Bradley Smith jumped off the line giving join to British fans as he lead from Gadea and Terol. Smith’s compatriot Webb was a first lap victim, taken out by American Cameron Baubier at the change of direction.

Smith’s lead lasted until the end of lap one, where both Nico Terol and Sergio Gadea passed the young Britain on the main straight. The messy melee for the minor positions showed its first signs of sparking into life as Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez collided and ran off but rejoined safely.

The furious scrapping through the field was enough to distract the Dutch fans long enough for Iannone to slide through to the lead.

Corsi and Iannone spent lap three carving each other up while Sergio Gadea, Bradley Smith and Julian Simon lurked in the shadows.

The bad news for the Britain’s continued, a frustrated Scott Reading out with a mechanical failure on lap four, causing him to bow out of the heated battle that saw Stefan Bradl diving angrily past Corsi for fourth.

Cortese crashed out soon after, tucking the front on the exit of a fast right hander, the German lucky not to get collected by his bike as they rolled down the grass.

Johann Zarco gave the mid pack something to think about on lap eight, his nasty high side at the esses saw his bike slide across the face of the corner and back onto the track ahead of a gaggle of riders before he remounted.  

A six way battle for sixth raged behind the leaders raged as Gadea caught up to Terol and Simon, making the battle for the lead a three-way fight.

Nico Terol was literally the meat in the Aspar sandwich as they run three wide through the back complex onto the main straight at the end of lap five, the Jack and Jones Aprilia rounded up by the two Aspar bikes in a fast and narrow section of the Dutch circuit.

The six way battle for the sixth position began to fracture late in the race, with Stefan Bradl setting a cracking pace at the front of the peloton and stringing it out.

In the final lap Smith and Iannone swapped positions several times in a heated battle for fourth place but the battle at the front was the hottest. Simon led into the final lap, but Terol’s pass at the flip-flop saw both riders off and Terol on the well-used asphalt runoff. Terol eventually rejoined behind Gadea but Simon’s race was over.

Terol pushed hard but couldn’t pass Gadea who takes a lucky win Terol and teammate Julian Simon.

Bradley Smith led Iannone across the line for fourth by the barest of margins, the Britain making his displeasure obvious with the Italian even before they passed the line. Bradl held onto his sixth place after a hectic, angry and downright frightening final lap from the six riders behind him. With 125cc bikes spread across the track and the infield through the esses and the chicane the last lap was a typically angry affair for the junior category, but the controversy of Terol’s move on Simon and the penalty was the main focus post race.

The elevation of Smith to third gave the Aspar team a podium clean sweep and it’s 200^th podium place.

The 125cc’s will take a break as the MotoGP circus makes a one week dash across the Atlantic to Laguna Seca. The 125cc’s will return in Germany.

It was Dani Pedrosa who stole the start as Jorge Lorenzo dropped to sixth, the Repsol rider held his lead for much of the first lap, until Casey Stoner launched an attack that carried his Alice Ducati from third, past Rossi in second and Dani Pedrosa for the lead.

It was a short lived lead for the Australian though, Rossi capitalising on a mistake to reclaim the lead soon after and make an immediate lead.

As Lorenzo launched his comeback and climbed past Chris Vermeulen for fourth Stoner’s teammate Nicky Hayden was having his best race on a Ducati, at the head of a queue of 6 riders fighting for eighth.

On lap four Lorenzo made his way past the injured Pedrosa and into third, and immediately set off after Stoner and Rossi. For Pedrosa, the furious pace was too much, and when his front end folded on lap five Pedrosa crashed out of the race, and out of championship contention.

As the riders at the front stretched out, each riding lonely races, the battle for seventh between Mika Kallio, Loris Capirossi, James Toseland, Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet and Alex de Angelis was just heating up.

Eager not to fall back into the clutches of the peloton behind, Andrea Dovizioso pushed too hard. The second of the Repsol Honda’s fell in identical fashion to lead rider Pedrosa, elevating the vibrant battle for seventh to a battle for sixth place.

Ahead, Rossi was maintaining a steady lead from Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner, with Colin Edwards and Chris Vermeulen holding station in fourth and fifth.

The battle for sixth continued to be the focal point for fans though, as first Toseland, then De Puniet fought with Kallio, the Fin fighting both off in turn.

In the meantime Tony Elias had made a rapid charge back to the tail of the main group, and as De Puniet dropped to ninth the two teammates collided, but Elias made the pass stick and took ninth.

