Press Release:Bradley Smith kept up the championship pace at the Grand Prix of France, doing a professional job to bring his Aprilia 125cc home in fourth and collect more valuable points. The Bancaja Aspar rider’s team-mate Julián Simón was the winner, taking over at the top of the standings after four races.
On the back of his first career win in Spain two weeks ago Oxfordshire teenager Smith came home behind German 15 year-old Jonas Folger and fellow Aspar rider Sergio Gadea. The Briton now sits second in the standings, 5.5 points behind Simón.
In an accident strewn race on a wet track Smith’s compatriots, Kent rider Danny Webb and Gloucestershire youngster Scott Redding, unfortunately crashed out and left France pointless.
Smith commented afterwards,
“It was an unbelievable race and obviously I hoped to be on the podium because we had a good weekend overall and we have come here after winning at Jerez. The conditions were difficult though and I had some problems with the rear tyre which was slipping around so I wasn’t too confident on some of the corners. Still, we got some good points and we are second in the championship so we can move along to Mugello in Italy with confidence.”
A dramatic MotoGP contest, meanwhile, saw the riders swap from wet to slick tyres mid-race as the track dried out, with Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo judging things to perfection to take his second win of the year. Marco Melandri was second, Dani Pedrosa third and Yorkshireman James Toseland came home ninth, whilst Valentino Rossi was last, after a crash, a ride through penalty and three bike swaps!
In the 250cc race World Champion Marco Simoncelli returned to winning form, Spaniard Héctor Faubel recorded his first 250 podium in second, Simoncelli’s team-mate Roberto Locatelli came home third and Álvaro Bautista picked up good points in fourth to go top of the general standings. British wildcard rider Toby Markham scored two points in fourteenth place on his C&L Racing Honda machine.
MotoGP Race Results:1 Jorge LORENZO SPA YAMAHA 47'52.678
2 Marco MELANDRI ITA KAWASAKI 48'10.388
3 Dani PEDROSA SPA HONDA 48'12.571
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA HONDA 48'13.133
5 Casey STONER AUS DUCATI 48'23.217
6 Chris VERMEULEN AUS SUZUKI 48'30.140
Championship positions:1 LORENZO Jorge 66 points
2 ROSSI Valentino 65
3 STONER Casey 65
4 PEDROSA Dani 57
5 MELANDRI Marco 43
6 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 43
