MotoGP 2008 - Round Ten - Sachsenring (Germany)

MotoGP 2008 - Round Ten - Sachsenring (Germany) - 125cc Race

By Jake Leech

125 Race Report - Sachsenring
By Jake Leech

The Sachsenring racing circuit is located in Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany. It is a tight, technical and twisty circuit that generally results in close, hard fought racing. Many of the riders don’t particularly enjoy the ‘go-kart’ like nature of the track, but it tends to suit the 125cc class to a tee.

Last rounds race winner Gabor Talmacsi claimed pole position after Saturday’s typically hectic qualifying session. He was aiming for back-to-back victories for the first time in his GP career.

Joining him on row one of the grid were Bradley Smith, Stefan Bradl and Simone Corsi.

Heading up row two was Spaniard Joan Olive. Alongside him was Championship leader Mike DiMeglio, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Raffaele DeRosa.

The riders completed their warm-up lap while surveying the damp and drying track and attempting to calm their nerves heading towards the race start. The morning warm-up session was run under wet conditions but the race was declared a dry affair.

Bradley Smith made the best start of the front row riders. Pole-sitter Gabor Talmacsi made a horrible start, bogging down and dropping rapidly down the order. Stefan Bradl swooped past Smith into turn one to lead his home GP. If Bradl could bring it home he would become the first German rider to win his home 125cc Grand Prix since Dirk Raudies at the Hockenheim circuit in 1994.

Smith was pushing hard in pursuit of the German rider who had instantly managed to build a gap. Smith was in turn followed by Corsi, Olive, Koyama, Cortese and DiMeglio.

Corsi quickly demoted Smith to third place over the course of the first lap and took up the task of reeling in Bradl. Olive continued Smith’s slip down the order, diving past the young Briton early on in lap two.

Corsi closed Bradl’s initial gap effortlessly and set about mounting relentless pressure on the youngster. Only a matter of corners after catching Bradl, Corsi moved by and took the lead.

Corsi, Bradl, Olive and Smith had broken away from the rest of the field with 25 laps to run. Giving chase in fifth were Terol and Talmacsi. The pole-sitter had set about making up for his terrible start by setting the fastest lap of the race by a considerable margin.

The Hungarian quickly dispatched Terol and instantly began closing in on Smith and the proceeding group of three ahead of him.

Olive made a fantastic move for the race lead early on, diving past Corsi at the final corner around the outside. No sooner had Olive taken the lead did Bradl make an equally impressive move, jumping from third to first at the following turn one and ruffling a few feathers along the way.

Michael Ranseder crashed out of the race with 23 laps remaining.

Talmacsi had caught Smith with 22 laps to run. As a result of his impressive pace, Terol and DiMeglio in sixth and seventh had managed to follow the veteran to the head of proceedings.

As if sensing the wily veteran’s presence, Smith quickly pushed past Olive for third place. Olive felt the wrath of the Hungarian only corners later, Talmacsi snatching fourth place from the young Spaniard. Olive was having none of it however, immediately re-claiming fourth and shoving Talmacsi back down the order.

With 19 laps remaining, Bradl and Smith both decided to pass Simone Corsi at the last corner on the track. Smith continued his forward progress a lap later and took over at the front of the race, relegating Bradl to second place, who was in turn passed by Corsi.

Joan Olive suffered mechanical issues and was forced to drop away from the leading scrap with 18 laps to go, he eventually retired from the race.

A lap later a few scattered spots of rain began to fall around the circuit as Smith and Corsi began to edge away from the chasing pack somewhat.

With 16 laps to go, DiMeglio in fourth set the fastest lap of the race as he searched desperately for a way around Bradl ahead of him.

DiMeglio made his pace known by barging past Bradl and instantly setting about Smith and Corsi ahead of him. Smith was pushing extremely hard with 14 laps to run, establishing a one second lead over Corsi ahead of him over the course of a solitary lap.

DiMeglio continued his forward progress as the laps ticked away, catching and demoting Corsi with 13 laps to run. Corsi, being DiMeglio’s primary title rival, instantly retaliated and forced the Frenchman back down to third place.

DiMeglio and Corsi’s scrapping had allowed Smith to edge further ahead at the front. With 12 laps to be completed the young Briton’s lead continued to stand at around one second.

Having being relegated by DiMeglio yet again, Corsi drastically slipped down the order as Bradl and Talmacsi also moved by the Italian.

Sergio Gadea retired from the race with 11 laps to run, his Aprilia seizing and spearing off track.

DiMeglio’s pace was relentless; the Frenchman was able to catch, latch onto the back of and eventually pass Smith in the space of three laps after passing Corsi.

With 10 laps to run the order of the top 10 was headed by DiMeglio from Smith, Bradl, Talmacsi, Corsi, Cortese, Terol, DeRosa, Redding and Koyama. Koyama started from his best grid position since he was sixth on the grid in Sepang last year; however his race was failing to live up to his promising upturn in qualifying form.

With nine laps to run, riders lap times began to drop by around two seconds. The continuing spots of rain appeared to be playing havoc with the field.

Bradl responded to the trying conditions and continued Bradley Smith’s backwards progress, demoting him to third and pushing hard to bridge the gap to DiMeglio ahead of him.

With six laps remaining the front four riders began to spread apart somewhat. The dicey conditions appeared to be forcing riders to re-evaluate their tactics and hold back to a degree.

Raffaele DeRosa crashed out of eighth place with four laps to go.

At the front, DiMeglio was comfortably maintaining a one second lead. Behind him Bradl and Talmacsi were fighting furiously to claim second place.

