British GP: Bradley Smith on third row after massive high-side crash at Donington Park

Battered and bruised Bradley Smith will start tomorrow’s British 125 GP from the third row of the grid after he suffered a vicious high-side crash at the end of this afternoon’s final qualifying session.

Having held second position for much of the 30-minute session, Smith had slipped to sixth and was trying to bump himself back onto the front row when he suffered a huge crash at the Coppice double apex right-hander on his last lap.

The 16-year-old Oxfordshire rider hobbled away from the incident with his best lap of 1.38.394 securing ninth place on the grid for tomorrow’s 25-lap race.

The Repsol Honda rider, bidding for his second world championship podium, jumped into second place with 13 minutes remaining with the 1.38.394 that was to prove his best.

That left him just 0.027s adrift of Italian Mattia Pasini, who went onto claim his fifth pole position in the opening eight races. The luckless Aprilia rider though will be praying for some better luck, as his previous pole starts have seen him claim a best of only 10th place in Shanghai.

Pasini was in impressive form at the 2.5miles circuit when he logged a 1.37.734 lap with ten minutes remaining to move 0.660s clear of Smith. On his next lap he went better with a 1.37.670 that moved him 0.724s ahead of Smith.

With six minutes remaining Simone Corsi dropped Smith back to third when he posted a 1.37.846, while moments later Pasini went marginally quicker again at the top with a 1.37.643.

Pasini then clocked a 1.37.399 to stretch his advantage over Corsi to 0.447s just seconds before Gabor Talmacsi moved into third place with a 1.38.382.

Just over two minutes were left on the clock when Pablo Nieto moved into third place with a 1.38.365 which bumped Smith off the front row, and then Catalunya GP winner Tomoyoshi Koyama snatched third with a 1.38.073.

STANDINGS

1. Pasini  Aprilia  1.37.399
2. Corsi   Aprilia  1.37.846
3. Koyama  KTM  1.38.073
4. Talmasci  Aprilia  1.38.153
5. Gadea  Aprilia  1.38.217
6. Faubel  Aprilia  1.38.238
7. Nieto   Aprilia  1.38.365
8. Masbou  Honda  1.38.386
9. Smith  Honda  1.38.394
10. Olive  Aprilia  1.38.427
11. Krummenacher KTM  1.38.441
12. De Rosa  Aprilia  1.38.504
13. Espagaro  Aprilia  1.38.519
14. Iannone  Aprilia  1.38.813
15. Di Meglio  Honda  1.38.990
16. Cortese  Aprilia  1.39.006

GBR

32. Webb  Honda  1.41.131
33. Stewart  Honda  1.41.417
34. Jones  Honda  1.42.090
35. Coates  Honda  1.42.347
36. Coghlan  Honda  1.42.804
37. Hayward  Honda  1.43.800