MotoGP: 2009 Valencia 250GP Results - Aoyama is Champion!

Hiroshi Aoyama did not win the race at Valencia, but he did win the 2009 Championship by finishing seventh on the day. Hector Barbera won what is the last race for 250c.c. two-strokes in fine style ahead of second place by almost 4 seconds. That second place rider was Alvaro Bautista, with Raffaele de Rosa bringing it in in third. Sadly, Marco Simoncelli crashed out with seven laps remaining - that handed the championship to Aoyama and second overall to Barbera. Also of note is the performance of Thai rider Ratthapark Wilairot landing in fifth! If you missed the race, make sure to catch it in rerun as it is worth watching.

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End of season standings: http://tinyurl.com/yfttmlv

More on Hiroshi Aoyama: http://tinyurl.com/y85nx96

P.S. Remember that this is the end of the 250c.c. two-stroke era; next year it will become Moto2, which will eb run with Honda 600c.c. engines in custom frames.

MotoGP Results: 250 World Championship at Sepang in Malaysia

Hiroshi Aoyama is one step closer to winning the 250c.c. World Championship after today's race at Sepang in Malaysia. Aoyama took the win and is now 21 points ahead in the final standings. Simoncelli pulled a third place finish at the event, but it will be tough to take the championship unless Aoyama finished far behind him in Valencia. Alvaro Bautista crashed for the third consecutive race and his title hopes are now gone...

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Overall 250c.c. World Championship standings with one race remaining: http://tinyurl.com/yjllbfc

Results from 250 Race at Portuguese Grand Prix

The 250c.c. race had a very tight second place finish. The timing screen showed a difference between riders Hector Barbera and Mike Di Meglio to be less than .001 seconds from each other - upon further review, though, it was declared that they tied! Read the link for the final designation. Marco Simoncelli, however, dominated the race; he was in sixth place at one point, but managed to take the lead and hold it by more than 6 seconds through the rest of the race...I sure hope it is shown on TV here!

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Basic results: http://tinyurl.com/yazf2hh

More on Simoncelli's 2009 title hunt: http://tinyurl.com/y96onyg

Hector Barbera Leads 250 Practice on Friday at Portugal

Barbera, who will be in MotoGP in 2010, did very well in Friday's practice. Oddly, Hiroshi Aoyama only managed to be 10th fastest on the day - very odd for the Championship leader...

http://tinyurl.com/ybjovkm