Tuesday, April 01, 2008

GP of Jerez

The 250cc Spanish GP was absolutely breathtaking. The wide audience on the hills of Jerez de la Frontera was incredulous up until the end, when the race turned out in the most unthinkable way. Aprilia performed brilliantly, but has to be contented with the second place on the podium.

The race began quite monotonously with Bautista starting well from the pole followed by a tiny group of riders. Right from the second lap he managed to outdistance the others together with Simoncelli who, by the fifth lap, had already gained two second lead over his followers Kallio, Luthi, Barbera and Simon. The escapers managed to gain ground lap after lap overtaking each other in the last lap in order to launch the final attack. But, a few corners to the finishing line, something totally unexpected happened: Bautista, coming out of a corner, experienced an engine power drop and Simoncelli, who could not avoid him, went crushing against him. Kallio, who was eight seconds behind, could get to the finishing line 4”277 before Pasini, the current leader of the world stand, who got second, beating Takahashi’s Honda, Aoyama’s KTM and Barbera’s RSA.

The 125 cc race proved to be extraordinary at the Spanish circuit of Jerez de la Frontera. The young riders’ battle and the cheering audience stay in the eyes and heart of those who live in the world of races. Simone Corsi is the first to get to the finishing line, alone, followed three seconds later, by his team mate Nico Terol, Jack&Jones WRB team, while Bradley Smith completes the podium.

The race was very hard fought from the beginning, with Smith performing a very good start from the pole followed by Terol, Talmacsi, Corsi and Bradl. The riders started to push hard taking a considerable lead over their rivals right after two laps. Talmacsi, who was in the third position, is forced to withdraw because of a break down. Terol takes the lead and rushes ahead together with Smith and Corsi. Their pace is not extremely fast and Bradl and Nieto join the three in the tenth lap. Corsi takes the lead in the thirteenth lap and performs his fast lap of 1’47”999. Lap after lap, the Italian rider manages to gain metre after metre, right until the last three laps, when he engages in the long final stretch against Terol, the only rider who had been able to keep up with him. The Roman crosses the fishing line first and receives the congratulations of the King of Spain on the podium. Smith managed to conquer the third position on the long stretch over Bradl and Nieto.

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