PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX   ESTORIL, 17 APRIL 2005   250 CC RACE

Great Casey Stoner' victory in Estoril after a hard-fought race till the last lap.
The CARRERA SUNGLASSES . LCR Team Australian rider got the best lap time in the warm up session this morning in wet conditions so he knew he could be the protagonist of this race. In fact Casey, who started from the third row, in the third lap was already fifth, in the sixth lap was fourth and in the 13th lap was third. From that while it started a very close battle amongst the first five riders together with Dovizioso, De Puniet, Pedrosa and De Angelis. In the second-last lap Stoner took the lead of the group crossing the finishing line in first position. For the CARRERA branded rider is the first 250 class success and now he is 5th in the world standing with 25 points (23 less than the leader Dani Pedrosa). In the mean time Locatelli went out in the ninth lap when he was in tenth position.

"During the practices we had some problems but this morning the setting was pretty good. In the wet during the warm up session, I had a good feeling with the bike so I was more confident for the race. Anyway it was a hard-fought race and in the first laps I decided to be careful cause there was not enough grip. Then I got more feeling with the bike and decided to push harder. The final part was thrilling and when I saw De Puniet making a mistake I was able to overtake him. Shanghai track is new for everybody but I know we can be competitive there as well cause my team have done a very good job these days".

"I have been thrown out of the bike by the rear wheel. It was a classic "high-side". Maybe my tyre was to hard and when I opened the gas I lost the control of the bike. Anyway I want to express my congratulations to Casey cause he made a fantastic race".