Bradley Smith third quickest in Estoril

British teenager Bradley Smith has continued his promising start to 2009 by clocking the third quickest time on the opening day of 125GP testing in Estoril, Portugal.

The Aspar Aprilia rider clocked a best time of 1.46.624 to finish just 0.3s adrift of German Sandro Cortese in second place.

The Oxfordshire rider though was powerless to stop another dominant performance from Aspar Aprilia team-mate Julian Simon.

The Spaniard was in a class of his own again as he logged a best time of 1.45.864 to finish 0.8s clear of 18-year-old Smith.

Danny Webb was eighth quickest on his first serious track outing since the final round of 2008 in Valencia back in late October.

The DeGraaf Aprilia rider clocked a best time of 1.48.379 on the circuit where he scored his best world championship result of fifth nearly a year ago.

Webb said: “It feels nice to be finally back on the bike. With this great weather it was a very useful day of testing. The bike is completely new for me and for the team but from the moment I left pit-lane it felt good.

“We still have a lot of work to do before the light goes to green in Qatar. But I’m satisfied about today.”

British 125GP winner Scott Redding was two places further adrift in tenth place. The Gloucestershire rider was 0.5s adrift of Webb on the Blusens Aprilia as he set a best time of 1.48.884.

Times
1 Julian Simon Aprilia 1.45.864
2 Sandro Cortese Derbi 1.46.341
3 Bradley Smith Aprilia 1.46.624
4 Pol Espargaro Derbi 1.47.251
5 Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1.47.252
6 Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1.47.651
7 Joan Olive Derbi 1.47.697
8 Danny Webb Aprilia 1.48.379
9 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 1.48.560
10 Scott Redding Aprilia 1.48.884
11 Esteve Rabat Aprilia 1.48.918
12 Dominique Aegerter Derbi 1.49.089
13 Randy Krummenacher Aprilia 1.50.774
14 Efren Vazquez Derbi 1.55.896