2.15pm local time was the moment of truth for the 250cc riders in Australia, beginning the 2009 installment of the Phillip Island race. A group affair in which slipstreaming played a key part, the outing saw attempts at escapes from eventual racewiner Marco Simoncelli and Héctor Barberá, but nobody was able to fully break free. Four riders battled amongst each other, but eventually the podium was set as Simoncelli, Barberá and Raffaele de Rosa, who finished ahead of teammate and title contender Hiroshi Aoyama.
The 250cc World Championship returns to action next weekend at the circuit of Malaysia, where the title could be decided before the conclusion of the season.
Luck was not on the Mapfre riders’ side on Sunday, with rear end problems for both Álvaro Bautista and Mike di Meglio. The latter had started the day in fine form, clocking the fastest time of the warmup session and finding solutions to the front end issue that had tempered his weekend up until then. After a slow start from sixth, things turned sour with a lack of grip -this time on the rear. Despite this issue and his losing the front pack, Di Meglio still managed to hold on for fifth place, adding a further eleven points to his World Championship tally.
Once again Bautista did not have the benefit of Lady Luck on his side, with his woes beginning in the morning run. Just a few minutes before the conclusion of the session, the Spaniard fell on turn four and had little time to fully check a new adjustment to his Aprilia’s setting. He started the race from tenth, made overtures to a fantastic comeback and caught up with Marco Simoncellii by lap fourteen, but three laps later he took his second tumble of the day and was left having to begin again without the chance of victory. He remounted and crossed the line in tenth.
5th Mike Di Meglio:
“I’m actually disappointed with this result, because we had started the day well but when it came to the race things took a turn for the worse. This morning I felt great on the Aprilia, and even recorded my fastest lap time of the weekend. In the race itself I only had to ride the first lap to know that I had a rear end problem. I had a bad start and felt my bike sliding out from under me everywhere. I really don’t understand it, because the tyre seemed fine. I am going to try and work with the mechanics to find out what went wrong. I couldn’t go fast, and when I got involved with Cluzel the pace dropped and the front guys got away from me. Once I’d seen that I wasn’t at all comfortable I tried to keep consistent and try and get to the line as high up as possible.”
10th Álvaro Bautista:
“After the problems that we had in the practices and the work that we had to put in to get back up to the front, it was a pity that I fell. This morning we made an adjustment to the bike and I fell, meaning that I couldn’t assess the change fully even though I had felt good. Everything was going great in the race, and I saw that I was strong. I had rear tyre problems that caused me to slide around, but I still tried to put it all on the line and take some risks. I only wanted to win, second place was not enough. The finale leaves a bittersweet taste, but at least I can say that I gave my all. Even with everything in place for a good ride, sometimes you need a bit of luck on your side, and for the second consecutive GP we didn’t have that. It is a pity, because the title is now even further away, but we just have to think that the next two races can go our way, and we can do much better.”
