Andrea Dovizioso has already wrapped up the championship in what has been a stellar 2004 for the youngster.  He started from pole position today for the eighth time this season.  Another note that underlines his supreme consistency this year is the fact that he has finished in the top four every race this year apart from Portugal where he recorded a DNF due to a puncture. If he finishes in the top four here at Valencia today he will set a new record for top four finishes in the 125cc class with 15 his tally if he can do it tonight.  But still no rider has taken back to back race wins in the 125cc class for 38 races.

Hector Barbera had looked like a likely championship contender for the first half of the season but things have fell away a little for him as he has taken only 14 points in the last four races.

Derbi have never won a GP at Valencia but Jorge Lorenzo will be trying to notch up their first today.  He has finished on the podium five times out of the last seven races.

Rounding out the front row is Gino Borsoi who before today hadn't started on the front row since Suzuka in 2002.

Sergio Gadea has been strong this weekend in every practice and qualifying session and heads the second row. His previous best qualifying position was 14th at Phillip Island.

Casey Stoner starts from sixth on the grid at the track where he recorded his first ever GP victory last year.

Gino Borsoi took advantage of that rare front row start to lead the field through the first turns after the flag dropped.  Rodriguez and Ballerini went down at turn two and nearly took a whole swag of riders with them but after the dust cleared everyone but that pair was still upright. Two riders did visit the sand trap also but quickly got underway again.

Borsoi continued to lead the way from Dovizioso in the opening laps with Barbera, Lorenzo and Stoner all right with him.

Dovizioso and Barbera then dispended with Borsoi and started a frantic struggle for the lead between themselves. Stoner drifted back to sixth and it didn't look as though he was going to be able to run with the leaders but he was faring better than his team-mate who ended his day with a roll in the kitty litter.

Barbera then got the better of Dovizioso and pulled away to the tune of over a second. Then by lap 10 he had stretched that lead out to 2.5 seconds.  A four-way battle for second place was unfolding between Lorenzo, Borsoi, Gadea, Bautista and Nieto.  While Dovizioso had slipped down to eighth after a minor off track excursion but even that position was not far behind that battle for second place.  

The battle for second place then started to separate slightly as Lorenzo started to reduce the gap to race leader Barbera.  It was all looking good for Lorenzo as he continued to close on Barbera before he ended up in the kitty litter and went out of the race. Shortly after Casey Stoner went down in quite a strange looking crash, thankfully the teenager got up seemingly not too worse for wear.

Nieto, Gadea, Bautista and Dovizioso then started swapping paint at nearly every turn as the battle for second place hotted up once again.  Barbera was still running strong out in front with a two second lead.

That lead had shrunk to just over a second with two laps to run as the pace hotted up even further and the battle for second place had an extra player join the game to make it a five-way fight for that second step on the podium. 

Hector Barbera went to take his sixth victory of the season and with those 25 points secured second place in the 125cc Championship.  Dovizioso won that battle for second place to round out a great year for 125 racing.