LORENZO MAKES IT EIGHT
17 September 2006 - Aprilia

Jorge Lorenzo of Fortuna Aprilia marked his 8th victory of the 2006 season in the Australian Gp.

The Spanish rider took off from the pole position and was then forced to follow the escaping Alex De Angelis of Master Aspar Team and Andrea Dovizioso for the lead in the initial phases of the race.

Lorenzo took command of the race around the halfway point, with De Angelis bent on hanging onto his first victory right through the end. It was exactly this duel that advanced the two Aprilia captains ahead of the other riders right through the end of the race. It was just then that Alex tried to pass Lorenzo, hoping that his acceleration on the straight-away would bring him across the finish line first.

Lorenzo and De Angelis passed under the checkered flag, separated by only nine milliseconds. In third place was the Japanese Aoyama while Dovizioso, Lorenzo’s closest competition in the international raking, finished fourth.

Lorenzo, the rider from Palma de Majorca, now has a 24 point-advantage on the Italian rider, enjoying 249 points ahead of Dovizioso’s 225.

In 6th place was Hector Barbera (also racing for Fortuna Aprilia) who was followed by Roberto Locatelli of Team Toth, finally able to complete a solid race after all the problems he encountered during the weekend at Phillip Island.

Also racing atop Aprilias were Jakub Smrz of Cardio AB (who crossed the finish line in 8th place) and the home-track darling, Antony West, atop an RSV kit of Team Kiefer. Dirk Heidolf, West’s German teammate, also had a solid race and finished in 11th place. In the meantime, Andrea Ballerini finished in 16th place, just one place out of the points.

In 18th place was Alex Baldolini. The rider from Team Matteoni (who suffered a fracture to his right wrist in the free trials at the Czech Republic Gp) underwent a delicate operation in Malaysia in order to be able to return to the saddle for the Phillip Island race. Notwithstanding a collision in the trials that jeopardized his participation in the race, Baldolini tackled the Gp head-on and crossed the finish line.

Thanks to Lorenzo’s victory, Aprilia increased its advantage in the 250 constructors’ classification and remains the leader with 296 points, 54 ahead of its closest competition.

www.aprilia.com

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