2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway

250 Race

Jorge Lorenzo or Andrea Dovizioso? Aprilia or Honda? Those were the questions to be answered in the final battle over the 250cc World Championship at Valencia as the two youngsters were separated by only 13 points as the riders blasted their way off the line in the 27 lap finale.

Roberto Locatelli made a brilliant start on the opening lap ahead of championship leader Lorenzo while Dovizioso languished down in tenth place and had a lot of work to do if he hoped to eclipse Lorenzo in the points. Valencia holds fond memories for Locatelli, the Italian won at the Spanish circuit in 2000 on his way to clinching the world title.

Pole sitter Hiroshi Aoyama took a while to get up to speed but on lap four went past Lorenzo to take second place. Aoyama's pole position marked the first occasion a KTM had ever qualified fastest in the 250cc category.

While Lorenzo and Dovizioso had their battle for the #1 plate to be decided there was also a much closer on track battle over third place in the championship, which was the fight between Hiroshi Aoyama and Alex De Angelis who prior to the final round held a ten point buffer over the KTM man. As the race approached its halfway point the pair were enjoying a heady battle over second place.

Things had also tightened up in the battle for the championship after Simoncelli crashed out of fifth place which gave the position to Dovizioso who had worked his way forward from outside the top ten while Lorenzo watched on from close astern. With 16 laps to run though Debon forced his way past Dovizioso and Lorenzo then went past both of them to stake his claim on that fifth position while fellow Aprilia rider Debon continued to frustrate the Honda mounted Dovizioso.

With 11 laps to run the battle up front really started to hot up as De Angelis and Aoyama closed to within striking distance of the as yet unchallenged Locatelli. Aoyama hit the lead for the first time with nine laps to run but Locatelli took that position right back only a couple of corners later. A lap later the duo tussled again but the KTM was only in front for a moment before Locatelli took the lead again.

On the next lap though disaster struck the KTM man after he got on the throttle a little too early in one of the tight left handers and tumbled off into the kitty litter. Locatelli had to take evasive action and lost some time which allowed De Angelis to take a comfortable lead. Aoyama's demise also cemented De Angelis' third place in the championship.

Alex De Angelis celebrated his first ever win from his 113 GP starts with a great victory mono to round out a fantastic final half of the season for the MVA Aspar Team rider that saw him take ten podium finishes from the last 11 races of the season.

Locatelli took second place four seconds behind the race winner and Hector Barbera completed the podium.

The big celebrations however were reserved for Jorge Lorenzo who was crowned 250cc World Champion after crossing the line in fourth place. His primary foe in the battle for the title could only manage seventh. This was the fifth time in history where Honda and Aprilia riders have started the final race of the year engaged in a battle for the title and it also marked the fifth time in succession that Aprilia emerged victorious in that battle. Max Biaggi did it in 1994, 1996 and 1997 and Manuel Poggiali in 2003.

19 year old Lorenzo is now the second youngest 250cc World Champion of all time behind Dani Pedrosa who was 160 days younger when he took the title in 2004.

Hiroshi Aoyama's failure to finish put a little bit of a dampener on what had been an incredibly successful year with the Austrian manufacturer that saw the Japanese rider take seven podium positions in their first year together on his way to fourth place in the championship.