Nico Terol becomes last ever 125cc champion as Maverick Vinales wins Valencia race
Nico Terol became the last ever 125cc world champion in the category's farewell race at Valencia, which was won by Maverick Vinales
Terol came into the race - the last before 125cc is replaced by the new Moto3 championship - with a 20-point lead over rival Johann Zarco, so only needed an 11th place finish to clinch the crown.
Having only qualified ninth in Saturday's changeable conditions, Aspar Aprilia rider Terol made a great start and briefly found himself dicing with Zarco's Ajo Derbi, which qualified third.
A moment for Terol then dropped him to ninth, with Zarco settling into fifth. But as Zarco tried to push for the win that was essential to his title bid, the Frenchman crashed out on the third lap.
Terol picked his way forward to join his team-mate Hector Faubel and Vinales (Blusens Aprilia) in a lead battle. Faubel had looked secure up front for the first half of the race, but fell to third as the drizzle increased around half-distance, with Vinales eventually making a break and winning by 3.2 seconds over new champion Terol.
Efren Vazquez and Jonas Folger were fourth and fifth on a disappointing day for their Ajo team.
Polesitter Danny Webb held the lead for the first lap, before being edged down to 13th as faster bikes picked off his Mahinda in today's mostly dry conditions. He eventually crashed out.
Having also used slicks to star in qualifying yesterday, Louis Rossi and Alexis Masbou slipped back to finish 10th and 22nd respectively.
Results - 24 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Bike Time/Gap
1. Maverick Vinales Blusens Aprilia 41m44.138s
2. Nicolas Terol Aspar Aprilia + 3.216s
3. Hector Faubel Aspar Aprilia + 7.460s
4. Efren Vazquez Ajo Derbi + 14.560s
5. Jonas Folger Ajo Aprilia + 18.451s
6. Alberto Moncayo Andalucia Aprilia + 36.472s
7. Luis Salom RW Aprilia + 52.614s
8. Niklas Ajo TT Motion Aprilia + 1m00.138s
9. Luigi Morciano Italia FMI Aprilia + 1m00.253s
10. Louis Rossi Matteoni Aprilia + 1m03.258s
11. Manuel Tatasciore Phonica Aprilia + 1m09.892s
12. Marcel Schrotter Mahindra + 1m12.741s
13. Alessandro Tonucci Italia FMI Aprilia + 1m18.337s
14. John McPhee KRP Aprilia + 1m18.434s
15. Giulian Pedone Phonica Aprilia + 1m20.580s
16. Sturla Fagerhaug WTR-Ten10 Aprilia + 1m21.155s
17. Danny Kent Ajo Aprilia + 1m27.770s
18. Peter Sebestyen Matteoni Aprilia + 1m33.406s
19. Daniel Ruiz Larresport Honda + 1m34.593s
20. Jasper Iwema Ongetta Aprilia + 1m34.832s
21. Marco Colandrea WTR-Ten10 Aprilia + 1 lap
22. Alexis Masbou Caretta KTM + 1 lap
23. Kevin Hanus Hanusch Honda + 1 lap
24. Jakub Kornfeil Ongetta Aprilia + 1 lap
25. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Ajo Derbi + 2 laps
Retirements:
Adrian Martin Aspar Aprilia 24 laps
Taylor Mackenzie Phonica Aprilia 18 laps
Brad Binder Andalucia Aprilia 17 laps
Josep Rodriguez Blusens Aprilia 15 laps
Sandro Cortese Germany Aprilia 11 laps
Danny Webb Mahindra 11 laps
Harry Stafford Ongetta Aprilia 7 laps
Jack Miller Caretta KTM 3 laps
Johann Zarco Ajo Derbi 2 laps
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