125cc: Terol takes hard-fought Brno win
Nicolas Terol withstood race-long pressure to score his second career 125cc victory and his first of the season in the Czech Grand Prix at Brno
The 20-year-old Spaniard led almost the entire 19-lap race on his Jack and Jones Aprilia despite a ferocious pursuit from championship leader Julian Simon that lasted until the final corner.
Andrea Iannone was also involved in the lead battle for much of the time, and was indeed briefly the race's only other leader, but dropped away from the front pair in the final quarter of the event.
Simon, having broken clear of the gaggle to catch Terol and Iannone in the first couple of laps, came closest to taking the lead for himself with four laps to go. But the Spaniard was unfortunate to encounter backmarkers at the wrong time in the final Esses.
Terol slipped past them with less complication, and the small advantage he gained in the two laps it took Simon to regroup his attack may have been enough to secure the victory.
Iannone ended up finishing third as he drifted further away from the leading two in the closing stages.
Bradley Smith took a frustrated fourth.
The Briton should probably have been part of the fight for the win, but he had to sit up on the bike in the final Esses to avoid a crash at the end of the opening lap while running third.
He dropped back into the gaggle. And while a brave move into Turn 3 saw him take at least two riders in one shot to move back up to fourth, he never managed to regather the ground to the leaders.
Pol Espergaro took fifth at the front of a crazy battle that at one point involved as many as 12 riders.
Sandro Cortese beat fellow German Stefan Bradl to sixth, with Marco Marquez fighting back to eighth after his qualifying crash ahead of Sergio Gadea and Juan Olive.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Nicolas Terol Aprilia 40m57.378s 2. Julian Simon Aprilia + 0.168s 3. Andrea Iannone Aprilia + 8.719s 4. Bradley Smith Aprilia + 12.443s 5. Pol Espargaró Derbi + 16.006s 6. Sandro Cortese Derbi + 16.066s 7. Stefan Bradl Aprilia + 17.105s 8. Marc Márquez KTM + 17.202s 9. Sergio Gadea Aprilia + 17.223s 10. Joan Olive Derbi + 17.244s 11. Johann Zarco Aprilia + 17.618s 12. Jonas Folger Aprilia + 21.977s 13. Marcel Schrötter Honda + 34.487s 14. Efrén Vazquez Derbi + 34.512s 15. Scott Redding Aprilia + 41.558s 16. Daniel Webb Aprilia + 43.098s 17. Randy Krummenacher Aprilia + 43.121s 18. Dominique Ägerter Derbi + 43.164s 19. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia + 43.453s 20. Michael Ranseder Aprilia + 43.917s 21. Tomoyoshi Koyama Loncin + 50.710s 22. Luigi Morciano Aprilia +1m09.976s 23. Alessandro Tonucci Aprilia +1m10.633s 24. Alexis Masbou Loncin +1m35.007s 25. Luca Vitali Aprilia +1m39.485s 26. Luca Marconi Aprilia +1m39.739s 27. Karel Pesek Derbi +1m40.019s 28. Ivan Visak Honda + 1 laps 29. Ladislav Chmelik Honda + 1 laps 30. Lukáš Šembera Aprilia + 1 laps Retirements Simone Corsi Aprilia 12 laps Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 8 laps Esteve Rabat Aprilia 7 laps Luis Salom Aprilia 5 laps Jasper Iwema Honda 2 laps Lorenzo Zanetti Aprilia 1 laps
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