Malaysian Grand Prix - Race Reviews 125cc - Julian Simon wins his sixth race of the 2009 season Julian Simon won his sixth race of the season on board his Bancaja Aspar Aprilia at the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix. Simon was able to ride to victory after again battling his team mate Bradley Smith. Smith who broke his right foot after a fall in Saturday’s qualifying session, showed enormous strength and courage to fight Simon for the lead, in the heat of the Sepang circuit. With Simon taking victory and Smith standing on the second step of the podium, it was Pol Espargaro who took the remaining third step after crossing the line over five seconds behind Smith followed closely by Sergio Gadea and Nico Terol. Sandro Cortese followed by Esteve Rabat, Andrea Iannone, Joan Olive and Lorenzo Zanetti rounded out the top ten. Danny Webb took out Stefan Bradl with a nasty high-side going into the first hairpin, whilst Simone Corsi, Efren Vazquez and Marc Marquez also failed to finish. 250cc - A photo finish for Barbera and Simoncelli The Malaysian round of the 250cc World Championship kept spectators on the edge of their seats. Hiroshi Aoyama eventually took victory at the Sepang circuit after a spectacular dual with current 250cc World Champion Marco Simoncelli. Simoncelli who qualified in eighth position was able to blast through the field as the lights went out, followed by Aoyama and Jules Cluzel. A battle for not only the race victory but also the world championship broke out between Aoyama and Simoncelli which has spectators holding their breaths. The battle intensified on lap eight when Simoncelli pushed the Honda rider off his line and with Cluzel crashing out on lap ten the battle was left to the two title contenders to resolve. At the mid way point of the race Aoyama began to push for the victory and was able to set a new lap record of 2’07.597, with this kind of pace it was not long until Aoyama was able to establish a three second gap between himself and the Gilera rider who now found himself under attack from Aprilia’s Hector Barbera. Aoyama eventually crossed the finish line 6.397 seconds ahead of the field, increasing his championship lead to 21 points over Simoncelli. Simoncelli was eventually awarded third position by race direction after crossing the line at the exact same time as Hector Barbera who was awarded second place. Thomas Luthi and Hector Faubel round out the top five, whilst falls from Mike Di Meglio, Alvaro Bautista and Mattia Pasini saw those three riders not finish the race Barbera’s second place finish saw him move up the championship ladder into third position in front of Mapfre Aspar Aprilia Team’s Alvaro Bautista. With only one round left, only twenty one points separates Aoyama and Simoncelli.