CORTESE WINS PHILLIP ISLAND 125CC RACE

With all the riders out on the track and gridded up, a start was only moments away when the rain came, delaying the race by eight minutes to give teams time to change tyres. With patches of blue sky showing, the decision to go wets or slicks was a gamble. A few chose wets, but it quickly became clear that the track was drying out. When the flurry of activity cleared, the grid revealed an empty third place - Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) never made it out for the warm up lap to due to engine failure in the warm up session.

Alexis Masbou (Caretta Technology Forward Team) led off the start, bumping his French compatriot and pole starter Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) on his way out to the front. Adrian Martin (Bankia Aspar) took over the lead, however shortly thereafter enter the pits to change to slicks as the track dried out. Meanwhile Championship leader Nicolas Terol (Bankia Aspar) sliced his way through the field after dropping back into 17th off the start.

At the head of the field, Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) pulled out a 6 second lead while Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) moved into second and Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) raced his team mate for third, despite the fact that Zarco is the only one who still has a chance to stop Terol in taking the Championship title.

As Terol gained ground on the front runners, the red flag was produced three laps early due to Niklas Ajo (TT Motion Events Racing) crashing and requiring trackside attention. The final race results were determined by rolling back the standings to the previous lap, which saw Cortese the clear winner, Luis Salom in second, and a relieved Zarco the final podium finisher.

In fourth was Vázquez, followed by Alberto Moncayo (Team Andalucia Banca Civica) and Terol in sixth place, the Spaniard making a remarkable recovery, though the finish has cut his Championship lead from Zarco to 25 points. Hector Faubel (Bankia Aspar) finished seventh, ahead of Maverick Vinales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing), Louis Rossi (Matteoni Racing) and Danny Webb (Mahindra Racing) who completed the top ten.

Of the Aussie wildcards competing at the Island, Jack Miller (Caretta Technology) was the best finisher, in 23rd. Josh Hook (HookRacing.com) finished 26th, while Nicky Diles (Aprilia RSW Racing) suffered a series of mechanical problems that saw him pull in to the pits twice and rejoin the race, before pulling in a third time and retiring. Tom Hatton (replacing Arthur Sissis), Alex Phillis and Avalon Biddle all failed to qualify.

CLASSIFICATION - 125cc
Phillip Island Motorcycle Grand Prix

1. Sandro CORTESE
2. Luis SALOM
3. Johann ZARCO
4. Efren VAZQUEZ
5. Alberto MONCAYO
6. Nicolas TEROL
7. Hector FAUBEL
8. Maverick VINALES
9. Louis ROSSI
10. Danny WEBB