125cc: Di Meglio takes eventful home win
Frenchman Mike di Meglio won his home race at Le Mans in a shortened five-lap 125cc French Grand Prix and took the lead in the championship
The race was red-flagged after 15 of the 24 scheduled laps because the track was deemed too dangerous with rain falling heavily and riders going very slowly.
If the red flag had been shown just one lap later, then two thirds of the race would have been completed and the regulations deem that the race would have been over with full championship points awarded.
The first, neutralised race had been dominated by Stefan Bradl, Gabor Talmacsi, Nicolas Terol and Sergio Gadea, who often exchanged the lead while heading a pack of about ten riders.
But three laps before the race was interrupted, when the track was deemed wet by circuit officials, Joan Olive came from behind and by making the most of the changing conditions he was in the lead of the race in the space of a couple of laps.
When the red flag was shown, the top ten order was Olive, Terol, Bradl, Talmacsi, diMeglio, Simone Corsi, Esteve Rabat, Pol Espargaro, Bradley Smith, and Gadea.
The race was re-started at 11:55 local time, some 25 minutes after the red flag was shown, with the grid based on the standings of the last lap raced.
Olive made a poor start from pole and immediately fell back, enabling Rabat to take the lead. But that didn't last long, because at the second corner the Spaniard slid on the wet tarmac and fell off his bike. Terol inherited the lead, but lost it shortly after when Talmacsi overtook him.
Meanwhile Smith, who fell back as low as 17th after a terrible start from second in the nullified race, made a much better getaway from ninth in the shortened race and was up to third during the first lap.
On the second lap race leader Talmacsi, who had started opening a bit of a gap over the rest, also fell at the last corner and dropped to 21st. The crash left Terol in the lead, closely followed by Smith and di Meglio.
Smith overtook Terol for the lead on the third lap, but the latter was also overtaken by di Meglio, who chased Smith and passed him on the penultimate lap to triumph in front of his ecstatic home crowd.
Behind Smith in second and Terol in third, Espargaro finished the race in fourth, followed by Andrea Iannone in fifth and Bradl in sixth.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Mike Di Meglio Derbi 10:08.574 2. Bradley Smith Aprilia +0.800 3. Nicolas Terol Aprilia +3.077 4. Pol Espargaro Derbi +10.407 5. Andrea Iannone Aprilia +11.697 6. Stefan Bradl Aprilia +11.881 7. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM +16.372 8. Joan Olive Derbi +16.545 9. Raffaele De Rosa KTM +19.163 10. Randy Krummenacher KTM +22.391 11. Sandro Cortese Aprilia +22.847 12. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia +23.195 13. Simone Corsi Aprilia +23.553 14. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia +23.695 15. Alexis Masbou Loncin +24.240 16. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia +26.196 17. Esteve Rabat KTM +26.411 18. Roberto Lacalendola Aprilia +26.895 19. Louis Rossi Honda +27.446 20. Sergio Gadea Aprilia +31.829 21. Daniel Webb Aprilia +34.810 22. Robert Muresan Aprilia +35.190 23. Dominque Agerter Derbi +47.840 Not classified Michael Ranseder Aprilia 4 laps Robin Lasser Aprilia 2 laps Steven Le Coquen Honda 1 lap Gioele Pellino Loncin 1 lap Scott Redding Aprilia 0 laps Steve Bonsey Aprilia 0 laps Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM 0 laps Marc Marquez KTM 0 laps Stefano Bianco Aprilia 0 laps Efren Vazquez Aprilia 0 laps Pablo Nieto KTM 0 laps Hugovan den Berg Aprilia 0 laps Cyril Carrillo Honda 0 laps Tobias Siegert Aprilia 0 laps
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