Repsol rider Sebastián Porto wins and convinces in Holland
The Argentinean rider wins with authority in the 250 GP; Nicky Hayden fifth in MotoGP and Barros crashed while being second. Xaus seventh, moves up positions in the overall standings.
Its been neither an easy race nor a comfortable victory but Sebastián Portos good style, the excellent job of his team throughout the weekend and a good race planning allowed the Argentinean rider to take his second victory of the season the first one was in Italy and close the gap to the leader of the standings, Randy De Puniet, to 23 points. Porto, who was starting from the pole position, kept the lead until the end of the main straight after the start and set a very fast pace, allowing him to escape and open a gap of a bit more than one second to the second rider, De Puniet, and the rest of the pack. But the Repsol riders escape was neutralised only a couple of laps later by De Puniet, Elias and Pedrosa, who after a bad start made-up positions until catching up with the front. With De Puniet, Elias, Porto, Pedrosa and a bit further behind De Angelis fighting for the podium, Fonsi Nieto was in the second group with West, who later on left the group behind, Rolfo and Poggiali, all of them fighting for the fifth position.
With seven laps to go, Sebastián Porto made an excellent move and did not leave any possibility to his rivals, eager to take the victory. Porto suddenly changed the rhythm and managed to open a gap of two seconds in a bit more than two laps, thus getting advantage enough to cross the finish line in first position. Fonsi Nieto, who had an intense fight with Rolfo and Poggiali for the seventh place, finally finished eighth. Little luck for the Repsol Honda Team riders in MotoGP. Alex Barros, who started from the second row, was fourth when he reached the end of the straight after the start, right behind Gibernau, Rossi and Checa. After a couple of laps, Alex decided to go for it and passed Checa, then Rossi, placing himself in second position. His teammate Nicky Hayden, who had started from the sixth row, was remounting positions from the sixteenth place in the first lap to the final fifth place. Meanwhile, Barros had to retire from the race after a light but spectacular crash while he was riding on second position.
The third Repsol rider of the class, Rubén Xaus, continues with his good performances in MotoGP and managed to finish seventh this time fastest Ducati rider -, despite having been fifth and sixth during most part of the race. Rubén finished ahead of much more experienced riders, such as Capirossi, Checa, Abe, Tamada and Roberts. This weekend has definitely been a good weekend for Xaus who, after todays seventh place and the sixth place in Barcelona, moved up to the eleventh place in the overall standings and is now very close to get into the list of the top ten riders in his MotoGP rookie season. It wasnt a good day either for the Repsol riders in the minor class. Pablo Nieto made another bad start and that took away almost every chance to make a good race and fight for the podium. In the front, Locatelli and Stoner quickly set a fast pace allowing them to leave the rest of the pack behind. Meanwhile a second group was formed behind with Dovizioso, Barberá, Lorenzo, Kallio, Simoncelli and a bit further in the back Pablo Nieto.
Lorenzo was the first one to move up from the second to the first group and catch-up with the leading riders. The rest of the group began closing the gap behind Lorenzo, while Barberá and Nieto were left behind with their particular duel. Sergio Gadea was riding much further behind, who after starting from the eighteenth position had dropped back to the twenty-fifth place. Finally, and after some spectacular overtaking manoeuvres Lorenzo and his Derbi took the victory, whilst Pablo Nieto had to settle for the eighth place. His teammate Gadea finished twenty-first.
