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Sunny yet cool conditions greeted the 125
riders on the grid, a welcome site after turbulent and chaotic
weather conditions played havoc over the course of Friday and
Saturdays practice and qualifying sessions. The only real
determinant weather effect felt by these ultra light 125cc machines
throughout the race would come from the strong gusty winds produced
across the Phillip Island circuit.
Away from the line as the lights went out it was pole-man Pasini who
made a good start along with Tomoyoshi Koyama, conversely it was
cruel luck for Italian Rafaelle De Rosa early on; he started the
race from pit lane and the back of the field after initially
qualifying second. Pasini and Koyama were doing the main jousting
for the lead early, along with Pesek and Faubel.
Koyama, who finished second two years ago at Phillip Island, began
to fade back into the leading pack as the laps progressed. Pasini,
Pesek and Faubel took over setting the pace at the head of the
field. As the front three scrapped and swapped places, championship
leader Talmacsi began to close in from fourth place as a large group
of riders began to amass behind him.
Some brilliant three way moves were taking place into the
blindingly, scarily fast turn one, riders diving in three or four
abreast at times. The front pack consisted of 11 riders, separated
by only one and a half seconds. The race was shaping up to be a
traditional pulsating Phillip Island slip-streaming scrap.
Championship leader Talmacsi took over at the front of the race,
continuing his impressive 2007 form, having only twice failed to
finish in the top four. His main championship rival and teammate
Faubel was falling behind in fifth place. Rafalle De Rosa retired
from the race with an electrical problem early on, a heart breaking
end to the race for the youngster after such a promising qualifying
performance.
Pasini and Pesek were quick to mug Talmacsi for the lead and demote
him to third as they both tried to increase the pressure on the
chasing pack.
Meanwhile the championship battle was heating up as Faubel moved up
to third past his teammate Talmacsi. Esteve Rabat was putting in an
extremely strong performance, running in third place after
qualifying 11th; he was the sole Honda rider in the front group of
11.
Pesek and Pasini continued to set an impressive pace at the front as
Rabat was demoted to fifth by Olive and Faubel. Championship leader
Talmacsi had dropped back to seventh at this stage but set the
fastest lap of the race in an attempt to gain ground.
Michael Ranseder crashed out of ninth place as the pace began to
escalate and the gaps between the leading riders began to stretch a
little.
Pesek continued to lead the way at the front from Faubel and Rabat
as Pasini followed the growing trend and began to fade back into the
large leading pack.
Rabat was looking very strong and comfortable at the Island, moving
into second place with 11 laps to run, conversely his teammate
Bradley Smith was struggling down in 20th position.
With 10 laps to run the order of the leading pack of 10 was
familiarly lead by Pesek from Rabat, Olive, Faubel, Koyama,
Talmacsi, Gadea, Pasini, Corsi and Cortese brining up the rear of
the leading freight train.
Things started to settle down to a degree as the riders vied for
their preferred position heading into the closing laps. Still only
one and a half seconds covered the top 10 riders, Phillip Island
throwing up typically close and tense racing.
Briton Danny Webb joined the list of casualties on lap 13, crashing
out of 17th place. Australian Glenn Scott pitted in on lap 16 of the
23 lap battle in order to avoid spoiling things for the front
runners, the weekend proving to be a steep learning curve for the
young Aussie.
Faubel took over at the front of the race after closing the slight
gap to Pesek, as Rabat did his best to cling on in third. Sergio
Gadea, who had been sitting in the middle of the freight train all
race long had now moved up to fourth place and was looking
aggressive.
A front group of five had managed to edge away from the chasing
riders with six laps to run. Faubel lead the way from Gadea, Pesek,
Rabat and Olive. Talmacsi in sixth had it all ahead of him to make
up some places and close the point’s loss to his teammate Faubel at
the front.
Alexis Masbou was yet another to crash out of the race with five
laps to go. As the leading five began to jostle and squabble amongst
themselves, Talmacsi in sixth managed to close the gap and turn it
into a six way fight. Pace setter Pesek was looking very strong out
of the final turn and onto the front straight as the leading riders
began to get physical and bang elbows.
Things were really heating up onto the penultimate lap as Faubel and
Olive began to really light it up in first and second. Pesek and
Rabat in third fourth were having their own personal duel as the
leading group of six got set for an intense final two laps.
Olive took over at the front of the race from Faubel on the second
to last lap as Pesek followed him through, Faubel would be livid as
he would be wanting as many points as possible to attempt to gain
the championship lead from his languishing teammate Talmacsi. The
Spaniard was however improving on his previous two best finishes at
the Island of 6th place in 2005 and 13th last year.
Onto the final lap and Olive still lead the way from Faubel and
Pesek. Pesek took the lead early on with a brilliant move from third
at turn one as Olive lost some ground and baulked some of the riders
behind him. Faubel was still holding down third from Corsi and
Rabat.
Pesek was holding firm over the back half of the final lap as Olive
began to mount all kinds of pressure on the Czech rider. Pesek got a
typically brilliant run out of the long final turn and onto the
straight and took the race win from Joan Olive and Hector Faubel.
Corsi snatched fourth from a gallant ‘Tito’ Rabat who was followed
by Pasini, Koyama, Talmacsi, Gadea and Cortese rounded out the top
10.
A fantastic, hectic and hair raising race resulted in a deserved win
for Pesek. Olive rode a brilliant race to claim second place and
Faubel managed to close right in on Talmacsi in the championship
standings after finishing a solid third. Talmacsi could only score a
disappointing eighth place and now leads the championship by a
solitary point.
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