Last year was apparently a disaster for British Motorcycle racing. 2007 saw the first time since the beginning of the premier class that a British rider had failed to score a single point. However barely six months on for what many class as its darkest day, British motorcycle racing is blossoming with new talent in all classes.
James Toseland’s impressive performance in Qatar has ensured that last years points drought has already been forgotten, and with Bradley Smith, Danny Webb and Scott Redding taking 3 of the top 5 places on the 125cc grid there was ever reason for optimism.
Bradley Smith now in his third season in the 125cc World Championship has finally managed to land a ride capable of showcasing his talents to the world stage, taking over from Mattia Pasini in the Polaris World team.
Smith has been blisteringly quick in pre season testing, topping the timesheets on a number of occasions and showing the current crop of 125cc riders what he is capable of on equal machinery. Smith who has spent the last two years on the Repsol Honda, which although well funded and supported via HRC is lacking outright speed against the dominant Aprilia’s. If there is a down side to Smith’s current deal it is that the Polaris World team happens to be the most unlucky team in the paddock. Pasini would surely have been champion barring the machine failures that plagued his 2007 campaign.
Bradley started the weekend in Qatar brilliantly taking pole position over the two 30-minute sessions and led the race for the first few laps of the race until the bad luck from 2007 reared its ugly head again and Smith dropped back through the pack. He did manage to battle back to finish 16th but missed out on a championship point by a second. However, Bradley has learnt a lot over the weekend, claiming his first pole, leading the race and although he didn’t leave with any championship points he did leave with a nice new watch for his qualifying performance.
Danny Webb who has also changed machinery to Aprilia this year had better fortunes. Qualifying a career best fifth on the grid, Webb made a good start to the race and managed to follow the leaders through the early stages of Sunday nights race. Webb who is now in his second season in the World Championship has had a testing pre-season trying to master the different characteristics of the more powerful Aprilia, but his speed at adapting his style to the new Aprilia has been helped no doubt that he is working with the Dutch DeGarf team for the second year.
De Garf like many teams over the close season decided to switch equipment from Honda to Aprilia and it certainly appears to be working. Webb was second only to Smith after the provisional qualifying on Friday and only dropped to 5th after failing to improve his time in the second qualifying session.
Webb mixed it up with the leading pack over the first seven laps but then almost got his nose cut off coming into the slow left hand turn which led him to lose touch with the leaders, however he managed to remain strong throughout the remainder of the race and scored a career best finish of sixth place which will surely be a much needed confidence boost for the 16 year old for the promising season ahead.
However Webb wasn’t the top Brit on Sunday. Scott Redding who competed in the Spanish CEV championship last season made his debut in the World Championship, and riding against a field of experienced riders such as Sergio Gadea, Redding took no prisoners with a stunning performance in qualifying which saw him round out the front row with an amazing fourth place, becoming the youngest rider to every appear on the front row of a World Championship event.
Clearly Scott is not looking to spend a year settling into the class and learning the tracks. After a competitive start, which saw Redding drop to eighth place he showed amazing control and determination for a 15 year old, slowly allowing his tyres to warm to the track, he then set off in pursuit of the leading bunch setting a new lap record on the way. Redding used his skill to run differing lines to the leading pack allowing his year old Aprilia to get a run on the new factory Aprilias down the straight. Scott showed on the biggest stage just what a talent he is finishing just 1.8 seconds behind the eventual race winner Sergio Gadea.
It seems silly looking back now on all the pundits predicting a dark and depressing era in British Motorcycle racing. There hasn’t been a flourish of British riders showing this much potential within the premier class for well over a decade, so it looks like there is every reason to look forward to a fantastic and fruitful season ahead in the MotoGP paddock. As the old saying goes, what a difference a day makes.
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