Bradley Smith just misses front row in Australia

Bradley Smith will start tomorrow’s Australian 125GP from the second row of the grid after he finished fifth fastest in qualifying.

The British rider set a best time of 1.39.363 on his tenth lap but was unable to lower his time in a further ten laps as he finished over a second off pole position.

Smith was just 0.279s off the front row as conditions at Phillip Island improved significantly compared to the Arctic weather experienced yesterday when the 19-year-old Oxfordshire rider was

Today’s qualifying was run in sunny but blustery conditions but Smith was only able to lap within 1.127s of Spaniard Marc Marquez.

The Derbi rider stormed to his 11th pole position and fourth in a row this afternoon as he dominated the timesheets.

Marquez, who is chasing a ninth victory in tomorrow’s 23-lap race, posted a quickest time of 1.38.236 to finish a massive 0.616s clear of Sandro Cortese.

Closest title rival Nicolas Terol was down in fourth position on his Aspar Aprilia but he was 0.848s adrift of in-form Marquez, who is looking to complete a clean sweep of the three flyaway races having already won in Japan and Malaysia earlier this month.
Pol Espargaro, who is also locked in the title chase and sits just 12-points behind Marquez going into round 15, will start third on the grid after he set a best of 1.38.991.

Danny Webb will start from 11th place as he looks to bounce back from a heavy crash in Sepang less than a week ago to bolster his hopes of top ten championship finish.

He logged a best time of 1.41.458 and although he was only just outside the top ten, he was a massive 3.222s behind Marquez.

Danny Kent will look to score his first world championship points from 23rd on the grid.

The 16-year-old has been in the points in Japan and Malaysia when mechanical issues have ended his challenge.

Third quickest in the rain yesterday, the Lambretta ride clocked a best time of 1.43.990 after his hopes of a higher position on the grid were wrecked by an early crash.