125cc – Jerez Test – Smith below the track record, Corsi good

They're just tests, but this kid is really strong. Second contact for Bradley Smith with the Aprilia RSA ex-Pasini of Polaris World, and it is already a track record in Jerez de la Frontera, erasing the Rimini rider's previous reference today in 250cc. The Englishman, a true Dorna "product" brought to the MotoGP by Alberto Puig, seems to have adapted perfectly to the single-cylinder from Noale: the time to take measurements on the first day of testing, in front of everyone the next day, the record closing before dismantling the pits and traveling to Valencia, the destination of the next tests. Keep an eye on the freckled Englishman, capable of leading the reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi by 3 tenths: motorcycling in the land of Albion seems to have found its representative to aim, in the not too distant future, for something good in the MotoGP, waiting for James Toseland's debut in MotoGP.

Bradley Smith flies, Talmacsi follows him, Simone Corsi recovers after the bad crash at 190 km/h on the first day of testing to place third, riding the Aprilia RSA of the WRB Fontana team. The Capitoline driver worked on fine-tuning the package available, preceding five different RSAs. Behind him we find Mike Di Meglio, as well as Smith who moved from Honda to a Piaggio Group motorcycle (RSA branded Derbi of Ajo Motorsport, a Scandinavian structure that brought Koyama and Ranseder to the top), immediately at the top ahead of Sergio Gadea, the only one in the 125 line-up to be able to boast a year of experience with the new addition to Noale. Sixth is the increasingly convincing Sandro Cortese, followed by Pol Espargaro, recovering after the bad fall on the second day of Andalusian testing. Amatriain's protégé, official Derbi, precedes his team-mate Olive and Nicolas Terol, regenerated with the standard RS of WRB Fontana after two seasons to forget.

In a ranking that promises the "Piaggio Challenge" for the second consecutive year, the KTMs of the Repsol team did not make a good showing, the only ones present in Andalusia (the examples of the Seedorf and Racing World teams, intended for top riders like Koyama, Zanetti and De Rosa are “works in progress”). The very young Marc Marquez, renamed for many as the "new Pedrosa" (or Lorenzo, if you prefer), is behind and preceded by our standard bearers such as Lombardi and Lacalendola. Things went worse for Esteve Rabat: he fell and fractured his left collarbone, pre-season tests were compromised. He won't be there in Valencia, Koyama and company probably will, to have a more exciting comparison between KTM and Piaggio.

125cc Test Jerez 24/26 February – The times of the last day of testing

01- Bradley Smith – Aprilia RSA – 1'46.869
02- Gabor Talmacsi – Aprilia RSA – 1'47.113
03- Simone Corsi – Aprilia RSA – 1'47.487
04- Mike Di Meglio – Derbi RSA – 1'47.572
05- Sergio Gadea – Aprilia RSA – 1'47.655
06- Sandro Cortese – Aprilia RSA – 1'48.012
07- Pol Espargaró – Derbi RSA – 1'48.053
08- Joan Olive – Derbi RSA – 1'48.334
09- Nicolas Terol – Aprilia – 1'48.412
10- Stefan Bradl – Aprilia – 1'48.501
11- Dominique Aegerter – Derbi – 1'48.513
12- Esteve Rabat – KTM – 1'48.602
13- Scott Redding – Aprilia – 1'48.770
14- Alex Pons – Aprilia – 1'48.972
15- Efrén Vázquez – Aprilia – 1'49.061
16- Iván Maestro – Aprilia – 1'49.076
17- Robert Muresan – Aprilia – 1'49.312
18- Pere Tutusaus – Aprilia – 1'49.837
19- Roberto Lacalendola – Aprilia – 1'49.993
20- Dino Lombardi – Aprilia – 1'50.009
21- Marc Márquez – KTM – 1'50.043
22- Lorenzo Savadori – Aprilia – 1'50.251
23- Julián Miralles – Aprilia – 1'50.573
24- Cristian Trabalon – Aprilia – 1'50.785
25- Robin Lasser – Aprilia – 1'50.985
26- Marco Ravaioli – Aprilia – 1'51.121
27- Luca Vitali – Aprilia – 1'51.957

Alessio Piana