Mika Kallio rode a courageous 250 cc GP at Assen on Saturday coming from behind to third place before all hopes of a podium faded when he experienced tyre troubles.
In what has been a difficult weekend for the Finnish championship leader he made a dramatic recovery from the difficulties in setting up his Red Bull KTM 250 for the fast and challenging Assen circuit. He stormed to the front group of riders, holding fifth, fourth and even third place on the opening laps. But the tyre trouble intervened. He slipped back to finish in seventh place, which left him holding onto his world championship lead by one single point.
Team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama, who had been even further back on the grid in thirteenth position, also worked his way up through the ranks to eventually finish in sixth place ahead of Kallio. Repsol KTM rider Julian Simon rode to a lonely tenth place.
Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM 250 - seventh in 1:40.849)
"Things were better in the race than in practice, even though we couldn't find a perfect set-up like we did last week in Donington. I still managed to break into the top five early on in the race, and I even thought of making a podium finish at some stage. The bike felt good and I was able to push, but after about ten laps I felt that something wasn't correct. I sensed a small vibration and started to lose a little bit of rear grip, and then this vibration started to get worse and worse. In the end it got so bad that the rear wheel started to jump. I couldn't push any more, and other guys started to overtake me. It turned out that my rear tyre was completely destroyed. Considering that, seventh place is still not bad, so I guess I was lucky and unlucky at the same time!"
Hiroshi Aoyama (Red Bull KTM 250 - sixth)
"I was the best KTM rider in the race classification today, but I can't be satisfied with that, because we are aiming much higher than a sixth place. Normally, there is quite a good performance balance between us and our competitors, but for some reason, Assen was a very tough race for KTM, as the Aprilia riders had a little advantage here. We tried to improve in all practice sessions, but we couldn't quite close the gap. Never mind, I think that the next track, the German Sachsenring, will be better for us. There is room to improve my set-up and my riding, but my general feeling with the bike is good!"
Harald Bartol (Technical Director):
"It is very unfortunate for Mika to miss out on a podium finish with a problem like that. The tyre was out of balance and jumped a lot, and it was worn out completely. It's the second time this year that we were slowed by a tyre problem, which is not good."
Results:
1. Alvaro Bautista, Spain, Aprilia 40:54.117
2. Thomas Luthi, Switzerland. Aprilia, 40:58.714
3. Marco Simoncelli, Italy, Gilera, 41:00.120
4. Alex Debon, Spain. Aprilia, 41:03.151
5. Hector Barbera, Spain, Aprilia, 41:03.196
6. Hiroshi Aoyama, Japan, KTM, 41:05.632
7. Mika Kallio, Finland, KTM, 41:06.9
10. Julien Simon, Spain, KTM, 41:22.906
Standings:
1. Mika Kallio, Finland, KTM 140
2. Marco Simoncelli, Italy, 139
3. Alex Debon, Spain, 114
4. Alvaro Bautista, Spain, 102
5. Mattia Pasini, Italy, 98
Other KTM:
7. Hiroshi Aoyama, Japan, KTM 90
10. Julian Simon, Spain, Repsol KTM 250 cc 57
Images by Kirn F.
