125cc: Gadea snatches victory in Qatar
Sergio Gadea snatched victory in the season-opening 125cc Grand Prix of Qatar, the first ever night race of the world motorcycling championship
The Aspar Aprilia rider crossed the line first less than a second ahead of a pack of four riders who fought tooth and nail for the last five laps of the race, Gadea having taken the lead for the final time with just under two laps to the chequered flag.
The pack of riders comprised Derbi's Joan Olive in second, Aprilia's Stefan Bradl in third, Derbi's Mike di Meglio in fourth, and Aprilia's Scott Redding in fifth.
One of the big disappointments of the race befell Briton Bradley Smith who, after starting the race from pole and leading the first lap and a half of the race, appeared to suffer some mechanical gremlins with his Aprilia, which saw him fade down the order and finish in a lowly 16th place.
Reigning champion Gabor Talmacsi, who led most of the race, also saw his chance of victory thwarted by mechanical problems when he disappeared from the leading pack with four laps remaining. The Hungarian ultimately had to settle for 12th place on his Aprilia.
With three laps to go KTM's Raffaele de Rosa, who was also in the leading pack, clipped Olive's rear wheel as he made an optimistic move and crashed, nearly taking the Spaniard with him.
Sixth place went to Aprilia's Daniel Webb, followed by Aprilia's Simone Corsi in seventh, Derbi's Pol Espargaro in eighth, Aprilia's Efren Vazquez in ninth, and Aprilia's Nicolas Terol rounding up the top ten.
Classified:
Pos Rider Make Time
1. Sergio Gadea Aprilia 38:09.444
2. Joan Olive Derbi + 0.932
3. Stefan Bradl Aprilia + 1.660
4. Mike Di Meglio Derbi + 1.771
5. Scott Redding Aprilia + 1.819
6. Daniel Webb Aprilia + 7.689
7. Simone Corsi Aprilia + 8.684
8. Pol Espargaro Derbi + 8.693
9. Efren Vazquez Aprilia + 9.054
10. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 10.902
11. Sandro Cortese Aprilia + 10.945
12. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia + 12.618
13. Stefano Bianco Aprilia + 12.709
14. Andrea Iannone Aprilia + 20.086
15. Michael Ranseder Aprilia + 23.575
16. Bradley Smith Aprilia + 23.890
17. D.Agerter Derbi + 29.406
18. Pablo Nieto KTM + 32.891
19. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia + 33.346
20. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia + 33.649
21. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM + 36.696
22. R.Krummenacher KTM + 36.754
23. Robin Lasser Aprilia + 45.317
24. Esteve Rabat KTM + 56.440
25. Louis Rossi Honda +1:14.502
Not classified:
Rider Make On lap
Raffaele De Rosa KTM 15
Dino Lombardi Aprilia 11
H.van den Berg Aprilia 10
Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM 8
Steve Bonsey Aprilia 5
R.Lacalendola Aprilia 1
Robert Muresan Aprilia -
Fastest lap: Redding, 2:05.695 on lap 7
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