125cc – IRTA Jerez Test Day 2 – Rain protagonist, Gadea the fastest

The worst of the 125cc technicians and team managers' expectations turned into an ugly and bitter reality today in Jerez. The rain, cursed and causing trouble, made its appearance in Andalusia, forcing teams and drivers to lose another day of testing, practically the fourth of this 2007 pre-season. Many big names, resigned, were forced to make prolonged stops in the pits, with only the very young and those who have changed bikes over the winter on the track to gain confidence even in the wet with the new technical package available. Thus we find an overall anomalous, unexpected and unpredictable ranking, with the good Sergio Gadea surprising everyone by relegating his closest pursuers to at least 1 second of gap with a time of 59'565"1. Easy with Pasini, Talmacsi, Corsi, Espargaro and Pesek stuck in the pits for the whole day: more difficult to give 1″ to everyone without risking and flying to the ground, avoiding the usual reprimands from your employer. Gadea succeeded and continued the development of the Aprilia RSA 125 even in the wet, ahead of the Hondas of Bradley Smith (Repsol team) and Mike Di Meglio (Humangest Racing), who were decidedly competitive in these adverse weather conditions.

For the rest, today the 125cc has very little to say, other than a few surprises as an end in themselves: thus we find the young Swiss Randy Krummenacher sixth ahead of his team leader Tomoyoshi Koyama, Sandro Cortese surprisingly fifth and Pablo Nieto very last with the Blusens Aprilia (ex-BQR). Now the 125cc prepares for the Losail trip with few certainties and many dilemmas, confident in any case of experiencing an intense season where spectacularity is destined to reign supreme. Woe betide reliving 2006 in a one-sided way (that of Talavera, signed by Alvaro Bautista), there are at least 6 riders potentially competing for the world title, between Aprilia and KTM, 2007 evolution or completely new bikes.

We'll see in Qatar, now the baton passes to the MotoGP bikes which will take to the track tomorrow. Hoping for good weather, for a sun that makes the 800cc and its riders shine fully.

125cc Test IRTA Jerez – Thursday 22 February 2007 – Times of Day 2

01- Sergio Gadea – Aprilia – 1'59.565
02- Bradley Smith – Honda – +1.009
03- Mike Di Meglio – Honda – + 1.297
04- Hector Faubel – Aprilia – + 1.435
05- Sandro Cortese – Aprilia – + 1.535
06- Randy Krummenacher – KTM – +1.867
07- Lorenzo Zanetti – Aprilia – + 2.155
08- Tomoyoshi Koyama – KTM – + 2.228
09- Joan Olive – Aprilia – + 2.579
10- Joey Litjens – Honda – +2.588
11- Raffaele De Rosa – Aprilia – + 3.130
12- Simone Grotzkyj – Aprilia – + 3.294
13- Nicolas Terol – Derbi – + 3.451
14- Alexis Masbou – Honda – +3.931
15- Dominique Aegerter – Aprilia – + 4.256
16- Esteve Rabat – Honda – + 4.669
17- Andrea Iannone – Aprilia – + 6.624
18- Hugo Van Den Berg – Aprilia – + 7.445
19- Steve Bonsey – KTM – +7.524
20- Daniel Webb – Honda – +7.912
21- Pablo Nieto – Aprilia – + 11.452

Alessio Piana