Daijiro Katoh edged closer to the 250cc title yesterday afternoon with a comfortable win that extends his lead to 44 points. The Honda rider conceded the holeshot to
Marco Melandri, while Tetsuya Harada also got a good start from pole, leaving him in third position.
However, Katoh soon found his way to the front and cruised to victory, 16.993 seconds ahead of Melandri. Pulling away from the pack at will and breaking the lap record whenever he felt like it, Katoh was in a class of his own.
"I pushed as hard as possible, I never once thought about the points," said Katoh, who also won here last year. "The Aprilias' seemed faster in the early laps so I knew I'd have to ride hard, so I rode as hard as I could. This win has a special taste because I've not won since
Donington in July. I'd got beaten in Germany, Czecho and at the Eight Hours, so I absolutely wanted to win this one."
Fausto Gresini, Team manager of Telefonica MoviStar Honda added: "Today's race was super important. We had left behind two non-perfect races, second at Sachsenring and third at Brno, so we knew it would be extremely meaningful for the championship to win here.
