For the second straight day the wind proved to be the biggest rival to the 125 riders at Valencia, with several crashes and lap times some two seconds off record pace. Once again it was Spanish Championship graduates who set the pace, with plenty of local favourites amongst them and looking for home glory tomorrow. The top four were the only riders to break the 1’42 barrier but the lap times were close throughout the field and it looks certain to be a group battle tomorrow.
Bancaja rider Julián Simón has book-ended the season with pole positions, repeating his grid position from the opening race at Qatar in today’s final qualifying practice of the season. The Spaniard was fastest in free practice yesterday and maintained his dominance through to this afternoon, securing his seventh pole of the season – his third on Spanish soil – on his eleventh lap. His team-mate Bradley Smith is determined to prevent the newly-crowned World Champion from ending the season with his seventh victory after finishing second to him following head-to-head battles in the last two races. Bradley improved dramatically today to qualifying third fastest although for Sergio Gadea it was a repeat of yesterday as the Spanish rider crashed out and qualified fourteenth.
1st Julián Simón 1.41.472 (18 laps):
“It hasn’t been easy to set those lap times today and I found it particularly tough this morning. The wind was terrible and I struggled a lot because it really affects you on a 125, we changed the bike to try and get it working better in corner entry because the wind tends to push you off line. It’s still going to be hectic at the start of the race tomorrow though. It should be good fun for the fans and I’ll try to enjoy it as much as possible myself – hopefully I can win it for them.”
3rd Bradley Smith 1.41.830 (21 laps):
“It was really good that we managed to find a setting for tomorrow and set a decent lap time too. It wasn’t easy and we hard to work hard for it, basically because the wind affects me in particular because of my riding style. I think we can consider third place, four tenths off pole after lapping on my own for the majority of the session, a good result. Hopefully the wind dies down tomorrow so that I can be more comfortable but if not it will be a tough race and we’ll need to be careful.”
14th Sergio Gadea 1.42.648 (13 laps):
“Today actually went really well in that all the changes we made to the bike worked. The only problem is that the track isn’t in the best condition and I crashed when I was on the limit, pushing for a place in the top five on the grid. There isn’t much grip out there but we think we have a solution for tomorrow. I have a setting that I’ve done 1’38s here with before so there are no secrets. I just have to grit my teeth and push as hard as I can tomorrow because I won’t be happy with any other result than a win.”
