The San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix, characterized as always by the passion and knowledge of its residents, got to a start today with the first qualifying practice for the 125cc class. The sun finally made an appearance in a thus far rainy season, enabling the teams and riders to work in the best possible conditions; modifying the bikes as necessary for the new layout of the Misano circuit which differs from that of last year. Good performances from Aprilia with three of its riders making their way into the first row and a total of nine Aprilia bikes in the first ten.
The provisional pole position goes to Gabor Talmacsi, team Bancaja Aspar, with a time of 1’44”172. The 2007 champion showed to have a excellent pace, pushing to the limit throughout and re-entering in the box literally shattered from the heat. Second place goes to the English youngster Scott Redding, with a time of 1’44”339 on his Blusens RS, evidently at ease during his first GP at Misano. Di Meglio claimed third place on his Derbi RSA with Bradley Smith completing the first row with a provisional best lap of 1’44”646.
“I’m very happy”, declared Talmacsi, “we’ve made some changes to the bike since Brno so I’m now able to break a lot better, which gives you a big advantage on a circuit like this. The only difficulty was the amount of holes in the track which are a nuisance and testing for your physical resistance, especially in this heat! I’m very optimistic because we’ve made a good start today.”
“I’m very happy with today’s result”, said Redding, “I rode well. There’s a good grip and the bike went well. It’s the first time I’ve raced here at Misano. I like the track but there are quite a few holes. There’s still the opportunity for improvement tomorrow since I’m still getting used to this circuit ”
Fifth position went to Nico Terol with a time of 1’44”706, 0’534 seconds behind Talmacsi, followed by the two germans Cortese and Bradl, and the swiss rider Aegerter. Gadea in ninth place, Corsi in tenth, thirteenth for Iannone whilst Marco Ravaioli finished in thirty-first place. Thirty-third place went to youngster Luca Vitali, called upon to substitute injured Muresan, followed by wildcard Gennaro Sabatino with JuniorGP Racing Dream, whilst fellow wildcard Lorenzo Savadori finished off the line-up in 40th position.
