Alvaro Bautista won Sunday's 250cc San Marino Grand Prix from eleventh on the grid, after a dramatic race in which championship leaders Marco Simoncelli and Mika Kallio both fell.
Kallio fell after running into the back of KTM team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama in the early stages of the race, bringing them both down, whilst Simoncelli dropped his Gilera from third in the closing stages - shortly after playing 'bumper cars' with Hector Barbera.
Barbera and Simoncelli had carved each other up on several occasions throughout the race - Barbera having already made himself unpopular with the local fans due to contact with Mattia Pasini, which sent a furious Polaris World Aprilia rider tumbling through the gravel at high speed and lucky to escape injury.
Simoncelli remounted to finish sixth after his fall, while Barbera collected the final podium position behind Bautista and JiR Honda's Yuki Takahashi.
All of which means Simoncelli's 16 point lead over Kallio has been extended to 26 points with five rounds to go, but pre-season favourite Bautista is now just one point further back after his third win of the year.
Race results - Misano:
1. Bautista (Aprilia)
2. Takahashi (Honda) +2.088secs
3. Barbera (Aprilia) +3.752secs
4. Locatelli (Gilera) +7.472secs
5. Simon (KTM) +10.862secs
6. Simoncelli (Gilera) +21.180secs
7. Luthi (Aprilia) +29.440secs
8. Wilairot (Honda) +33.882secs
9. Pesek (Aprilia) +35.051secs
10. Abraham () +45.405secs
Laverty (Aprilia) DNF
