News

hard-fought eighth for brit bradley smith

02/09/07

Oxfordshire teenager Bradley Smith battled to a hard-fought eighth place in this morning's 125cc race after an incident on lap two saw him pushed all the way down to 17th and behind his team-mate.

The 16-year-old had put his Repsol Honda on the third row during the rain-lashed practice on Friday and yesterday, and managed to make up one place off the line. There was an incident of some sort on lap two which saw him demoted to 16th position. We will find out what it was, so come back later.

Smith dropped a further two places then yo-yo'd back and forth up the order settling down in the middle teens for a good proportion of the race. As the chequered flag loomed, some fast laps and a couple of crashes promoted him to eighth.

Danny Webb, on the De Graaf Honda, took the chequered flag in 30th place after qualifying 33rd.

Meanwhile, at the sharp end, Aprilia's Mattia Pasini got himself in to a scrap for the lead with Lukas Pesek, Hector Faubel and Simone Corsi from lap one, which Gabor Talmasci joined after a couple of laps.

However, with 16 laps to goes, Italian Pasini pulled the pin and cleared off, building a lead to more than five seconds by the end of the race. Corsi attempted to go with him but despite setting personal best laps, couldn't stay with the pace.

With two laps to go, Corsi, Faubel and Talmasci were dicing for second when the two former riders touched and went down, handing second place and the championship lead back to the Hungarian. Pesek crashed with two laps to go.

Results

1 25 75 Mattia PASINI ITA Polaris World APRILIA 39'47.944
2 20 14 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Bancaja Aspar APRILIA 39'52.718
3 16 71 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA JPN Red Bull KTM 125 KTM 39'56.520
4 13 33 Sergio GADEA SPA Bancaja Aspar APRILIA 40'03.763
5 11 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Belson Campetella Aprilia APRILIA 40'11.916
6 10 34 Randy KRUMMENACHE SWI Red Bull KTM 125 KTM 40'13.103
7 9 17 Stefan BRADL GER Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 40'13.335
8 8 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Repsol Honda 125cc HONDA 40'13.457
9 7 35 Raffaele DE ROSA ITA Multimedia Racing APRILIA 40'13.938
10 6 60 Michael RANSEDER AUT Ajo Motorsport DERBI 40'14.183
11 5 12 Esteve RABAT SPA Repsol Honda 125cc HONDA 40'14.637
12 4 6 Joan OLIVE SPA Polaris World APRILIA 40'14.916
13 3 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Kopron Team Scot HONDA 40'15.437
14 2 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA WTR No Alcol Team APRILIA 40'20.838
15 1 11 Sandro CORTESE GER Emmi - Caffe Latte Aprilia APRILIA 40'27.249
16 8 Lorenzo ZANETTI ITA Team Sicilia APRILIA 40'27.979
17 55 Hector FAUBEL SPA Bancaja Aspar APRILIA 40'28.069
18 18 Nicolas TEROL SPA Valsir Seedorf Derbi DERBI 40'28.101
19 20 Roberto TAMBURINI ITA Team Sicilia APRILIA 40'36.235
20 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Valsir Seedorf Derbi DERBI 40'37.565
21 7 Alexis MASBOU FRA FFM Honda GP 125 HONDA 40'38.440
22 42 Simone SANCIONI ITA RCGM Team APRILIA 40'45.463
23 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Multimedia Racing APRILIA 40'45.610
24 79 Ferruccio LAMBORGHINI ITA Junior GP Racing Team APRILIA 40'47.624
25 87 Roberto LACALENDOLA ITA Ellegi Racing APRILIA 40'53.053
26 51 Steve BONSEY USA Red Bull KTM 125 KTM 40'53.220
27 37 Joey LITJENS NED De Graaf Grand Prix HONDA 40'56.701
28 53 Simone GROTZKYJ ITA Multimedia Racing APRILIA 40'58.339
29 95 Robert MURESAN ROU Ajo Motorsport DERBI 41'06.516
30 99 Daniel WEBB GBR De Graaf Grand Prix HONDA 41'08.907
31 56 Hugo VAN DEN BERG NED Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 41'09.620
32 80 Federico BIAGGI ITA Friba FRIBA 41'42.172
NOT CLASSIFIED
24 Simone CORSI ITA Skilled Racing Team APRILIA 2 laps
27 Stefano BIANCO ITA WTR No Alcol Team APRILIA 7 laps
13 Dino LOMBARDI ITA Kopron Team Scot HONDA 12 laps
22 Pablo NIETO SPA Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 14 laps