Hiroshi Aoyama celebrated his 28th birthday in style by storming to victory in the 250cc MotoGP in Malaysia.
Aoyama prevailed after a pulsating battle duel with Marco Simoncelli, who came in third after a photo finish with Héctor Barberá, who just clinched second place.
Jules Cluzel led the race in the early stages, before he crashed out during lap 10, which allowed Aoyama and Simoncelli to battle it out.
The Japanese rider set a lap record of 2m 07.597s on lap 15, which gave him the upper hand, and Aoyama didn’t look back from that point on, as he extended his lead over the following two laps to forge a three-second advantage.
In the end, Aoyama crossed the line over six seconds ahead of his rivals and the win gives him a 21pt advantage in the 2009 title race, ahead of Simoncelli, and Aoyama now just needs a top-10 finish in the next race in Valencia to clinch the crown.
Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team) crashed out on lap nine of the race, while Mike di Meglio and Mattia Pasini did likewise and Thomas Luthi and Héctor Faubel completed the top five.
Meanwhile, Marc Márquez’s hopes of victory in the 125cc category were dashed when mechanical issues forced him to withdraw.
Márquez’s problems with his KTM became evident as early as the opening lap, but he battled on until seven laps from the end when he was forced to retire.
A disappointed Márquez said: “I started the race raring to go because in the practices I set a good pace, but from the start I noticed that something was wrong, because at times the bike didn’t go so fast. Above all, in the fast turns, when I touched the gas, the engine was very aggressive.
“I noticed that something strange was happening – although I managed to adapt to the bike and ride well, the engine failed. In Estoril, I made the mistake, [but] this time it was a mechanical problems and it’s a shame. Let’s see if we can repeat this weekend in Valencia and finish it off on Sunday.”
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