Valencia MotoGP: Bradley Smith defeated in last lap thriller

Bradley Smith suffered a third successive last lap defeat to Aspar Aprilia team-mate Julian Simon after a thrilling 125GP in Valencia today.

Smith recovered superbly from an early disaster when his bike stalled on the warm-up lap to streak away from the field in the early stages.

He was close to 1.5s clear after the first lap and looked like he could produce a Dani Pedrosa-style breakaway victory when Simon suddenly started his attack.

Once the Spaniard shrugged off compatriot Marc Marquez, the newly crowned world champion quickly closed in on Smith as the pair charged away from the field to fight out their own private battle for the third successive race.

Smith survived another big scare on lap 20 when he was caught out by a gust of wind that forced him to lose the front-end of his Aspar Aprilia machine. Simon pounced but the Oxfordshire rider fought back superbly and regained the lead at the third corner on the final lap.

But he ran wide and allowed Simon to dive back underneath him before Smith then produced a brilliant and audacious overtake at the end of the back straight.

Running over the kerbs to steal the inside line, Smith looked perfectly placed to avenge last lap defeats to Simon in Phillip Island and Sepang when he was the victim of another late counter attack.

Smith led for just two corners before Simon dived underneath at a tight right-hander.
Smith immediately latched onto the back of Simon’s Aprilia but his move to attack on the outside of the final corner was unsuccessful as Simon defended doggedly.

And Smith’s hopes of slipstreaming his team-mate to the finish line were also dashed as Simon got superb drive off the final corner to win by 0.220s and claim his seventh win of a terrific 2009 campaign.

Smith, who claimed his sixth successive podium, and Simon were head and shoulders above the rest with Pol Espargaro in third but a massive 12.1 seconds adrift,

His fifth podium in the final seven races helped him secure fourth place in the championship.

Scott Redding crashed out of 14th position on lap six after he clashed with Blusens Aprilia team-mate Esteve Rabat at the final corner.

British teenager Danny Webb was unable to start the 24-lap clash after suffering more injury misery yesterday.

Webb bravely tried to ride through the pain barrier in this morning’s warm-up session but withdrew with four broken bones in both feet.

He had three broken bones in his left foot after a crash on the first lap in Sepang earlier this month and a big qualifying high-side yesterday left him nursing a broken bone in his right foot too.

1. Simon (Aprilia)
2. Smith (Aprilia) +0.220sec
3. Espargaro (Derbi) +12.123sec
4. Corsi (Aprilia) +17.577sec
5. Schrotter (Honda) +17.917sec
6. Olive (Derbi) +18.334sec
7. Vazquez (Derbi) +18.502sec
8. Cortese (Derbi) +18.553sec
9. Krummenacher (Aprilia) +18.731sec
10. Terol (Aprilia) +21.280sec

Redding (Aprilia) DNF
Webb (Aprilia) DNS