
Sachsenring MotoGP: Di Meglio wins German 125 GP as Bradley Smith just misses out on a podium finish
Despite a very close race at the front, Mike Di Meglio opened up a large gap late in the race to take his third win of the season today at the Sachsenring and further secure his position at the top of the championship. Stefan Bradl finished in second, with Gabor Talmacsi and Bradley Smith in third and fourth respectively.
Despite starting in pole position, a bad start saw Gabor Talmacsi drop back through the pack as Stefan Bradl lead through the first few corners with Brit Bradley Smith close behind him in second.
As Talmacsi worked hard to move his way back up the pack, Simone Corsi and Joan Olive passed Bradley Smith, leaving him in 4th place. Bradley held 4th position until with 23 laps to go, he heroically overtook both Corsi and Olive on the brakes coming into turn 1.
With 22 laps to go, British rider Danny Webb retired to the pit with mechanical problems.
With 19 laps to go, Smith took pole from Corsi and the two of them started to pull away from the rest of the pack. Meanwhile Mike Di Meglio was on a mission further back and set the fastest lap of the race in fourth position with a 1'27.8 and shortly after passed Bradl for third place.
At the front with 15 laps to go Bradley Smith opened up a gap from the other front runners as Di Meglio and Corsi chopped and changed, fighting for second place and slowing each other down.
With 12 laps to go Di Meglio pulled away from Corsi and started to close down on Bradley Smith before eventually taking pole position 2 laps later. With 9 laps to go, Bradley Smith appeared to be slowing due to some spots of rain and Bradl caught and passed him, incidentally in the same place Di Meglio passed Smith just one lap earlier.
In the 19th lap Talmasci also closed on Smith and passed him, putting Bradley down in to fourth place. Meanwhile the battle for the podium positions let Di Meglio break away in pole position and open up a huge 1.6 second gap.
Mike Di Meglio kept up the pace for the remaining 4 laps, leaving Bradl to take second, Tamasci third and Bradley Smith just missed a podium finish in fourth.
1 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Ajo Motorsport Derbi 40'03.710
2 Stefan BRADL GER Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing Aprilia 40'05.720
3 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 40'06.443
4 Bradley SMITH GBR Polaris World Aprilia 40'06.557
5 Simone CORSI ITA Jack & Jones WRB Aprilia 40'12.827
6 Sandro CORTESE GER Emmi - Caffe Latte Aprilia 40'12.959
7 Nicolas TEROL SPA Jack & Jones WRB Aprilia 40'12.967
8 Scott REDDING GBR Blusens Aprilia Junior Aprilia 40'34.488
9 Esteve RABAT SPA Repsol KTM 125cc KTM 40'36.021
10 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol KTM 125cc KTM 40'36.744
11 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Ajo Motorsport Derbi 40'36.831
12 Andrea IANNONE ITA I.C. Team Aprilia 40'36.844
13 Pere TUTUSAUS SPA Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 40'36.881
14 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Toni Mang Team Honda 40'36.918
15 Pablo NIETO SPA Onde 2000 KTM KTM 40'37.465
16 Efren VAZQUEZ SPA Blusens Aprilia Junior Aprilia 40'38.264
17 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Belson Derbi Derbi 40'41.486
18 Stevie BONSEY USA Degraaf Grand Prix Aprilia 40'41.582
19 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN I.C. Team Aprilia 40'57.950
20 Marvin FRITZ GER Kiefer Bos Sotin Jnr. Team Seel 41'01.959
21 Alexis MASBOU FRA Loncin Racing Loncin 41'17.912
22 Louis ROSSI FRA FFM Honda GP 125 Honda 41'18.965
23 Robert MURESAN ROU Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing Aprilia 41'20.066
24 Marco RAVAIOLI ITA Matteoni Racing Aprilia 41'20.564
25 Tobias SIEGERT GER Adac Nordbayern e.v. Aprilia 40'59.273