125cc- Gadea wins 125cc thriller at Assen
Sergio Gadea clinched his first 125cc victory of the season after a thrilling last lap battle with Nicolas Terol and Julian Simon at Assen.Gadea was at the tail of the scrap between the trio of Spaniards going onto the final lap, but Terol's attempt to wrestle the lead from Simon half way around the lap delayed both and allowed Gadea to capitalise.
Terol rejoined the circuit just as Gadea swiped across the front of his bike into the lead, and had just enough of an advantage to survive the run to the line out of the final chicane. Simon also rejoined and was close behind in third.
Bradley Smith and Andrea Iannone had broken away with the lead trio in the early stages, but five bikes for the lead became three five laps in.Initially, just Terol and Simon broke away at the front, while Gadea was holding up Iannone and Smith. But the latter pair were too busy fighting each other to make an attempt to pass Gadea, who was able to set off in pursuit of his countrymen.
Terol led most of the race, with Simon and Gadea taking it in turns to heap on the pressure while all three waited for the all-important last lap.Smith and Iannone exchanged fourth place lap after lap but it was Smith that squeezed ahead out of the last corner to claim the spot by just 0.044s.Things were no less frantic behind as Stefan Bradl led the battle for sixth, holding Pol Espargaro, Joan Olive, Simone Corsi, Jonas Folger and Marc Marquez at bay after pole-sitter Sandro Cortese crashed out of seventh place on the fourth lap.That battle also came to a head at the final chicane as Olive ran off the road while challenging Espargaro. Bradl made it home first in sixth, with Folger seventh and Corsi eighth ahead of Espargaro, Marquez and Olive.Results to follow
Date published : 27 Jun 200909:52:28
