioso, with just two rounds and 50 points remaining.
The battle for second place in the race was much closer, with a race-long fight for the position. Marco Simoncelli was an early contender before falling down the order to finish seventh, and Shuhei Aoyama looked like he might be the man until he almost fell exiting Honda Hairpin on lap eight, recovering to finish eighth.
It then became a battle between Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Dovizioso, Thomas Luthi and Hiroshi Aoyama. Dovizioso took over second after Shuhei Aoyama's moment, but lost the position to Bautista on the next lap, Bautista holding on to the position as the other diced behind him.
But with five laps remaining Luthi took second at Honda Hairpin, having just moved into third at Doohan Corner. Bautista repaid the favour to retake second on the next lap at Doohan, before swapping back again at Honda with Luthi back in second position.
Bautista and Dovizioso then both swept past Luthi into Doohan on lap 23, but the battle was still not over. On the final lap Dovizioso dived inside Bautista to take second at Honda Hairpin, only for Bautista to dive inside as they entered Lukey Heights.
From there Dovizioso couldn't get close enough to slipstream back ahead by the line, taking third just behind Bautista, while behind them Hiroshi Aoyama passed Luthi as they approached the finish to take fourth. Unfortunately for them, Lorenzo had crossed the finish line 20 seconds earlier.
A couple of contenders exited early, Hector Barbera out before the end of lap one while Mika Kallio crashed out at Honda Hairpin on lap two.
CLASSIFIED: Pos Rider Make Time 1. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 39:25.727 2. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 19.634 3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 19.724 4. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM + 19.797 5. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 20.066 6. Julian Simon Honda + 21.045 7. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 32.960 8. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 33.043 9. Alex de Angelis Aprilia + 33.051 10. Yuki Takahashi Honda + 44.814 11. R. Locatelli Gilera + 48.733 12. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 54.010 13. Karel Abraham Aprilia +1:03.218 14. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +1:09.368 15. Dirk Heidolf Aprilia +1:17.807 16. Eugene Laverty Honda +1:21.239 17. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia +1:31.245 18. Taro Sekiguchi Aprilia +1:33.575 19. R. Wilairot Honda +1:33.916 20. Federico Sandi Aprilia + 1 lap NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Rider Make On Lap Alex Baldolini Aprilia 19 Imre Toth Aprilia 6 Efren Vazquez Aprilia 4 Mika Kallio KTM 2 Ho Wan Chow Aprilia 2 Hector Barbera Aprilia 1
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