FIRST 250 GP WIN FOR BARBERA
15 May 2006 - Aprilia

In China, Hector Barbera won the first GP of his career.

The rider from Team Fortuna Aprilia was one of the protagonists from the beginning of the race, going out and fighting with Dovizioso (Honda) immediately and significantly distancing himself from his competition. Among them was Jorge Lorenzo, Barbera’s teammate, who missed third place by a hair.

Barbera celebrated the victory with much satisfaction following drought of victories since 2004, when he won the last GP of the 125 season at the Valencian Community GP atop an Aprilia. Since he moved up to the 250, Hector didn’t taste victory until today, atop his official RSW 250. Barbera had a problem with the selected motorcycle in the morning but was able to make the best of a very difficult situation. Especially at the end of the race, Hector had to change his strategy to keep Dovizioso from winning. At the end, he tried to stay behind the Italian rider to best take advantage of his Aprilia’s speed to then pass the Honda rider, stopping any attempt on his part to reach the checkered flag first.

Jorge Lorenzo missed out on third place due to a mistake at the end of the race. The rider from Mallorca battled with Aoyama (KTM) and Takahashi (Honda) right from the start. In the beginning of the race, Lorenzo kept ahead of the competition and then at the end, he came under attack from the two Japanese riders. Trying to recuperate the positions lost at the end of the race, he wasn’t able to conquer the podium.

Also present was Alex De Angelis. The rider from Team Master Aspar, however, had to leave the race at the beginning of the fourth lap. De Angelis had noticed that the temperature of his RSW 250’s coolant was rising and to limit the effect, pulled off the adhesive tape from his radiator to maintain the engine at the right regiment. The change of atmospheric temperature, attributed to the clouds covering the limited sun, was what forced Alex to take such action. Unfortunately, as he returned his left hand to the handlebar, Alex found himself in front of a braking Dovizioso that caused Alex to lose control of the back of his motorcycle.

Roberto Locatelli had a good race. The rider from Team Toth looked to immediately insert himself in the competitive group but had to settle for 7th place. His motorcycle wasn’t exactly in great shape due to the bad fall during Saturday’s trials that didn’t allow Locatelli to select a mix of tyres with completely certainty.

Thanks to the 25 points he earned in his victory at the Chinese GP, Hector Barbera brought himself up to 2nd place in the international riders classification with 69 points. He is followed by teammate Jorge Lorenzo, in third place with 63 points.

Aprilia confirmed itself to be the leader in this category, also. With 95 points, it commands the international constructors category and holds a 23-point lead on its closest competition.

The next engagement on the track will be next Sunday, May 21st, in France on the mythical Bugatti circuit of Le Mans.

www.aprilia.com

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