Who leaves Malaysia as World Championship leaderJorge Lorenzo claimed his seventh win of the season in Sepang and extended his World Championship lead to 12 points in the process. The downside for the Fortuna Aprilia team was Hector Barbera who, after starting in pole,
suffered a spectacular crash on lap two.
Lorenzo got away well and positioned himself in second, immediately setting up an interesting battle with Andrea Dovizioso – his only serious rival for the 250 title. Roberto Locatelli, Hiroshi Aoyama and Alex de Angelis were also involved in the fight, but the first fell, the second suffered a mechanical problem and the third could not maintain the blistering pace of the lead riders.
Lorenzo made his decisive move six laps from the end, taking advantage of an attack on Dovizioso by de Angelis. For that moment he began to drop the Italian and opened a gap of five seconds that was never closed. The Mallorcan has now extended his lead in the standings to 12 points, whilst Barbera is seventh.
"It was the hardest race of my life, both for the heat and also the battle with Andrea Dovizioso. Mentally it was very hard as I was thinking about winning, but also not making a mistake that could have ruined my world championship challenge," said Jorge Lorenzo. "I got away well and managed to get into the lead, but Dovizioso gave it everything and made my life very difficult. I was only able to escape ove the last few laps, but the victory has given us a bigger lead and we have to keep working hard now.
I want to dedicate this win to all the Spanish fans who got up early to watch the race and also to my manager Dani Amatriain who is 40 years old today."
Hector Barbera added: "It was a real same I fell as I started from pole, the bike had improved from the last few races and I wanted to fight for the podium. I did not get away too well and lost about a dozen positions, but I felt comfortable and was ready to fight my way through the field. Then when I tried to open the gas I was thrown from the bike and hit my head hard as Ilanded. I am very annoyed , but we must forget about it now and think about putting it right at Philip Island."
Fortuna Aprilia
