Valencia MotoGP: Bradley Smith third, Marc Marquez secures vital pole

Bradley Smith clinched his 12th front row start of this year’s 125GP campaign in Valencia this afternoon.

But the British rider could do nothing about Marc Marquez as the Spaniard romped to his 11th pole position of the season ahead of tomorrow’s world title decider with Nicolas Terol.

Smith posted a best time of 1.39.712 to finish third quickest in a sun-drenched qualifying session this afternoon, the Aspar Aprilia rider finishing just 0.148s behind title favourite Marquez. 

The 19-year-old Oxfordshire rider was only 0.040s behind team-mate Nicolas Terol in second as the Spaniard looks like needing a miracle to lift the world title.

Marquez holds a commanding 17-point lead over Terol going into their title shootout tomorrow. And the Derbi rider secured pole position with a brilliant lap of 1.39.564 to finish 0.108s clear of Terol. Marquez is bidding to become the second youngest rider in history to win a world title and he is chasing an 11th win of an outstanding campaign.

Completing the front row is German Sandro Cortese, who secured fourth with a lap of 1.39.878. That secured him an eighth front row start of the season as he looks to steal fifth place in the overall rankings.

Danny Webb will start the 24-lap race from 14th place, which is his worst grid position since the Catalunya round in Barcelona back in early July.

The Kent rider logged a best time of 1.41.910. Red Bull Rookies Cup runner-up Danny Kent is 22nd on the grid after he posted a best time of 1.48.083 on the Lambretta machine.

Taylor Mackenzie, son of triple British Superbike champion Niall, will go off from 29th on the grid after he set a best of 1.44.548.

1 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Red Bull Ajo Motorsport Derbi 226.3 1’39.564 
2 Nicolas TEROL SPA Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 226.6 1’39.672 0.108 / 0.108
3 Bradley SMITH GBR Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 222.3 1’39.712 0.148 / 0.040
4 Sandro CORTESE GER Avant Mitsubishi Ajo Derbi 222.0 1’39.878 0.314 / 0.166
5 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Tuenti Racing Derbi 224.4 1’39.919 0.355 / 0.041
6 Esteve RABAT SPA Blusens-STX Aprilia 226.3 1’40.459 0.895 / 0.540
7 Efren VAZQUEZ SPA Tuenti Racing Derbi 226.1 1’40.615 1.051 / 0.156
8 Luis SALOM SPA Stipa-Molenaar Racing GP Aprilia 221.4 1’41.371 1.807 / 0.756
9 Adrian MARTIN SPA Aeroport de Castello – Ajo Aprilia 224.5 1’41.378 1.814 / 0.007
10 Randy KRUMMENACHER SWI Stipa-Molenaar Racing GP Aprilia 217.9 1’41.451 1.887 / 0.073
11 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA JPN Racing Team Germany Aprilia 221.3 1’41.461 1.897 / 0.010
12 Jonas FOLGER GER Ongetta Team Aprilia 219.2 1’41.805 2.241 / 0.344
13 Johann ZARCO FRA WTR San Marino Team Aprilia 219.8 1’41.855 2.291 / 0.050
14 Danny WEBB GBR Andalucia Cajasol Aprilia 220.6 1’41.910 2.346 / 0.055
15 Alberto MONCAYO SPA Andalucia Cajasol Aprilia 223.1 1’41.950 2.386 / 0.040
16 Isaac VIÑALES SPA CBC Corse Aprilia 216.3 1’42.379 2.815 / 0.429
17 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Interwetten Honda 125 Honda 215.2 1’42.383 2.819 / 0.004
18 Simone GROTZKYJ ITA Fontana Racing Aprilia 218.5 1’42.687 3.123 / 0.304
19 Peter SEBESTYEN HUN Ongetta Team Aprilia 215.1 1’42.715 3.151 / 0.028
20 Jakub KORNFEIL CZE Racing Team Germany Aprilia 217.9 1’42.733 3.169 / 0.018
21 Lorenzo SAVADORI ITA Matteoni Racing Aprilia 210.9 1’42.941 3.377 / 0.208
22 Danny KENT GBR Lambretta Reparto Corse Lambretta 218.8 1’43.083 3.519 / 0.142
23 Niklas AJO FIN Monlau Competicion Derbi 217.3 1’43.115 3.551 / 0.032
24 Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN MAL AirAsia – Sepang Int. Circuit Aprilia 219.6 1’43.247 3.683 / 0.132
25 Joan PERELLO SPA SAG Castrol Honda 216.0 1’43.456 3.892 / 0.209
26 Johnny ROSELL SPA SAG Castrol Honda 213.4 1’43.657 4.093 / 0.201
27 Sturla FAGERHAUG NOR AirAsia – Sepang Int. Circuit Aprilia 218.3 1’44.195 4.631 / 0.538
28 Louis ROSSI FRA CBC Corse Aprilia 215.1 1’44.540 4.976 / 0.345
29 Taylor MACKENZIE GBR KRP MMCG Honda 216.9 1’44.548 4.984 / 0.008
30 Marco RAVAIOLI ITA Lambretta Reparto Corse Lambretta 214.2 1’44.681 5.117 / 0.133
31 John McPHEE GBR KRP Bradley Smith Racing Honda 216.3 1’45.214 5.650 / 0.533
32 Tommaso GABRIELLI ITA Ongetta Team Aprilia 213.0 1’45.593 6.029 / 0.379