125cc: Smith takes second 125cc victory

The Aspar Aprilia rider succeeded in escaping from his rivals and avoiding the traditional slipstreaming for the lead on the last lap.

Nico Terol pushed Smith all the way to the flag, with Julian Simon having to settle for third after losing touch with the leaders in the closing stages.

The opening laps saw a typically frenetic Mugello lead battle with seven riders drafting each other.

Smith then briefly made a break, benefiting when Andrea Iannone's bike slowed mid-corner while in second behind him on lap five. As Iannone trundled into retirement, continuing his miserable recent run, Smith was handed a one-second lead as his rivals had to jink around the Italian's bike.

But Terol and Simon managed to reel Smith back in and resume their earlier battle. It looked like a three-abreast sprint to the line was in prospect, until Simon lost pace and dropped away from Smith and Terol in the final laps as his engine began to overheat.

Determined to avoid being out-dragged on the final run to the line, Smith pushed flat-out around the last lap and just pulled out enough of an advantage to stop Terol getting a tow, allowing the Briton to clinch his second win of the season and take the points lead in the process.

Pol Espargaro charged through to fourth, beating Marc Marquez, with Johann Zarco completing the top six after the best ride of his rookie season so far.

At one stage it looked like three of the top five finishers might be Britons, as Scott Redding and Danny Webb joined Smith in the battle for the lead. But Webb crashed out of fourth before half-distance, and Redding fell back to seventh after a wild slide on the last lap.

Pos  Rider               Bike     Time
 1.  Bradley Smith       Aprilia  40m09.523s
 2.  Nicolas Terol       Aprilia  +   0.216s
 3.  Julian Simon        Aprilia  +   7.114s
 4.  Pol Espargaro       Derbi    +  11.829s
 5.  Marc Marquez        KTM      +  12.315s
 6.  Johann Zarco        Aprilia  +  14.605s
 7.  Scott Redding       Aprilia  +  15.305s
 8.  Stefan Bradl        Aprilia  +  22.255s
 9.  Lorenzo Savadori    Aprilia  +  22.392s
10.  Sandro Cortese      Derbi    +  29.239s
11.  Sergio Gadea        Aprilia  +  36.359s
12.  Lorenzo Zanetti     Aprilia  +  36.444s
13.  Randy Krummenacher  Aprilia  +  36.507s
14.  Jonas Folger        Aprilia  +  36.581s
15.  Takaaki Nakagami    Aprilia  +  36.636s
16.  Esteve Rabat        Aprilia  +  36.834s
17.  Luigi Morciano      Aprilia  +  49.870s
18.  Simone Corsi        Aprilia  +  50.419s
19.  Dominique Aegerter  Derbi    +1m05.900s
20.  Riccardo Moretti    Aprilia  +1m06.019s
21.  Davide Stirpe       Honda    +1m20.225s
22.  Lukas Sembera       Aprilia  +1m21.946s
23.  Jasper Iwema        Honda    +1m43.074s
24.  Gennaro Sabatino    Aprilia  +    1 lap
25.  Luca Vitali         Aprilia  +    1 lap
26.  Alessandro Tonucci  Aprilia  +    1 lap

Retirements:

     Luca Marconi        Aprilia  12 laps
     Daniel Webb         Aprilia  8 laps
     Andrea Iannone      Aprilia  5 laps
     Joan Olive          Derbi    5 laps
     Efren Vazquez       Derbi    5 laps
     Tomoyoshi Koyama    Loncin   2 laps
     Alexis Masbou       Loncin   1 lap