One Hand?

Julian Simon is ever closer to placing his hands on the 2009 125cc Championship after a demoralising display at the Sachsenring in Germany today. Simon led a quintet of Spaniards across the line in a race that saw his main title challenger Bradley Smith crash twice, and numerous others succumb to the wet.

The 125 race started in typical hectic fashion, with a crash between Efren Vazquez and Jasper Iwema  in turn one, before Bradley Smith ran wide on the start of the downhill and fell from second place. Smith rejoined, but fell again three laps later in a crash with Eeki Kuparinen The British rider clearly frustrated with the Finn.

As Simon skipped off the line, local wildcard Marcel Shrotter slipped back through the back. It was a disappointing start for Shrotter, the first wildcard entry on the front row since 1995, and was mirrored by that of Alex Masbou, who gave Chinese manufacturer Loncin its best ever qualifying performance. Masbou started sixth but slipped right back to the mid teens before a crash with Rabat on lap 2 ended his race.

By the end of lap one, Julian Simon and Nico Terol lead the pack from Gadea who had climbed from 14^th to third. The battle for fourth included Sergio Gadea, Simone Corsi, Joan Olive, Marc Marquez and Andrea Iannone. The latter having climbed from a dismal 22^nd on the grid to seventh.

The German circuit took its toll on the pack, rain soaked grass run offs and a track that was still damp in places caught many out, the most serious being the nasty highside of Marc Marquez in the final corner of the race.

Simone Corsi was the first of the battle group for fourth to falter. Struggling to make up ground after losing his fifth place on lap 14, Corsi low sided trying to pass Olive. The crash balked Olive and gave Iannone some clearance for a couple of laps, but Olive was back by Iannone to fourth on lap 19.

As German fans were disappointed by the crashes of Folger and Stefan Bradl, Joan Olive and Mar Marqueze gave the race a Spanish flavour, passing Iannone to make it a Spanish top six.

In the dying stages Simon pressed on with his lead, edging it out to almost ten seconds, as Nico Terol fell into the clutches of the two riders behind.

With a little over a lap to go, it was Marc Marquez and Joan Olive and in desperate fight for the final podium spot, but it was a high-side from Marc Marquez that settled the argument.

In the end the nasty crash left Joan Olive to follow compatriots Sergio Gadea and Julian Simon across the line, Simon’s dominant win stamping his authority on the championship and extending his sizeable championship lead.

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