125cc: Smith wins as Marquez claims title
Marc Marquez clinched the 125cc title with a careful fourth place at Valencia, as Bradley Smith finally took his first win of 2010 in his final race in the category
Needing only an eighth place to put the title beyond rival Nico Terol's reach, Ajo Derbi rider Marquez sat in third behind Aspar team-mates Smith and Terol for most of the race, after a first-lap shuffle that saw Terol lead for a few metres before running wide and letting Smith escape.
Marquez occasionally got alongside Terol to show that he was faster, but preferred not to make a move, and when erstwhile title contender Pol Espargaro (Tuenti Derbi) appeared on their tails on a recovery charge having fallen to 11th at the start, Marquez soon let him through.
Espargaro proceeded to swap places with Terol a couple of times before securing second, leaving Terol with the final step on the podium and no chance of denying Marquez the title. Though he was not in the top three on this occasion, Marquez's incredible season has seen him win 10 races and take 12 poles.
Smith's final winning margin was 2.8 seconds as the Briton took his first victory since Mugello 2009, and ended a run of Spanish wins stretching back to June last year. After five years of 125cc racing, Smith will graduate to Moto2 with Tech 3 in 2011.
Marquez's Ajo team-mate Sandro Cortese completed the top five, with Esteve Rabat beating Tomoyoshi Koyama and Efren Vazquez to sixth.
Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1. Bradley Smith Aprilia 40m25.648s
2. Pol Espargaro Derbi + 2.786s
3. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 3.149s
4. Marc Marquez Derbi + 8.326s
5. Sandro Cortese Derbi + 24.375s
6. Esteve Rabat Aprilia + 26.743s
7. Tomoyoshi Koyama Aprilia + 26.823s
8. Efren Vazquez Derbi + 27.634s
9. Randy Krummenache Aprilia + 41.211s
10. Luis Salom Aprilia + 41.279s
11. Alberto Moncayo Aprilia + 1m02.540s
12. Marcel Schrotter Honda + 1m02.999s
13. Isaac Vinales Aprilia + 1m08.522s
14. Simone Grotzkyj Aprilia + 1m08.798s
15. Jakub Kornfeil Aprilia + 1m24.798s
16. Danny Webb Aprilia + 1m27.614s
17. Peter Sebestyen Aprilia + 1m38.939s
18. Joan Perello Honda + 1m39.356s
19. Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia + 1m40.387s
20. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Aprilia + 1 lap
21. Taylor Mackenzie Honda + 1 lap
22. John McPhee Honda + 1 lap
Retirements:
Sturla Fagerhaug Aprilia 23 laps
Niklas Ajo Derbi 21 laps
Marco Ravaioli Lambretta 20 laps
Johann Zarco Aprilia 19 laps
Johnny Rosell Honda 19 laps
Danny Kent Lambretta 15 laps
Louis Rossi Aprilia 12 laps
Jonas Folger Aprilia 10 laps
Tommaso Gabrielli Aprilia 10 laps
Adrian Martin Aprilia 5 laps
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