Italian Marco Simoncelli held off a spirited challenge from championship rival Alvaro Bautista to win the Australian Grand Prix and edge closer to his first 250cc world crown here on Sunday.
Finland’s Mika Kallio pipped fellow KTM rider Julian Simon of Spain by 0.028secs to take third place on the race podium.
After 15 races, Simoncelli has 240 points while Bautista has 203 and Kallio is on 191.
Simoncelli finished a slender 0.223 seconds ahead of Spain’s Alvaro Bautista, just pipping the Aprilia rider on the line after a race-long battle.
“This has been a fantastic race,” Simoncelli said.
“Alvaro put up a great, great fight. I tried to ride to the maximum but he was always very close to me.”
“I knew that he would try to pass me on the last corner but I managed to close the door.”
The pair touched twice as Bauista tried desperately to get past but the Spaniard said he was happy in the end to have ridden as well as possible.
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