Moto2: Simoncelli wins in style at Valencia

The Metis Gilera rider didn't have the best of starts from pole position and dropped to fifth, but made his way back up to first by lap nine when he overtook Red Bull KTM's Mika Kallio and never relinquished the lead again in the 27-lap race.

The Finn did his best to stay close to Simoncelli and snatch victory for his and the Austrian manufacturer's final race in the series - Kallio will move up to MotoGP with Alice Ducati while KTM announced their retirement from the 250cc class - but he crashed the bike on the last lap after having a couple of moments on previous laps.

Yuki Takahashi, who will also move up to the premier class with his current JiR Honda team, finished the race in a fine second place, five seconds behind Simoncelli, after managing to keep up with the two riders at the front for most of the race.

Aspar Aprilia's Alvaro Bautista took the last place on the podium, 3.5 seconds behind Takahashi, ahead of the other Metis Gilera of Roberto Locatelli, who ran as high as third in the first few laps after a good start from eighth.

Red Bull KTM's Hiroshi Aoyama finished the race in fifth, followed by the Aprilias of Hector Faubel (Aspar) and Aleix Espargaro (Lotus), and the Thai Honda of Ratthapark Wilairot.

This pack of riders was led by the Lotus Aprilia of Alex Debon until lap 22, when the Spaniard lost the front of his bike and crashed out from sixth place.

Julian Simon, who led the race in the early stages, saw his Repsol KTM breaking down on lap 20, just after being overtaken by Bautista for fourth place.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Rider             Bike     Time
 1.  Marco Simoncelli  Gilera   43:29.003
 2.  Yuki Takahashi    Honda    +   5.164
 3.  Alvaro Bautista   Aprilia  +   8.648
 4.  R.Locatelli       Gilera   +  15.605
 5.  Hiroshi Aoyama    KTM      +  20.991
 6.  Hector Faubel     Aprilia  +  22.212
 7.  Aleix Espargaro   Aprilia  +  23.199
 8.  R.Wilairot        Honda    +  23.321
 9.  Mattia Pasini     Aprilia  +  37.424
10.  Thomas Luthi      Aprilia  +  38.887
11.  Mika Kallio       KTM      +  44.065
12.  Alex Baldolini    Aprilia  +1:10.999
13.  Imre Toth         Aprilia  +1:31.950
14.  Daniel Arcas      Aprilia  +1:39.110
15.  S.G.Giorgi        Gilera   +1:41.209
16.  Manuel Hernandez  Aprilia  + 1 Lap
17.  Karel Abraham     Aprilia  + 1 Lap
18.  Federico Sandi    Aprilia  + 1 Lap
19.  D.T.Pradita       Yamaha   + 1 Lap

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Rider             Bike       Laps
     Alen Gyorfi       Aprilia     24
     Alex Debon        Aprilia     21
     Julian Simon      KTM         19
     Fabrizio Lai      Gilera      12
     Lukas Pesek       Aprilia     11
     Toni Wirsing      Honda       11

FASTEST LAP: Kallio, 1:35.890 on lap 24