2009 Valencia 250cc Race Result - Title Settled In Chaotic Race

Results and summary of the last ever 250cc race, in which the World Champion is crowned:

Hiroshi Aoyama will go down in history as the last ever 250cc World Champion, after a bizarre and incident-rich race which saw Hector Barbera take victory. Aoyama got a decent start off the line, slotting in behind Barbera who took a fantastic holeshot. Thomas Luthi had followed Barbera into Turn 1, with Aoyama running in 3rd.

Barbera proceeded to open a sliver of a gap over the chasing group, consisting of Luthi, Aoyama, Jules Cluzel and Marco Simoncelli, who had a dismal start, dropping from the pole down to 8th and fighting his way through. Simoncelli was determined to do all he could to snatch the title from Aoyama, and to do that, he needed a victory. He battled his way forward, creating a group of five riders battling for the lead, containing Barbera, Aoyama, Simoncelli, Alvaro Bautista and Mike di Meglio.

Simoncelli got past Aoyama on lap 6, after an intense duel saw the two title protagonists swapping positions. Once past the Scot Honda rider, Simoncelli went after Barbera, getting past on lap 9, with the group still hot on his tail.

The first of the mistakes that characterized this race came on lap 10: Mike di Meglio dived up the inside of Barbera into Turn 1 at the start of lap 11, and as Aoyama had been beside the Frenchman, he suddenly found himself confronted with the sight of Barbera's wheel. He braked hard, ran wide, and was too hot into Turn 1, racing through the gravel barely hanging on to his Honda, rejoining the race in 11th, giving him a virtual 1 point lead in the title race.

Two laps later, Aoyama was up into 10th, with an extra point to cushion his lead, but at the front, Barbera was slowly closing on Simoncelli. Simoncelli's only hope was to win, he could not afford to let Barbera past. As the Spaniard closed, Simoncelli pushed on as hard as he could, his Gilera getting wildly out of shape on corner exit. 

That was to prove his downfall. On lap 20, Simoncelli's bike shook its head just a little too long, and too late for the Italian to brake for the next left hander. The front folded and Simoncelli ended in the gravel, taking his title chances along with him.

Barbera cruised home to take a comfortable victory, ahead of Alvaro Bautista and Raffaele de Rosa, who had pushed Bautista hard in the latter part of the race, securing the Rookie of the Year title in 250s to add to Hiroshi Aoyama's world title. Aoyama's championship lead was helped by a couple of crahsers, Mike di Meglio and Jules Cluzel hitting the dirt and retiring.