Hayden meanwhile had found his way back to the front of the pack but when he backed his bike sideways into the right hander before the flip-flop the American found himself hustled back to 11^th, leaving Mika Kallio on the Pramac Ducati the second Ducati behind Stoner.

In a style more befitting the battle for the lead in a 125cc or 250 race, the last lap unleashed mayhem on the fight for sixth, with Mika Kallio crashing out of sixth pushing hard through the double left hander, the fight for sixth became a royal rumble.

Capirossi, Elias and Toseland all found themselves off the track at the chicane, but in the end it was Britain’s Toseland who faired best, crossing the line sixth ahead of Randy De Puniet and Nicky Hayden.

There was no such mayhem at the front of the field for, with both Rossi and Lorenzo having time to organise celebratory wheelies as they crossed the line. Stoner was more subdued, and the Australian was whisked to his trailer for medical attention immediately following the race.

Rossi’s 100^th race win breaks the championship deadlock and leaves him five points clear of teammate Lorenzo, and nine points clear of Stoner heading into Laguna Seca.

After crashing on his sighting lap Lorenzo was lucky to make it back to resume his pole position on the grid, and luckier still not to crash at the start. Starting in a wet patch, the #99 Yamaha spun up wildly off the line, allowing most of the field past as the race got under way.

The horror start from those on the front row saw Randy De Puniet lead the field briefly into turn one, before being rounded up for first by Dani Pedrosa with Vermeulen, Stoner and Dovizioso following.

The frantic first lap held surprises, with Vermeulen jumping to fourth from 11th on the grid, and Melandri leaping to ninth from 15th.

Stoner claimed the lead into turn one as Rossi jumped to fourth. Stoner however was soon rounded up by a hard charging Dovioso.

On a drying track it was Britain’s Jame Toseland first to roll the dice, diving to the pits for dry tyres from 15th on lap five as Marco Melandri rounded up Jorge Lorenzo for fifth. Over the next few laps Rossi climbed to the lead, but it was Melandri who really stole the show, wrestling the under funded Hayate Kawasaki to the lead past Rossi on lap 10.

Meanwhile, Toseland had set the fastest lap of the race on dry tyres, and Andrea Dovizioso made a race making decision to pit for dry tyres of his own.

It wasn’t until a lap later that the front five made their stops, and as they rejoined it was Dovizioso on warmed and ready slicks who quickly rounded up the quartet of Rossi, Melandri, Lorenzo and Stoner in front.

James Toseland was still setting records as the front runners built temperature and awareness, all the while jostling for position. It was Stoner though who got to grips with the dry tyres first, Stoner catching dovi by 1 second a lap.

Dani Pedrosa’s run of bad luck continued, after badly injuring his hip in a nasty near-crash during practice Pedrosa crashed heavily, further damaging his hip and having to be stretchered away from the track.

On lap 15 Stoner set the fastest lap of the race so far with a 1m54.620 on his way to the lead past Dovi.

Stoner’s lead was short lived however, and Capirossi took the lead into turn one on the following lap as Rossi set a 1m52.641, two seconds fast than everyone else.

Stoner responded immediately, his 1m52.296 good enough to reset the gap back to a chasing Rossi in fifth and to retake the lead from former teammate Capirossi.

The dying phase of the lap was all about Fiat Yamaha as Lorenzo and Rossi cut their way onto the podium like a pair of sharks, valiantly but vainly trying to chase down Stoner, who held on for a close win.

It was Ducati’s first ever win on the Mugello circuit and gives Casey Stoner a four point Championship lead. Stoner is now equal with former Australian World Champion Wayne Gardner for all time MotoGP wins with 18.

The race started, as at Le Mans started in treacherous wet conditions, but fortunately didn’t turn into the crash fest we saw in France, with Jules Cluzel the first and rider to succumb, down on lap one and Lucas Pesek the only other crasher with a nasty highside on lap six. Up the front Simoncelli eked out a three second lead over Bautista by the end of the first lap, the Spaniard clearly anxious to set out after the reigning champ but Hector Faubel, Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama had other ideas. It took a few laps for Bautista to break free, but in the meantime Mattia Pasini had closed in behind, and when Bautista ran wide on lap three Pasini dove through for second.

