Rio De Janeiro, Sept 21: World championship leader Manuel Poggiali dramatically won the Brazilian 250cc grand prix race after fellow title contender Toni Elias crashed when leading on the final lap. Argentinian Sebastian Porto was an early casualty, falling just after and claiming before abandoning with two laps to go. Poggiali and Elias, who was 14 points adrift of his rival in the world championship standings at the start, fought their own private race after pulling away from the pack early on, with the lead changing several times. Poggiali led going into the final lap but, after two failed attempts to pass, Elias finally managed to overtake, only to lose control of the bike and skid off the track.
Poggiali, riding an Aprilia, went on to win with Italy's Roberto Rolfo holding off Frenchman Randy de Puniet to claim second place.

Rolfo moved into second spot in the world championship with 168 points, 22 behind Poggiali with four races left. De Puniet also overtook Elias as he went third with 162. Elias remounted but could only finish 18th.


Leading placings in the 250cc race at the Brazilian motorcycling Grand Prix on Saturday: Race distance: 22 laps. 108.526 kilometres 1. Manuel Poggiali (San Marino) Aprilia 42 minutes 09.055 seconds 2. Roberto Rolfo (Italy) Honda 42:12.956 3. Randy de Puniet (France) Aprilia 42:22.020 4. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia 42:34.372 5. Naoki Matsudo (Japan) Yamaha 42:56.523 6. Hector Faubel (Spain) Aprilia 43:04.749 7. Joan Olive (Spain) Aprilia 43:07.319 8. Anthony West (Australia) Aprilia 43:07.394 9. Chaz Davies (Britain) Aprilia 43:09.248 10. Eric Bataille (France) Aprilia 43:11.661


Leading world championship standings Riders 1. Poggalia 190 points 2. Rolfo 168 3. De Puniet 162 4. Elias 151 5. Fonsi Nieto (Spain) Aprilia 143


Manufacturers 1. Aprilia 295 2. Honda 184 3. Yamaha 86


Bureau Report