Bautista all class at slippery Island
Spaniard fastest, and Kallio in the great escapeSpaniard Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) slithered his way to provisional pole position in the 250cc class at a wet and cold Phillip Island this afternoon.
While many of his contemporaries crashed, Bautista maintained his composure in the 45-minute session to come out on top from countryman Julian Simon (KTM) and the Czech Republic’s Lukas Pesek (Aprilia).
Championship leader Marco Simoncelli (Gilera) was fourth from the similarly mounted Faqbrizio Lai.
While a number of riders slid off the track, there were a few ‘escapes’ in the wet conditions, none more entertaining than Mika Kallio’s save on his KTM.
The Finn, fastest in this morning’s practice, ran off the track at the ultra-fast Turn Eight, but somehow kept his bike upright and returned onto the track at Turn Nine. He then immediately made a beeline to the pits to contemplate his great escape.
Final qualifying will be held at 3:10pm tomorrow.
250 QUALIFYING
1 | Alvaro Bautista, Spain, Aprilia | 1:43.839 |
2 | Julian Simon, Spain, KTM | 1:44.223 |
3 | Lukas Pesek, Czech Republic, Aprilia | 1:44.244 |
4 | Marco Simoncelli, Italy, Gilera | 1:44.503 |
5 | Fabrizio Lai, Italy, Gilera | 1:44.666 |
6 | Mika Kallio, Finland, KTM | 1:44.842 |
7 | Yuki Takahashi, Japan, Honda | 1:44.885 |
8 | Alex Debon, Spain, Aprilia | 1:45.738 |
9 | Roberto Locatelli Italy, Gilera | 1:45.682 |
10 | Hiroshi Aoyama, Japan, KTM | 1:45.793 |
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