For the next few laps the lead riders strung out, with each finding their own groove. Simoncelli was six seconds ahead at one stage, but Pasini was closing rapidly at over a second a lap, and Bautista clawing the duo back by over two seconds a lap.

When he finally made the pass for second, Bautista dragged Pasini to the rear of Simoncelli, and there was an air of tension as Simoncelli ran wide at turn one, allowing Bautista to the lead. Both Bautista and Simoncelli had frightening moments and Pasini sat back, biding his time.

Pasini’s strategy proved wisest on lap eleven, when a desperate lunge from Simoncelli saw the two collide, Simoncelli and Bautista both taking a wild ride across the sand trap through the esses. It was a scary moment in the high speed section and both riders were lucky to rejoin, Simoncelli 5.5 seconds behind and Bautista a further four or five seconds behind the Italian.

The incident immediately triggered an investigation by race officials, and turned on the angry eyes in Bautista’s helmet.

The Mapfire Aspar rider set the fastest lap with a 2m07.067s on lap 16, closing to 0.6s behind Simoncelli, and closing fast on Bautista.

Bautista was pushing for the pass on Simoncelli with three laps to go when a huge highside through him out of his seat, luckily holding on and dropping just a second to Simoncelli, but most significantly, ending his challenge for second or a potential win.

Inspired, Simoncelli caught up to Pasini, setting up one of the greatest final laps of the season, over the line Simoncelli caught the slipstream, sling-shotting to the lead before running wide into turn one, Pasini dove to the lead out of that corner, before Simoncelli retook the lead in turn 3. Pasini retook his lead just a corner later. It was all the crowd could do to count the lead changes in a lap that saw as many as nine changes for the lead, but it was Mattia Pasini who managed to hold on, claiming the lead by a mere tenth of a second.

The final result is still in dispute with officials yet to rule on the incident between Bautista and Simoncelli.

It was Simon who led the pack off the line ahead of Scott Redding and the newly painted bright yellow bike of Andrea Iannone. The opening laps were defined by aggressive moves as eight riders fought hard in the lead pack.

Down the main straight riders were as many as four wide as the 125’s scrambled for position, the long Mugello straight meant that the leader over the line was rarely the leader out of turn one, with Simon, Terol and Iannone swapping position with typical junior class recklessness.  

On lap five the Bancajar Aspar riders pounced, as they swarmed like angry wasps into turn one Smith dove around the outside of the pack, from sixth to second, while teammate Simon slide smoothly down the inside into the lead.

Alexis Masbou’s bad season continued, mechanical issues on the Chinese Loncin forcing the Frenchman out on lap five.

The Iannone show continued at the front, this time with co-star Smith who dove to the lead at the start of lap six, but a wild dive from Iannone round the outside saw the bright yellow machine take a very ragged, but effective lead.

Iannone’s luck would soon run out though, and less than a lap later Iannone’s chain divorced from the sprocket, slowing the bike dramatically. The failure was fortunate for Smith, who immediately inherited a full second lead as Iannone’s slowing Ongetta held up the swarm of riders behind.

The fight for second was the left to Smith’s teammate Simon ahead of Scott Redding, Terol, Danny Webb, Marc(y marc) Marquez, Zarco and Stefan Bradl.

Joan Olive took out another rider for the second race in a row, this time raising the ire of teammate Efren Vazquez.

Danny Webb managed to climb to fourth before his front tyre had an unpleasant encounter with one of Mugello’s bumps, forcing the young Brit into the pebbles.

Meanwhile Julian Simon and Nico Terol had gapped Redding and crew in fourth by 3.5 seconds, and caught up to Smith ahead. With rain sprinkling Smith made the wise decision to spend a few laps following the duo, but soon jumped back into the lead ahead of Terol, and began eking out an advantage over Simon.

With Simon looking good for third, the biggest battle of the race was for fourth place with Espagaro, Cortese, Redding, Marquez and Zarco battling each other with typical vigour. The five riders maintained their battle right until the final corner, when Cortese, in an effort to push hard and avoid the slip stream, over cooked his exit out of the final corner and crashed.

Up ahead though it was a solid ride from Smith, who never really looked like losing in the final phase of the race, eventually finishing two tenths clear of Terol, with a slowing Simon on an ailing Aprilia in third.

The minor spots were filled by the sole remaining Team Derbi rider Pol Espagaro, Marquez and Zarco ahead of Scott Redding, Stefan Bradl, rookie Lorenzo Savadori, and the remounted Simoni Cortese.

