Donington : 250cc - RaceWith echoes of Jerez ringing through Donington Park, Mika Kallio maintained his 250cc World Championship lead with an unexpected victory.
Mika Kallio emerged victorious from a three-rider tussle for victory at Donington Park, maintaining the
lead of the World Championship in the most unlikely of circumstances.
Kallio had worked his way up from fourteenth on the grid to third with just over a quarter of the race gone, and put himself in a prime viewing position to observe the leading duo of Alvaro Bautista and Marco Simoncelli. His first opportunity to make a move came with just two laps remaining, and he grabbed it with open hands when the two ran wide together and left the door open for the Red Bull KTM rider.
There then followed a nervous final lap, in which Kallio slid all over the shop but took advantage of his ice racing skills to maintain his balance and take the chequered flag. As in Jerez, a battle between the Italian and the Spaniard had ended with a Finnish victory.
Simoncelli salvaged second place from the hard pass on Bautista, extending his run of podium finishes to four in a row, whilst his Mapfre Aspar rival had to make do with third. The Metis Gilera man keeps up the pressure on Kallio in the title hunt, holding second place in the standings.
Starting from the front row, Team Toth´s Hector Barbera was unable to stick with the breakaway trio, coming home fourth, whilst Thomas Luthi and Hiroshi Aoyama also featured in the top six.
The first ten across the line was rounded off by Alex Debon, Julian Simon, Yuki Takahashi and Aleix Espargaro.
