Spanish Sweep Foiled by Officials

Sergio Gadea led an armada of Spanish riders to a Spanish clean sweep of the podium at Assen ahead of Nico Terol and Julian Simon. The three Spaniards took to the rostrum before officials relegated Terol to fifth, gifting second to Simon and third to Britain Bradley Smith.

Bradley Smith jumped off the line giving join to British fans as he lead from Gadea and Terol. Smith’s compatriot Webb was a first lap victim, taken out by American Cameron Baubier at the change of direction.

Smith’s lead lasted until the end of lap one, where both Nico Terol and Sergio Gadea passed the young Britain on the main straight. The messy melee for the minor positions showed its first signs of sparking into life as Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez collided and ran off but rejoined safely.

The furious scrapping through the field was enough to distract the Dutch fans long enough for Iannone to slide through to the lead.

Corsi and Iannone spent lap three carving each other up while Sergio Gadea, Bradley Smith and Julian Simon lurked in the shadows.

The bad news for the Britain’s continued, a frustrated Scott Reading out with a mechanical failure on lap four, causing him to bow out of the heated battle that saw Stefan Bradl diving angrily past Corsi for fourth.

Cortese crashed out soon after, tucking the front on the exit of a fast right hander, the German lucky not to get collected by his bike as they rolled down the grass.

Johann Zarco gave the mid pack something to think about on lap eight, his nasty high side at the esses saw his bike slide across the face of the corner and back onto the track ahead of a gaggle of riders before he remounted.  

A six way battle for sixth raged behind the leaders raged as Gadea caught up to Terol and Simon, making the battle for the lead a three-way fight.

Nico Terol was literally the meat in the Aspar sandwich as they run three wide through the back complex onto the main straight at the end of lap five, the Jack and Jones Aprilia rounded up by the two Aspar bikes in a fast and narrow section of the Dutch circuit.

The six way battle for the sixth position began to fracture late in the race, with Stefan Bradl setting a cracking pace at the front of the peloton and stringing it out.

In the final lap Smith and Iannone swapped positions several times in a heated battle for fourth place but the battle at the front was the hottest. Simon led into the final lap, but Terol’s pass at the flip-flop saw both riders off and Terol on the well-used asphalt runoff. Terol eventually rejoined behind Gadea but Simon’s race was over.

Terol pushed hard but couldn’t pass Gadea who takes a lucky win Terol and teammate Julian Simon.

Bradley Smith led Iannone across the line for fourth by the barest of margins, the Britain making his displeasure obvious with the Italian even before they passed the line. Bradl held onto his sixth place after a hectic, angry and downright frightening final lap from the six riders behind him. With 125cc bikes spread across the track and the infield through the esses and the chicane the last lap was a typically angry affair for the junior category, but the controversy of Terol’s move on Simon and the penalty was the main focus post race.

The elevation of Smith to third gave the Aspar team a podium clean sweep and it’s 200^th podium place.

The 125cc’s will take a break as the MotoGP circus makes a one week dash across the Atlantic to Laguna Seca. The 125cc’s will return in Germany.

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