Smith now leads the championship by 3.5 points from teammate Julian Simon.

After a crash in Jerez Jorge Lorenzo bounced back in the best possible fashion with his win that was set up in the opening laps. Off the line it was Dani Pedrosa who got a blinder, carrying a huge lead into the first corner ahead of Stoner and Lorenzo with Rossi in fourth, but it wasn’t long before Lorenzo lept to the lead ahead of compatriot and bitter rival Pedrosa.

As Casey Stoner dropped back to seventh first Lorenzo, then Rossi and finally teammate Andrea Dovizioso rounded up Dani Pedrosa but it was Lorenzo who was streaking ahead of the field. With a rapidly drying track it was left to the riders to decide when to change on to the dry tyre and it was Valentino Rossi who jumped first.

The Italian pitted on lap 5 with Pedrosa and Capirossi following close by. It was a decision Rossi would soon rue however, and the #46 Yamaha was down in the gravel just a lap later. Rossi rejoined but was unable to get back into the points, eventually finishing sixth.

Marco Melandri showed his experience on lap six, pitting for dry tyres from fifth position and setting up a ride that would see him a chance for a win, and eventual second place getter. As the laps counted down the front runners Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Chris Vermeulen all stayed out. The trio pitting on lap 11, one lap before Jorge Lorenzo.

On lap 12 Jorge Lorenzo and Toni Elias both swapped bikes, leaving all riders on dry tyres in a final sprint to the flag. After the stops it was Lorenzo, by a few seconds on cold tyres from Melandri, with Dovi, Stoner and Vermeulen defending from Dani Pedrosa on warm tyres.

The race became all about the timing screens for the next few laps as Melandri and Pedrosa took advantage of their warm tyres and their time feeling out the conditions to reel in the riders ahead. The times between Lorenzo and Melandri stabillised, the underfunded and underdeveloped Kawasaki unable to reel in the factory Yamaha.

Dani Pedrosa though, was catching those in front of him hand over fist, powering past Vermeulen and Stoner on his hunt for his teammate, and the final podium spot. Catching Dovi at around a second a lap, Pedrosa still looked too far behind to make a pass coming into the final lap, but a last minute dive late in the final lap saw the fast fnishing Pedrosa snatch third from his teammate.

The story of the race though was the commanding performance by Jorge Lorenzo, and the rider of the season from a man many wrote off as a MotoGP refugee after the collapse of the Kawasaki team in the pre-season. It was a delighted Lorenzo who crossed the line in typical flamboyant fashion ahead of the equally delighted and demonstrative Melandri.

The championship is now once again closed up with Lorenzo reclaiming his lead by one point from Rossi and Stoner tied on 65 points and Dani Pedrosa on 57.

Despite the conditions it was a scrappy first lap from the 250’s with Simoncelli and Aoyama jumping to the lead early on from Lucas Pesek and Angel Rodriquez. Simoncelli and Aoyama fought for the lead through the first half of the opening lap, swapping places several times before Aoyama ran wide at Garage and dropped to sixth.

Meanwhile the replacement for controversial absentee Galbor Talmasci, Angel Rodriquez had lept from 16th on the grid to fourth, fighting with Pesek for third throughout the opening laps. The crashing began on lap one again, with Shoya Tomizawa crashing out of seventh before Bastien Chesaux joined him on the sideline early in lap two.

As in the 125cc race, the 250 race became a race of attrition as riders struggled to go with the blistering pace of Marco Simoncelli. Lucas Pesek and Angel Rodriquez succumbed early, Pesek crashing out of second just moments after being gifted the position by the crash of Rodriquez on lap 3 leaving Luthi in second from Faubel and Pasini with Debon closing rapidly for the minor placings.

For the 250cc’s it was the entry to the main straight that presented the most challenge with Axel Pons, and Mike Di Meglio both crashing in front of the packed French grandstand.

With 12 laps to go Alex Debon was the talk of the track, setting the fastest lap and closing rapidly on Thomas Luthi. The Spaniard Debon looked set to catch and pass Luthi without drama but just two laps later after making such rapid ground, an impatient Debon lost the front end under brakes, skittling the innocent Luthi. An angry Luthi was forced out by the crash, and made his feelings known to Debon, who rejoined only to  crash again, this time crashing out of the race just a few laps later.

