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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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