News

Smith fights to 13th after set-up problems

19/08/07

Britain's Bradley Smith managed to salvage a 13th place in this morning's 125cc race at Brno after suffering serious set-up problems all weekend. Suspension and tyre woes meant he couldn't make his Repsol Honda through fast corners and cope with bumps.

After a poor start which saw the Oxfordshire 16-year-old bumped down to 20th, he circulated there until half race distance when the bike seemed to come to him and he was able to lap in the early 2'09s.

Smith pulled himself up to and past his team-mate Esteve Rabat in short order, then continued on his way into the points. With four laps to go, and Rabat in tow, Smith captured 12th place as Andreas Iannone retired but Rabat and Joan Olive just got the better of him in the dying laps.

After a titanic battle in the last four laps, which saw four riders dicing for the lead, Hector Faubel took the chequered flag in front of Mattia Pasini, Lukas Pesek and Gabor Talmasci. Faubel also wrestles the championship lead away from team-mate Talmasci, which will not better relations in the team-mates' garage one bit.

Pasini had been leading the dice for quite some time and must have thought he was home and dry when Sergio Gadea crashed out. He managed to pull a lead of three-quarters of a second but was pegged back inside two laps and Faubel got the better of him on the last lap.

Result

1 25 55 Hector FAUBEL SPA Bancaja Aspar APRILIA 40'57.408
2 20 75 Mattia PASINI ITA Polaris World APRILIA 40'57.478
3 16 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Valsir Seedorf Derbi DERBI 40'57.630
4 13 14 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Bancaja Aspar APRILIA 40'57.680
5 11 71 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA JPN Red Bull KTM 125 KTM 41'05.015
6 10 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Belson Campetella Aprilia APRILIA 41'09.474
7 9 24 Simone CORSI ITA Skilled Racing Team APRILIA 41'09.802
8 8 60 Michael RANSEDER AUT Ajo Motorsport DERBI 41'10.411
9 7 34 Randy KRUMMENACHE SWI Red Bull KTM 125 KTM 41'17.172
10 6 11 Sandro CORTESE GER Emmi - Caffe Latte Aprilia APRILIA 41'21.451
11 5 12 Esteve RABAT SPA Repsol Honda 125cc HONDA 41'31.042
12 4 6 Joan OLIVE SPA Polaris World APRILIA 41'31.133
13 3 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Repsol Honda 125cc HONDA 41'31.271
14 2 7 Alexis MASBOU FRA FFM Honda GP 125 HONDA 41'31.671
15 1 27 Stefano BIANCO ITA WTR No Alcol Team APRILIA 41'36.442
16 51 Steve BONSEY USA Red Bull KTM 125 KTM 41'41.249
17 8 Lorenzo ZANETTI ITA Team Sicilia APRILIA 41'41.529
18 35 Raffaele DE ROSA ITA Multimedia Racing APRILIA 41'41.821
19 15 Federico SANDI ITA Skilled Racing Team APRILIA 41'41.876
20 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Kopron Team Scot HONDA 41'42.074
21 20 Roberto TAMBURINI ITA Team Sicilia APRILIA 41'49.436
22 18 Nicolas TEROL SPA Valsir Seedorf Derbi DERBI 41'55.328
23 86 Ricard CARDUS SPA Racc Aprilia APRILIA 41'55.507
24 37 Joey LITJENS NED De Graaf Grand Prix HONDA 41'55.946
25 94 Toni WIRSING GER Honda Schumann Reisen HONDA 42'08.015
26 13 Dino LOMBARDI ITA Kopron Team Scot HONDA 42'10.190
27 56 Hugo VAN DEN BERG NED Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 42'14.003
28 99 Daniel WEBB GBR De Graaf Grand Prix HONDA 42'21.200
29 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Multimedia Racing APRILIA 42'21.287
30 53 Simone GROTZKYJ ITA Multimedia Racing APRILIA 42'27.387
31 92 Karel PESEK CZE Intermoto Czech APRILIA 41'18.682