As the race drew to a close a few scary moments from Simoncelli had fans enthralled as Roberto Locatelli closed in on Faubel, setting up a potential Metis Gilera 1-2. The result was made more impressive given the massive accident that nearly ended the 34 year old veterans career just two seasons earlier.

Hector Faubel managed to hold on for second though, behind a triumpant Marco Simoncelli and ahead of Roberto Locatelli.

The win reignites the reigning champion’s defence, leaving Simoncelli fourth in the championship, 26 points behind current leader Alvaro Bautista.

The start was good for Nicolas Terol who lead Simon, Olive, Marquez and Smith across the line after the first lap. Championship leader Andrea Iannone crashed on lap one while trying to improve on his poor qualifying perfomance, gifting the front running riders an opportunity to claim the championship lead with a good result.

As the race pace gradually increased Simoni Corsi was the next rider down, soon after passing Redding for sixth on lap three Corsi had a massive highside and was lucking not to take the young Brit with him.

Terol’s lead was increasing steadily and looked insurmountable until lap four, the Spaniard becoming the first of many victims at the entrance to the Dunlop chicane.

From there they fell like flies as Cortese, Luca Vitali and Danny Webb all crashed. It was Joan Olive and Marc Marquez who put it in the best entry for ‘most spectacular crash’ on lap six. Entering the main straigh Olive highsided his machine just centimetres from Marquez’s front wheel, leaving the 16 year old nowhere to go and bringing both riders down.

This left Bradley Smith in second ahead of Stefan Bradl, Scott Redding and Jonas Folger with Folger on a charge. Soon after the German made his way past  past redding into 4^th behind compatriot Bradl as Bradl closed ominously on Smith for second.

Lap nine was another crash happy tour as American Beaubier crashed out of the top ten, and Koayama crashed his chinese Loncin machine out of a very credible seventh place.

On lap 11 Folger moved to third past Bradl and set off after cork-in-the bottle Smith. As Folger made his move Smith was hung out to dry and Bradl slipped through, relegating the brit to fourth as the two Germans set off after Simon. It was to be a fruitless chase though with Simon some 20 seconds down the road.

Dominique Aegeter was pressuring Smith for fourth until lap 12 when he to crashed on the entrance to the Dunlop Chicane, leaving Scott Redding the next to pressure the young Britain. Barely a lap later though and Redding became the next victim of the Dunlop chicane, pinching the brakes as he closed right up on the back of Smith and losing the bike.

It must have seemed like christmas for Smith as with 10 laps to go Stefan Bradl was down, gifting Smith third place. Bradl had been struggling to keep up with Jonas Folger as he set the fastest lap of the race so far, and had a clumsy highside, with his bike continuing on down the track without him.

The replay screens gave a sense of Deja Vu on lap 19 as Nicolas Terol had his second crash of the day. After climbing back to fifth Terol eventually finished 9th after his two crashes.

Smith’s luch ran out with jut three laps to go, as teammate Sergio Gadea barged past into the final podium position and a backmarker prevented Smith from retaking the spot.

With Simon and Folger riding lonely races in first and second the focus was on the fight for the final podium spot in the dying stages, with Bradley Smith setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap in a desperate but ultimately vain lunge for third position.

The result could have been worse for Iannone who salvaged seventh, and valuable championship points after his first lap crash, but the Italian couldn’t hold on to the championship lead.

Julian Simon now leads the 125cc championship from Bradley Smith with Iannone in third.

Stoner looked slower in the first sector, and middle but fast in the final sector setting up the faint hope the Australian former champ could run with his 250cc rival.

On lap two Rossi jumped to third past the seemingly struggling Lorenzo at the Nieto corner and set off after Stoner.

It was three laps later on lap five that Rossi took a short lived second place at the final turn, Stoner drafting down the long main straight to reclaim the position just one corner later.

History has a habit of repeating when it comes to Rossi and as they pair approached the final corner on lap six Rossi reclaimed second once again, this time taking a conservative line into turn one and making the move stick.

With a gap of 1.2 seconds to Dani Pedrosa it looked as though Rossi would be unable to catch the Spaniard, the two swapping tenths of a second until lap 14.

On the same lap that Mika Kalio retired with brake issues Rossi bought the gap down to well under a second for the first time.

With a sniff of the Honda in his nostrils Rossi charged on, catching up to the rear of Pedrosa at lap 16 and passing him through his favourite passing spot, the Nieto corner on lap 17.

