125cc: Bradl takes close battle at Motegi
Stefan Bradl has taken the second win of his 125cc career with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi
Bradl was in the lead group throughout the race, edging ahead at the end to take the win just ahead of championship leader Mike di Meglio and reigining 125cc champ Gabor Talmacsi.
Behind them, Joan Olive dropped back to just hold out Nicolas Terol, Sandro Cortese and Simone Corsi, who lost ground to di Meglio in his chase for the title.
Bradl took the lead from Talmacsi on lap 2 in a lead pack comprising Bradl, di Meglio, Talmacsi and Olive, and held it until di Meglio took it on lap 10, Bradl retaking it immediately. A lap later Bradl made a mistake allowing di Meglio back into the lead, a place he stayed for the next few laps of the remainder of the 20 lap race.
With four laps remaining Bradl snuck back into the lead but di Meglio went straight back past. With the lead group down to three as Joan Olive faded in the closing stages, Bradl took the lead once more at the end of the back straight on lap 18, holding off his rivals to take the win.
Two crashes on the opening lap took out several riders, including Pol Espargaro, Andrea Iannone, Marc Marquez and Esteve Rabat.
CLASSIFIED:
Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Stefan Bradl Aprilia 39:57.228
2. Mike di Meglio Derbi + 0.151
3. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia + 0.281
4. Joan Olive Derbi + 5.945
5. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 6.072
6. Sandro Cortese Aprilia + 6.135
7. Simone Corsi Aprilia + 6.455
8. Scott Redding Aprilia + 25.393
9. Sergio Gadea Aprilia + 25.537
10. Danny Webb Aprilia + 26.192
11. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM + 27.307
12. Raffaele de Rosa KTM + 39.536
13. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia + 43.745
14. Efren Vazquez Aprilia + 51.629
15. Alexis Masbou Loncin + 51.899
16. Jonas Folger KTM + 51.931
17. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM + 51.962
18. Pablo Nieto KTM + 52.589
19. Dominique Aegerter Derbi + 56.837
20. Stevie Bonsey Aprilia + 56.977
21. Marco Ravaioli Aprilia + 58.626
22. Yuuichi Yanagisawa Honda + 59.926
23. Robin Lasser Aprilia +1:09.782
24. Hiroki Ono Honda +1:14.883
25. Adrian Martin Aprilia +1:26.120
26. Cyril Carrillo Honda +1:29.130
NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:
Rider Bike Laps
Bradley Smith Aprilia 16
Kazuma Watanabe Honda 16
Michael Ranseder Aprilia 14
Iori Namihira Honda 11
Hiroomi Iwata Honda 10
Bastien Chesaux Aprilia 8
Robert Muresan Aprilia 6
Esteve Rabat KTM 0
Jules Cluzel Loncin 0
Andrea Iannone Aprilia 0
Pol Espargaro Derbi 0
Hugo van den Berg Aprilia 0
Marc Marquez KTM 0
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