FIM 250cc GP World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar March 10, 2007 Race Results: 1. Jorge LORENZO (Aprilia), 20 laps, 40:23.753 2. Alex DE ANGELIS (Aprilia), -1.224 seconds 3. Hector BARBERA (Aprilia), -2.911 seconds 4. Thomas LUTHI (Aprilia), -3.234 seconds 5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), -12.698 seconds 6. Roberto LOCATELLI (Gilera), -21.568 seconds 7. Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda), -31.540 seconds 8. Julian SIMON (Honda), -40.467 seconds 9. Marco SIMONCELLI (Gilera), -46.192 seconds 10. Shuhei AOYAMA (Honda), -58.678 seconds 11. Aleix ESPARGARO (Aprilia), -62.762 seconds 12. Fabrizio LAI (Aprilia), -67.715 seconds 13. Anthony WEST (Aprilia), -70.622 seconds 14. Ratthapark WILAIROT (Honda), -71.594 seconds 15. Dirk HEIDOLF (Aprilia), -72.499 seconds More, from a press release issued by KTM: Crash for Aoyama, Kallio fails to finish in the opening 250cc MotoGP in Qatar. The first race of the 250cc MotoGP championships ended with little joy for KTM with Hiroshi Aoyama ending his challenge for points in the season’s opener as early as lap three when he crashed and slid off the Losail circuit in Qatar. Mika Kallio, who has advanced to the 250cc class this season and who won here last year in the 125cc, was no more fortunate and was forced to retire in the final stages of the race. Road Racing Director Harald Bartol was nevertheless philosophic especially as the team had had a satisfactory result in the 125 cc race earlier in the day. “In the 250 race, we ran into tremendous bad luck with both our riders. Aoyama crashed because the rear end stepped out and piston broke on Kallio’s bike,” Bartol said. At least in the early stages of the race it seemed as though Kallio was in for a good debut 250cc race. “I had a very good start but wasn’t able to follow the front group of riders. Only Roberto Locatelli had a similar pace to me and I able to follow him for most of the race, trailing him by roughly a second,” Kallio said. “I wasn’t able to attack because I lost tyre grip.” Kallio’s luck finally ran out with two laps to go when the piston broke, sending him back to the pits.
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