DE ANGELIS WINS MOTO2 RACE AT PHILLIP ISLAND

Following a rain-shortened 125cc race, the Moto2 race began in sunny conditions on a dry track with the Championship leader Márquez (Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol) starting from the back of the grid, the result of a penalty applied following his collision with Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda Singha-SAG) at the end of the Friday's first free practice session.

De Angelis, who rides for the JiR team, picked up where he left off last year at Phillip Island to start from pole. At the race start, de Angelis got away smartly, but Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) crossed the line first at the end of lap one, followed by Pol Espargaró (HP Tuenti Speed Up). Bradl assumed the lead on lap five, holding it until a final lap showdown with de Angelis which saw the latter come out on top to take his second victory of the 2011 season.

While that tussle was interesting, a lot of the 43,000+ fans at Phillip Island were looking back through the field to follow Marquez's progress. Carving through the backmarkers like a hot knife through butter, the Spanish sensation made up 22 places in the first lap alone! From there, Marquez moved through the field with regularity until lap seventeen where, after passing Claudio Corti (Italtrans Racing) for third, the Italian fought back and the two duked it out to the finish. Marquez prevailed, his third place combined with the second place of Bradl rearranging the Championship standings, with the German retaking the lead by three points over Marquez.

Pol Espargaró (HP Tuenti Speed Up) was fifth, with Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP) taking sixth followed by Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) in seventh and Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) in eighth. Front row starter Mike di Meglio (Tech 3 Racing) and Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) rounded out the top ten.

Of the Aussies, Ant West (MZ Racing Team) was taken out in the first corner of the opening lap when Jordi Torres (Mapfre Aspar Team) fell and pushed him off the track. Of the two BRP Racing local wildcards, Blake Leigh-Smith made it to the chequered flag, albeit one lap down on the winners, while Kris McLaren crashed on lap 15.

CLASSIFICATION - Moto2
2011 Phillip Island Motorcycle Grand Prix

1. Alex DE ANGELIS
2. Stefan BRADL
3. Marc MARQUEZ
4. Claudio CORTI
5. Pol ESPARGARO
6. Kenan SOFUOGLU
7. Scott REDDING
8. Andrea IANNONE
9. Mike DI MEGLIO
10. Yuki TAKAHASHI