Bradl Breaks Through and Bradley Bogs Down

Bradley Smith gave the pale and soggy brigade something to cheer about early on in the 125 race at Brno, but it was Stefan Bradl who surprised the crowd and disappeared off the front of the pack.

After qualifying 13^th on the grid Bradl rode the Grizzly Gas Kiefer Aprilia to a commanding win, managing to stave off an attack from the fast finishing series leader Mike Di Meglio.

The first lap was marred by the loss of Raffaele De Rosa, Tomoyoshi Koyama, Takaaki Nakagami and Danny Webb but the British fans were cheering as Bradley Smith led Stefan Bradl and Galbor Talmasci across the line into the second lap.

Smith led until lap three when Stefan Bradl broke past for the lead briefly. Smith reclaimed the lead before a brave move from Bradl opened up the door for Talmasci and relegated the youngster to third. By lap four Di Meglio had also found his way past smith and as Talmasci and Di Meglio fought Bradl escaped out the front.

It wasn’t easy sailing at the front of the pack as fierce attacks and counter attacks nearly saw the entire front train tumbling through the dirt time and time again. Terol was the instigator of one piece of hornet nest 125 antics very nearly taking out the three riders ahead of him.

As Marq Marquez exited stage left on lap seven Joan Olive arrived on the train at the front, splitting Talmasci and Terol in third place while Bradley Smith faded to sixth.

The race for second broke on lap 15 when Di Meglio set out to overhaul the one second gap to Bradl but the series leader had left his run too late. In the end it was Bradl from Di Meglio and Olive diving past Talmasci in the dying meters for third.

Simoni Corsi’s championship hopes faded with a distant 10^th place. There are now 44 points between Di Meglio and Corsi with 6 rounds to go.