Brit smith tops first Turkey 125 practice

Bradley Smith made a perfect start to the Turkish GP in Istanbul today (Friday) when he topped the 125 timesheets in the opening free practice session.

The Repsol Honda rider clocked the best time of 2.14.909 on his 17th and last lap as he beat world title contender Gabor Talmacsi by 0.421s on a damp and cold track.

Track temperatures peaked at just eight degrees while most of the circuit was still damp following heavy overnight rain.

The cold and wet conditions saw lap times 11 seconds off record pace, though Smith was in impressive form throughout and was hardly outside of the top three times in the opening session.

Current joint leader of the British 125 championship Kevin Coghlan was 20th fastest as he stands in for injured French rider Mike di Meglio on the Scot Racing Team Honda.

Danny Webb was 30th fastest.

First practice results:

1. Bradley SMITH Repsol Honda 125cc 2’14.909

2. Gabor TALMACSI Bancaja Aspar 2’15.330

3. Simone CORSI Skilled Racing Team 2’15.828

4. Lorenzo ZANETTI Team Sicilia 2’16.470

5. Raffaele DE ROSA Multimedia Racing 2’16.668

6. Hector FAUBEL Bancaja Aspar 2’16.741

7. Mattia PASINI Polaris World 2’17.058

8. Michael RANSEDER Ajo Motorsport 2’17.080

9. Sergio GADEA Bancaja Aspar 2’17.186

10. Esteve RABAT Repsol Honda 125cc 2’17.196

11. Joan OLIVE Polaris World 2’17.442

12. Tomoyoshi KOYAMA Red Bull KTM 125 2’17.543

13. Nicolas TEROL Valsir Seedorf Derbi 2’17.668

14. Joey LITJENS De Graaf Grand Prix 2’17.934

15. Lukas PESEK Valsir Seedorf Derbi 2’18.137

16. Dino LOMBARDI Scot Racing Team 2’18.531

17. Robert MURESAN Ajo Motorsport 2’18.809

18. Alexis MASBOU FFM Honda GP 125 2’18.884

19. Roberto TAMBURINI Team Sicilia 2’18.907

20. Kevin COGHLAN Scot Racing Team 2’18.963

21. Andrea IANNONE WTR Team 2’19.328

22. Simone GROTZKYJ Multimedia Racing 2’19.567

23. Sandro CORTESE Emmi – Caffe Latte Aprilia 2’19.722

24. Alen GYORFI Superbike Guorsasagi M.S.E. 2’19.808

25. Randy KRUMMENACHER Red Bull KTM 125 2’20.071

26. Pol ESPARGARO Belson Campetella Aprilia 2’20.127

27. Federico SANDI Skilled Racing Team 2’20.293

28. Pablo NIETO Blusens Aprilia 2’20.592

29. Steve BONSEY Red Bull KTM 125 2’20.868

30. Daniel WEB De Graaf Grand Prix 2’22.058

31. Stefano BIANCO WTR Team 2’22.255

32. Dominique AEGERTER Multimedia Racing 2’23.961

33. Tobias SIEGERT ADAC Nordbayern E.V. 2’24.714

34. Hugo VAN DEN BERG Blusens Aprilia 2’33.122

35. Nikolett KOVACS Cemelog-Hanusch 2’38.119