Talmacsi appeared to be running a superior pace to Bradl, but he was unwilling to make a move in the tricky conditions, as venturing off the completely dry racing line could result in disaster.

Over the course of the penultimate lap DiMeglio continued to streak away at the head of the field. Meanwhile, in the battle for fifth place, Nico Terol was heaping pressure all over his teammate Simone Corsi. The Spaniard eventually made a move and demoted Corsi further down the order.

Onto the last lap and DiMeglio would surely win the race. Bradl, Talmacsi and Smith however were engaged in a thrilling battle to decide the makeup of the podium placings.

Bradl was holding his nerve over the first half of the lap as Smith looked for a route around Talmacsi ahead of him. Smith made a brave attempt around the outside of Talmacsi in the closing stages, but couldn’t make the move stick. He made another attempt into the final bend, but ran wide and lost the drag to the line.

DiMeglio took the chequered flag and a deserving victory. The Frenchman further emphasised his stranglehold on the championship standings. DiMeglio had scored just a single point from his four previous visits to the Sachsenring circuit, when he finished fifteenth last year. He could add another 25 points to that tally now.

Stefan Bradl took a memorable second place at his home grand prix while Talmacsi held off Smith for the final podium place.

Simone Corsi managed to salvage fifth place followed by Cortese, Terol, Redding, Rabat and Marquez rounded out the top 10.

The 125cc paddock now takes a well earned mid-season break. The next race for them being just over a month away, taking place on the 17th of August at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.

Race Result
1 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Ajo Motorsport Derbi
2 Stefan BRADL GER Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing Aprilia 2.010
3 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 2.733
4 Bradley SMITH GBR Polaris World Aprilia 2.847
5 Simone CORSI ITA Jack & Jones WRB Aprilia 9.117
6 Sandro CORTESE GER Emmi - Caffe Latte Aprilia 9.249
7 Nicolas TEROL SPA Jack & Jones WRB Aprilia 9.257
8 Scott REDDING GBR Blusens Aprilia Junior Aprilia 30.778
9 Esteve RABAT SPA Repsol KTM 125cc KTM 32.311
10 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol KTM 125cc KTM 33.034
11 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Ajo Motorsport Derbi 33.121
12 Andrea IANNONE ITA I.C. Team Aprilia 33.134
13 Pere TUTUSAUS SPA Bancaja Aspar Team Aprilia 33.171
14 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Toni Mang Team Honda 33.208
15 Pablo NIETO SPA Onde 2000 KTM KTM 33.755
16 Efren VAZQUEZ SPA Blusens Aprilia Junior Aprilia 34.554
17 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Belson Derbi Derbi 37.776
18 Stevie BONSEY USA Degraaf Grand Prix Aprilia 37.872
19 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN I.C. Team Aprilia 54.240
20 Marvin FRITZ GER Kiefer Bos Sotin Jnr. Team Seel 58.249
21 Alexis MASBOU FRA Loncin Racing Loncin 1'14.202
22 Louis ROSSI FRA FFM Honda GP 125 Honda 1'15.255
23 Robert MURESAN ROU Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing Aprilia 1'16.356
24 Marco RAVAIOLI ITA Matteoni Racing Aprilia 1'16.854
25 Tobias SIEGERT GER Adac Nordbayern e.v. Aprilia 1 Lap

Championship Standings
1 Mike DI MEGLIO Derbi FRA Ajo Motorsport 166
2 Simone CORSI Aprilia ITA Jack & Jones WRB 136
3 Gabor TALMACSI Aprilia HUN Bancaja Aspar Team 109
4 Stefan BRADL Aprilia GER Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing 101
5 Joan OLIVE Derbi SPA Belson Derbi 94
6 Nicolas TEROL Aprilia SPA Jack & Jones WRB 91
7 Bradley SMITH Aprilia GBR Polaris World 79
8 Pol ESPARGARO Derbi SPA Belson Derbi 75
9 Sandro CORTESE Aprilia GER Emmi - Caffe Latte 68
10 Scott REDDING Aprilia GBR Blusens Aprilia Junior 65
11 Sergio GADEA Aprilia SPA Bancaja Aspar Team 62
12 Andrea IANNONE Aprilia ITA I.C. Team 59
13 Stevie BONSEY Aprilia USA Degraaf Grand Prix 39
14 Marc MARQUEZ KTM SPA Repsol KTM 125cc 32
15 Esteve RABAT KTM SPA Repsol KTM 125cc 31
16 Raffaele DE ROSA KTM ITA Onde 2000 KTM 30
17 Danny WEBB Aprilia GBR Degraaf Grand Prix 26
18 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA KTM JPN ISPA KTM Aran 22
19 Dominique AEGERTER Derbi SWI Ajo Motorsport 21
20 Michael RANSEDER Aprilia AUT I.C. Team 19
21 Efren VAZQUEZ Aprilia SPA Blusens Aprilia Junior 14
22 Pablo NIETO KTM SPA Onde 2000 KTM 12
23 Lorenzo ZANETTI KTM ITA ISPA KTM Aran 10
24 Randy KRUMMENACHER KTM SWI Red Bull KTM 125 10
25 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Aprilia JPN I.C. Team 9
26 Stefano BIANCO Aprilia ITA S3+ WTR San Marino Team 8
27 Pere TUTUSAUS Aprilia SPA Bancaja Aspar Team 8
28 Marcel SCHROTTER Honda GER Toni Mang Team 2
29 Hugo VAN DEN BERG Aprilia NED Degraaf Grand Prix 1
30 Alexis MASBOU Loncin FRA Loncin Racing 1

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