Pedrosa began to show signs of front end tyre wear after pushing hard for the entire race, and Rossi was able to open a gap to the #3 pilot.

Meanwhile Jorge Lorenzo had a second wind and was closing the gap to Stoner, who was in turn closing the gap to Pedrosa in second as the factory Honda rider ran wide at Nieto. 

With four laps remaining Lorenzo pulled the gap to Stoner in third down to just eight tenths of a second, pushing hard on the Yamaha in the chase for podium.

Too hard. 

With three laps to go Lorenzo folded the front of the #99 Fiat Yamaha and lost his chances of a podium. Lorenzo made an effort to rejoin but was forced to retire with no right footpeg and a broken clipon.

That not only left Stoner clear for third place but also elevated the rarely upright Randy De Puniet to a credible fourth and Marco Melandri on his underfunded Kawasaki to fifth place. The result was another bonus for Melandri after starting 13th, showing the Italian still has some ability even on inferior machinery.

Up the front was where it mattered though as Rossi took a cheeky look behind him and lifted his front wheel across the line 2.7 seconds clear of a more sedate Pedrosa. Casey Stoner delivered the Spanish fans a spectactular stand up wheelie in his first ever Jerez podium. 

De Puniet and Melandri pulled there own wheelies after solid results for them but it was Rossi making a return to his usual flamboyant celebrations. Oarking the Yamaha and making his way to the portaloo, a classic Rossi celebration, before heading to parc ferme.

Rossi’s sixth Jerez win sees him take the lead in the championship heading into the fourth round at France.

In the end though it was Hiroshi Aoyama who scored a scintilating win.

Starting from pole, Alex Debon had an solid start but it was Simoncelli who went to the lead early. Valentin Debise had the honour of tasting the Jerez asphaly first, tumbling on the exit of turn one. The frenchman forced to chase his run-away bike down the track before rejoining the race last.

On lap three Hiroshi Aoyama fired his warning shot, blasting by Alex Debon for fourth place. Aoyama soon caught up to the powder keg that was Barbera, Bautista and Simoncelli in their battle for the podium, firing the Honda, a bike with no development for four years, into the battle after setting a new lap record on lap four.

Just two laps later Aoyama was third, displacing a surprisingly serene Hector Barbera at the Dry Sack corner.

Simoncelli took the lead from bitter rival Bautista at the second last turn with 20 laps to go and managed to hold on until the braking area for turn one, where Bautista ran wide and Simoncelli got the switchback to retake the lead.  

The complex from the final corner to the second corner became the main stage as lap after lap Aoyama, Simoncelli and Bautista took turns pouncing, drafting and outbreaking themselves in a three way swap for the lead.

On lap 9 Aoyama hung Simoncelli out to dry on the way to second, which let Bautista open a gap but soon pegged it back. Contact was always iminent but thankfully never occurent during a race that saw savage passing with a healthy dose of respect. All the while Hectic Hector sat in fourth, waiting to pounce on the trio in front, but bizarrely for Barbera never making his attack.

With eight laps to go the battle for the lead was still fierce as Aoyama dove under Bautista into Dry Sack and ran wide, carrying Bautista out to the edge of the track and gifting Simoncelli first.

As the lead pack came across lapped traffic in the final seven laps the constant switchbacks and passes had most punters losing count of the lead changes and all but the most hardened holding their breaths in anxiety.

One backmarker ran wide to let the leaders through, and almost sucked Bautista into following him wide with just a few to go as Simoncelli began to show the signs of severe front tyre wear.

With four laps left Barbera had enough of playing the patient game and took his chance on Simoncelli, making it stick for third. The Barbera - Simoncelli battle let Bautista and Aoyama skip away, the Spaniard and the Japanese rider fighting ever harder and setting an electric pace as they gapped the pair fighting for the final podium spot.

On the final lap it was Bautista who led all the way through to the complex in the back part of the circuit, where Aoyama took the lead with less than half a lap to go.

That move left Aoyama vulnerable at the last corner where so many of the races overtaking moves had occured and sure enough, with one corner to run Bautista made a final lunge down the inside for the lead.

The massive Spanish contingent in the crowd erupted for a brief second as Bautista ran wide in the middle of the last corner, allowing Aoyama to tuck in and switch back for an historic and hard fought win ahead of a rueful Bautista and a content Simoncelli.